The topicality of the messages of the interwar Cluj rectors

Abstract

The interwar period marks the first decades of existence of the Romanian University of Cluj. The present article aims to immerse in the history of the Transylvanian University with the help of a set of documents that has only been analysed tangentially so far, i.e., the inaugural speeches of the interwar Cluj rectors. These speeches, also referred to as reports, besides offering an authentic view on the difficulties of an emerging university, can also surprise with the topicality of their messages. Thus, contemporaneity is faced with a special image of the metamorphosis of the University of Cluj, from its creation as an institution of the Romanian state, to the end of a special historical period, which saw Romania crossing dictatorships and a war, which forced the University to go into refuge and which brought the most difficult institutional constraints.

Keywords

• history of the university
• interwar cluj rectors
• “king ferdinand i” university
• rector’s speech
• higher education in interwar romania