Babeș-Bolyai University (BBU) is the largest university in Transylvania, Romania, with over 31,000 students. BBU has a long academic history dating back to 1581 and offers programs in Romanian, Hungarian, German, and other languages. It has strong partnerships with over 300 companies that contribute to its education, research, and rankings. Case studies, internships, and curriculum development help students gain practical skills while companies benefit from innovative ideas and highly trained graduates. BBU's combination of education, research, and industry collaboration make it a world-class, entrepreneurial university.

1. Research and Innovation
The case of Babeş-Bolyai
University

2. Cluj-Napoca–Kolozsvár–Klausenburg
• the second most populated city in Romania
• around 330 000 inhabitants
• one of the most important academic, cultural,
industrial and business centers in Romania
• European Youth Capital in 2015

3. The multicultural heritage of Cluj

4. Babeş-Bolyai University

5. BBU – Historical background
• the largest university
in Transylvania;
• has the longest
academic tradition
in Romania;
• founded in 1581 as a
Jesuit college;
• uninterrupted
functioning since
1872;

6. BBU – the numbers
Line of
study
Tenured
teaching
staff
Number of specializations
Doctoral
fields
Student
population PhD
studentsBachelor studies Master studies Bachelor
studies
Master
studies
Romanian
line of
study
1228 147
191
31
22.890 6.038
1112
Hungarian
line of
study
270 70
49
4.672 997
German
line of
study
35 10 7 705 139
Other
languages:
English,
French,
Russian,
Italian
15
52
3.187
1032
Total 1,533 242 299 31 31,454 8,206 ̴̴1,200

7. BBU – Multicultural university
• 3 lines of study:
Romanian,
Hungarian, German;
• Jewish studies
• 20 cultural centers
• BA and MA programs
taught in English,
French, Italian and
other foreign
languages;
•4 faculties of theology;

8. BBU – rankings
 Best Global Universities Ranking 2019
 1249 universities from 57 countries
 rank 575, best university of Romania
 Times Higher Education World University Rankings
2020
 1396 universities from 70 countries
 range 801 – 900, best university of Romania
 QS World University Rankings, 2020
 QS****
 EECA (Emerging Europe and Central Asia) 34 from 301
 range 801 – 1000

9. How business-world contributed to these
results
quality of
education and
research at
the university
highly trained
professionals
for the firms

10. Research and Innovation at BBU
- Babeș-Bolyai University is a research and education
(world-class) advanced university;
- BBU has added an innovative entrepreneurial
component, based on an technological and cognitive
transfer to the socio-economic environment.

11. Case study 1 – Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
 6.400 students
 20 BSc specializations
 29 MSc specializations
 6 PhD specializations
 Romanian, Hungarian,
German, English and French

12. Case study 1 – Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

13. Case study 1 – Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
 10% of the courses and
seminars were delivered
by a company
 4% out of compulsory
classes
 presentations, workshops
and company visit
 SMEs, multinational and
large companies
 topics: main business
functions (marketing,
management, finances
and accounting)
B1. Into the courses B2. Extracurricular
 presentations (29%), company
visits (27%), workshops (22%)
 multinational companies
(35%), non-profit
organizations (18%), SMEs
(15%), governmental
institutions (13%), large
companies (8%)
 bottom-up initiatives, coming
from individual teachers

14. Case study 1 – Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
 Case study = a description rich in information of
the situation and functioning of a real
company that contains an actual task,
problem or future challenge that the
copany actually faces.
 Companies that offer the cas study belong to the
partners of the university
 The problem or challenge is identified by the
students, they elaborate a possible solution
based on the economic knowledge they
acquired throughout their studies.
Complex cooperation: Case studies – Definition

15. Case study 1 – Faculty of Economics and Business
Administration
Complex cooperation: Case studies – Advantages
COMPANY
1. innovative ideas, new
suggestions from an
external point of view
2. get to know and test the
most talented students in a
quasi-real situation
3. part of the social
engagement of the
company
4. strentghens the image
and visibility of the
company
UNIVERSITY
1. practice-oriented
education, knowledge
aquired at the university can
be applied to real situations
2. current economic and
business challenges incor-
porated in university
education
3. strengthens collaboration
between university and
companies
STUDENT
1. can work on real-life
business issues during
his/her studies
2.can experiment with what
was learned in classes
without the consequences
of real-life decisions
3. experiences team-work
4. gets to know managers
(potential employers)
Case study 1 – Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

16. Case study 1 – Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
1. Curricular: the case study is
resolved incorporated to a class by
groups of students, and presented
to teacher and/or company
representatives
2. Case-study contests: groups of
students compete to resolve the
case study offered by one of the
partner companies and present it in
front of a jury of company
representatives
Complex cooperation: Case studies
Case study of the MOL Group in the Suppy chain class of the Business
management masters programme (May 2016)
Presentation at the Case Study Competition Cluj . Topic offered by SaladBox

17. Case study 1 – Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
Complex cooperation: Case Study Competition Cluj 2017
22 years tradition in Cluj
(1995-2008 national Management Case Study Competition, student organisations)
44 contestants, 11 student teams
~150 participants
highschool case study contest in
parallel
19 jury members representing the
supporting companies
20 partner and sponsor companies

18. Case study 1 – Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
Complex cooperation: outsanding results
April 2017, Harvard University (USA)
Harvard International Consulting Competition (finals)
October 2017, Norwegian School of Economics (NO)
NHH Case Competition (finals)
March 2017, Corvinus University, Budapest (HU)
National Case Study Competition (1st prize)
Invitation to the most prestigious management case study competition
February 2018, Concordia University, Montreal (CAN)
John Molson Undergraduate Case Competition

19. Case study 2 – Branding college
 students, teachers and professionals work together
 both theory and practical skills
 real-life issues: orders from firms, organizations
 students gain experience needed for job enrolment
 firms, organizations get their brands developed by young professionals
with the mentoring of experienced mentors

20. Case study 2 – Branding college – from the
portfolio

21. Case study 3 – Faculty of Mathematics and
Informatics
37 partners

22. Case study 3 – Faculty of Mathematics and
Informatics
 most complex co-operation
 education
 summer practice for students (2 weeks)
 projects for diploma-work (coordonator at the university, mentor at the firm)
 projects for courses
 curricula development (new courses held by professionals from the firms – ex.
Bitdefender, Accenture)
 courses at the firm for BBU students (Bitdefender, Codespring)
 contests for students (Codespring)
 research
 PhD research themes – Siemens, Bosch
 PhD scholarships
 sponsorship for conferences

23. Case study 3 – Faculty of Mathematics and
Informatics
 the effect of the co-operation – students
 experience the competitive milieu, have to participate at
job interviews;
 practice both soft skills (responsibility, humor, empathy,
teamwork, leadership, communication, social skills) and
hard skills (professional skills);
 networking, getting in contact with future employers;

24. Case study 3 – Faculty of Mathematics and
Informatics
 the effect of the co-operation – Faculty
 adjustment of the training programs (new master program: Software engineering in
English; new courses: Java, Python)
 receiving feedback on the quality of students and alumni;
 partner companies support the participation of students at competitions and
projects;
 companies organize tutorials for students;
 companies organize workshops at international scientific conferences organized by
the Faculty;
 companies stimulate research by identifying themes of special interest;
 companies facilitate student research by offering awards at different contests or for
excellent BA theses and MA dissertations;
 companies can offer topics for BA theses and MA dissertations.

25. Why BBU is a world-class university with innovative
entrepreneurial elements?
- Education and research combined with practice, generate
a real technological transfer in both directions of the
university-industry relationship
e.g. research fellowships supplied by companies for master students, companies
involved in master curricula development, practical case studies competitions for
students
- The University staff, as holder of research and
educational competences, is involved in activities that
bring value to the industry;

26. Why BBU is a world-class university with innovative
entrepreneurial elements?
- The university's research is capitalized by patenting and
licensing to the interested third parties. Any intellectual
property elements are adequately managed at the
university level;
- Providing support for the university staff or third
parties to set up start-ups and spin-offs based on the
elements created within the university;
- The University provides specific services to the industry,
according to the technical, economic, educational,
research competencies that it has.

27. BBU vision as a world-class university with innovative
entrepreneurial elements
 New and modern institutional mechanisms:
- STAR Institute – UBB
- The Office of Management and Technological and
Cognitive Transfer;
 Development of start-ups, spin-offs and business
incubators, including the internal polities associated with
them (e.g. property law);

28. BBU vision as a world-class university with innovative
entrepreneurial elements
 Education/training in entrepreneurship and
innovation;
 Efficient management and capitalization of
Intellectual Property assets by offering innovative
services.
 THANK YOU!