Romanian University Historians in the 1930s and 1940s – the Case of Dimitrie Todoranu, Professor at the University of Cluj
Article information:
Volume III, 2019, No 1, Pages: 87-106
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24193/JRHE.2019.1.5
Ana-Maria Stan, Senior Researcher at Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Email: ana.stan@ubbcluj.ro
Abstract: This study focuses on the complex topics of university history and academic strategy as seen in the late 1930s and early 1940s by Romanian scholar Dimitrie Todoranu. As a young psychologist and university staff member, Todoranu held key administrative roles, including head of the University Office at the Romanian University of Cluj starting in 1934. Throughout WWII, he published extensively on the role and essence of universities in Europe, particularly Central and Eastern Europe. Using the Romanian University of Cluj as a case study, he explored what a modern university should be, the ideal student-professor relationships, and the university’s public significance to the nation-state. Todoranu’s work offers important insights into European higher education history and contributes to the understanding of Romanian universities in the 20th century.
Keywords: history of universities, Romanian University of Cluj, Dimitrie Todoranu, academic institutional development, 1930s, Second World War.
