FSPAC (College of Political, Administrative and Communication Sciences) is one of the youngest colleges within Babes Bolyai University but still managed to organize at least 20 (there are more to come) Erasmus+ partnerships. It came into being in 1995 and it has been improving ever since.

Within the communication area falls the Department of Journalism, a place where professors are young and encourage critical thinking, they offer the resources, but it is up to the student to discover what she likes. Besides this, if they notice that you are good at something, or have a minimum interest towards something, they will definitely try to help you as much as possible. All you need to do is want, try and be determined to learn.

In order to find out more about what Erasmus+ opportunities does the Department of Journalism has to offer I sat down for a talk with vice-dean Dr. Andreea Mogos who is also in charge of international relations, students relations, mass media relations and the image of the institution.

Why would you recommend an Erasmus+ mobility at FSPAC?

I would encourage foreign students to apply for an Erasmus+ at FSPAC because we are a multicultural faculty: there are classes in four languages: Romanian, Hungarian, German and English.

We have students who are here either for one semester, either for the entire year because they can choose where they want to study based on their preferences and their culture.

Nonetheless, we have a lot of extracurricular activities such as: alpine club, photo club, debate club, and board games club. They can have a full experience, not just an educational one but one which allows them to get to know their colleagues, meet the Romanian culture and explore the city of Cluj Napoca.

From which countries do you usually receive students within FSPAC?     

We have students who come with the traditional Erasmus, studying mobility, basically from all around Europe. Spain, Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Turkey, Norway, Germany etc. Besides, there are also students who come with Erasmus Mundus, they usually are from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Algeria, Laos China and Georgia.

Some of them come through different partnerships between the universities, such as Korea, Kazakhstan. From USA, for example, we have a free mover who wanted to study with us. You can also find students who finance their studies independently and who, in general, are people from Cameroon, Nigeria and China.

 What practice opportunities are there for Erasmus+ students?

The students who come within the Department of Journalism can opt for several activities such as: UBB TV, UBB Radio, Student Press or Media Project. There are internal projects where they can integrate without a problem. Also, if they find an editorial office where they can work in English they would also have our support.

What do you like most about foreign students?

I like seeing that they are open people. Even if sometimes, especially those coming from Western Europe, might have several prejudgements and by making this big step of coming here they discover a different world from what they had in mind. They live in a city full of of youngsters, a lot of cultural opportunities, but also very rich in entertainment, so they can do whatever they want.

I believe they are really good ambassadors because I saw students who went back and convinced their colleagues to try a mobility at our college.We have constant relationships and I believe that the student’s opinion weighs a lot in this. Our oldest relationship, for instance, is with University Carlos III in Madrid, which has been sending for many years now, also the partners in Brussels gave us very good feedbacks.