Romania - “Ovidiu Sincai” European School (2004)

The “Ovidiu Sincai” European School is a non-profit organisation founded in 2004 that functions as a programme of the Ovidiu Sincai Institute Foundation. The objective of the School is to strengthen democracy in Romania by promoting the European values of human rights, rule of law and tolerance and instilling them to the new generation of decision-makers.

About the School

The School is part of a permanent effort to support the process of modernisation in Romania by encouraging the values and principles of democracy and making the political class more professional and more efficient. Both values and institutional dimensions are the object of thorough study of each cohort of participants. This new generation of future leaders will be responsible for the modern political management of the country, in accordance with European and international standards.

The “Ovidiu Sincai” European School is one of the most important political academies in Romania, training young leaders from different backgrounds, different areas of public life and different political parties, together in one programme. Acting as an avant-garde programme, it seeks to bring Romania into a new era of political development. In the long run, it is envisaged that participants of the European School will go on to take up important and influential positions on the political scene, making use of the knowledge and skills gained during the seminars to ensure the security of Romania’s position within a united Europe.

The activities of the School are mainly centred on three interactive seminars held in Romania and the annual World Forum for Democracy held in Strasbourg. The seminars examine subjects on the public agenda, the functioning of democratic societies, and exercise of democratic power. The seminars are conducted by experienced national and international experts, hosted in a location away from the capital city. Each seminar usually lasts four days.

About the Director

Maria-Manuela Catrina graduated from the Lucian Blaga University in Sibiu, specializing in Maths and Computer Science, later following training courses in the field of Cybernetics at the University of Linz and in the field of security and international relations at the Carol I National Defence University of Bucharest. She began teaching Computer Science at the German-speaking Samuel von Brukenthal Gymnasium in Sibiu and later became a university lecturer in Economic Informatics and Computer Science at the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu. Later she took up advisory roles to the Prime Minister of Romania and has recently been parliamentary advisor to the President of the Chamber of Deputies. She has coordinated several projects in the field of politics, economics, academia and civil society, and has written about genetic and evolution programming, politics, and security and international relations. Since 2013 she has been Director of the “Ovidiu Sincai” European School and in February 2017, she was appointed State Secretary in the Ministry of Communication and Information Society.