Romita B. Iucu
Hall of Fame Class of 2011
Romita B. Iucu has made many noteworthy contributions to the development of adult education, not only in Romania but internationally. As a well-known member of the country’s education specialists, Iucu has had a great influence on creating a turning point in Romania’s history and progress in educational sciences since the 1990s.
He has contributed at many levels, starting as the coordinator of teacher education programs in the Center for Open and Distance Education at the University of Bucharest. Soon, as director of the Department for Teachers’ Education, Iucu established the continuing education system at the University of Bucharest, which led to the development of a coherent education system for university teachers in the same higher education institution.
As deputy general director in the Romanian Ministry of Education, Department for Continuing Learning and Education, he projected and implemented the first National Strategy for Continuing Learning and Education, an integrated document that included teachers’ education. This project was highly appreciated by specialists of the World Bank and of the European Commission. This strategy built the first national framework for developing, implementing, and supporting an efficient and modern system of education as well as professional training for adults.
Since 2003, Iucu has been invited to join the European Commission’s groups of continuing education experts. As a result of his efforts, Iucu was selected to design the Romanian strategy for lifelong learning as part of the Grundtvig programme, which is part of the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning Programme, 2007-2013. The Grundtvig programme aims to strengthen adult education across Europe.
From 2005 to 2007, Iucu served as the vice president of Romania’s National Council for Educational Reform and from 2007 to 2009 was nominated as member of the Romania’s Presidential Commission for Education and Research, where he was charged with the preparation of the national Report on the area of continuing education and teacher training. In 2010, he was elected president of the European Network on Teacher Education Policies, one of the most important and prestigious organizations for lifelong learning policies for teachers in Europe.
Iucu has published numerous papers in Romania and abroad in the field of continuing learning and education related to teachers’ education. He has coordinated teams of research in this field. He has written three books on the subject, and he was awarded the highest distinction for education and sciences by Romania’s president in 2004.
Iucu currently serves at the University of Bucharest as vice rector, president of the Academicals Council of the University, and professor of educational sciences. Here, he coordinates academics, educational curricula, master’s studies, doctoral programs, teacher education programs, and Lifelong Learning Strategy and activities.