The EIB loan will finance the UPB campus redevelopment plan involving the construction of a new building to accommodate three faculties currently located on the historic Polizu campus. The aim is to regroup the faculties located at Polizu on the Noul Local Campus and to upgrade the facilities to a standard with which they can best support the teaching, learning and research activities of the university.
The three faculties to be relocated to the Noul Local Campus on Bucharest’s Splaiul Independentei are the Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering and the Faculty of Medical Engineering. The surface area of the new infrastructure will exceed 30,000 square meters.
The UPB currently consists of 15 faculties distributed in three campuses (Noul Local, Polizu and LEu). The Noul Local campus hosts 11 faculties for now.
The agreement is backed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the heart of the Investment Plan for Europe, also known as “Juncker Plan”. Under this plan, the EU bank and the European Commission cooperate to increase the EIB’s risk bearing capacity, thereby improving its product offer and enhancing the impact projects can achieve.
“This is the first EIB support to improve higher education in Romania. We have joined our forces with the European Commission benefitting from the Investment Plan for Europe to increase the quality of university education that is crucial for strengthening the competitiveness of Romania and future development of the country. I am convinced, that more similar EIB operations will follow this project that will improve study conditions for 5,000 students and PUB research activities,” stated EIB Vice-President Andrew McDowell.
“It is a great honour for us to be the first Romanian university to be supported by the European Investment Bank. Being the largest technical university in Romania and with an important proportion of smart specialisation and tech graduates entering the workforce market, the project will support not only national education but also the national economy. We also hope to make this a good practice model for other universities that will implement similar projects. In addition, thanks to the guarantee offered by the Investment Plan for Europe, our university will be able to extend its research abilities in order to have a positive impact on society. With the university in its 200th year, this is the perfect celebration for our community, and we thank EIB and the EFSI for making this upgrade possible,” stated UPB Rector Mihnea Costoiu.