INTEGRITY – Diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities at UMF “Iuliu Hațieganu”

In the framework of the project, students from five high schools in rural areas and towns under 10,000 inhabitants in the North-West and Centre regions were introduced to the educational offer of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Iuliu Hațieganu” in Cluj-Napoca and were guided towards higher education in the medical field.

An important objective of the project, which runs until 2023, is to increase the chances of 50 high school students from rural areas in the North-West and Centre regions to attend higher education by participating in online training courses in the exam subjects: chemistry and biology. The activities were carried out by teachers and students from the three faculties of UMF “Iuliu Hațieganu”.

For this campaign, the university has signed cooperation protocols with the County School Inspectorates to identify schools that meet the funding criteria.

Within this project, special attention is given to the promotion of special places for students from rural high schools, Romania’s priority development areas, young people from the social protection system and Roma, as well as the conditions they must meet at the admission exam.

The INDES Centre was established within the project, which aims to promote equal opportunities, non-discrimination and social inclusion among the university staff and students. The development of the centre is a key point in aligning our university with European standards. On the one hand, organising an exchange of experience with specialists from other prestigious European universities who share examples of good practice from their institutions will contribute to increasing the quality of the services offered by the centre’s staff on specific issues of inclusion, equal opportunities and non-discrimination.On the other hand, with the support of foreign experts, promotional materials will be produced for the centre and three awareness-raising workshops will be organised at the university for 20 teachers, 10 teaching assistants and 60 students.In addition, 75 at-risk students participated in cross-curricular skills development sessions to facilitate integration into the academic environment and access to the centre.

In addition, 75 students at risk participated in cross-curricular skills development sessions to facilitate their integration into the academic environment and their access to the labour market. Also under the INTEGRITY project, 100 students at risk of dropping out received financial incentives.

In order to make the campaign more effective, the university has signed cooperation protocols with the County School Inspectorates.Students were given promotional material and were introduced to the educational offer of our university. Special attention was paid to the promotion of the special places allocated to young people coming from high schools located in rural areas, to the priority development areas of Romania, to those coming from the social protection system and the Roma, as well as to the minimum conditions that they must meet at the entrance exams.

During this period, the project has also developed online training courses in biology and chemistry for students included in the target group, with the aim of increasing their chances of success in the admission exam at UMF “Iuliu Hațieganu”.

The project also aimed to run softskills courses for 75 students from all faculties who are at risk. This enables young people to take courses in communication and social interaction, raising self-esteem, building a public image and a personal brand, with the aim of facilitating easier integration into the labour market after graduation.

At the same time, 100 students from the 3 faculties, who are at risk of dropping out and who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, will receive financial incentives.

As for the management of the project, the funds come from the 2023 Institutional Development Fund and the own contribution.