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ATLANTA--A joint delegation of academic and diplomatic leaders from Romania visited Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business on Wednesday to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Institute for Business Administration in Bucharest (ASEBUSS) and the Robinson College.
Dr. Ovidiu Dîmbean-Creța, rector of the ASEBUSS Business School attended, along with Dr. Andre Muraru, Romanian Ambassador to the U.S., and Darius Gazinchi, Honorary Consul of Romania to Georgia. The visiting leaders met with Richard Phillips, dean of Robinson College and Mourad Dakhli, assistant dean for international engagement and strategic partnerships at Robinson.
“Romania is a complicated region as a border country to Ukraine. Atlanta is an important place for Romania and Georgia State plays an important role,” said Ambassador Muraru. “This university partnership is a building block for our students that opens doors to further education and help shape the future.”
Mourad Dakhli, Associate Dean for International Student Engagement and Partnerships; Dr. Andre Muraru, Romanian Ambassador to the U.S.; Darius Gazinchi, Honorary Consul of Romania to Georgia; Richard D. Phillips, Dean, J. Mack Robinson College of Business; Dr. Ovidiu Dîmbean-Creța, rector of the ASEBUSS Business School
The collaboration between the two business colleges will include an academic exchange of faculty and students virtually and in person through study-abroad programs and joint research programs. Along with research, there could be exchanges of educational literature produced by the colleges and the organization of conferences and seminars.
“We seek to develop further Romania’s free market economy for the prosperity of all Romanians and look forward to developing new programs that bring new challenges for students to overcome as our colleges work together,” said Dîmbean-Creța.
ASEBUSS was established by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in 1993. The Romanian-American business school has produced over 1,500 graduates in its 30-year history. It is the first business school in Romania to offer an executive MBA program.
“This type of collaboration has a long history at Georgia State and the Robinson College of Business. After the Berlin Wall fell, Robinson took proactive steps by partnering with USAID to establish numerous Western-style business education at universities across Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The goal was to foster open, market-oriented economies that could support the emerging democracies in the post-Soviet world. The programs have made a significant impact on promoting stability, progress, and peace in the regions,” said Phillips. “As we sign this MOU today, Robinson reaffirms its commitment to supporting partners in their ongoing efforts to build more prosperous, stable, and resilient economies.”
Robinson has partnered with USAID to build academic programs at universities in Poland, Egypt, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
“There are common interests between Robinson and ASEBUSS in developing the human capital needed to support social and economic development. For ASEBUSS, partnerships like these make it possible to build capacity through the transfer of best practices in business education,” said Dakhli.