A Brief History of the “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University
In 1562, Moldavia has become famous for the first attempts to lay the foundation of what later on had become higher education, all thanks to the setting up of the Latin School at Cotnari, near Iasi. Still, it was not until 1813 that the scholar Gheorghe Asachi founded the first school of land surveyors and civil engineers with instruction in the Romanian language. This school can be considered the core of the technical higher education in Moldova. Later on, the school is developed within the Michaellian Academy (1835), and afterword’s within the University of Iasi, established in 1860.
On the 7th of November 1912, after passing the regulations for the Faculty of Science, they set up the proper Polytechnic Institute, which aligned more technical specialties: the department of the electro-technical, applied chemical and agricultural sciences. This event represents what may be called the birth certificate for the The Polytechnic Institute of Iasi.
In March 1937, when the Parliament of Romania voted the Law of Education, the technical higher education is transferred to the new established Polytechnic School which was, at that time, one of the few higher education institution in Romania qualified to issue engineer’s degrees. The new institution took from the very beginning the name of Gheorghe Asachi, the founder of the Romanian technical education, while professor Cristea Otin was elected its first rector.
As a result of some internal changes within the University, at present, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University integrates eleven universities:
- Faculty of Automatic Control and Computer Engineering
- Faculty of Civil Engineering and Building Services
- “G.M. Cantacuzino” Faculty of Architecture
- Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Protection
- Faculty of Machine Manufacturing and Industrial Management
- Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technology
- Faculty of Electrical Engineering
- Faculty of Hydrotechnical Engineering, Geodesy and Environmental Engineering
- Faculty of Material Science and Engineering
- Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
- Faculty of Textiles, Leather and Industrial Management.
