Study! Grow! Inspire! Unite! REF Pilots a Regional RMUSP Gala in Romania

On Friday, November 14, at an official morning ceremony at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Grigore T. Popa” in Iasi, some 40 Roma university students from Iasi and surrounding counties attended REF’s Roma Memorial University Scholarship (RMUSP) gala.

On Friday, November 14, at an official morning ceremony at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Grigore T. Popa” in Iasi, some 40 Roma university students from Iasi and surrounding counties attended REF’s Roma Memorial University Scholarship (RMUSP) gala. By accepting their scholarships, they join for 2014-2015 a group of approximately 310 Roma students in higher education in Romania who are beneficiaries of REF’s RMUSP program, and overall join 1,070 RMUSP recipients from Albania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, FYR Macedonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Serbia, Slovakia and Turkey, all of whom are the legacy of REF’s ten-year effort to build a generation of young Roma active in all spheres of academic and professional life.

This inaugural event in Iasi brings together Roma students studying sciences and humanities in Iasi and its surrounding counties with the explicit aim of creating a public motivational forum for them to share their experiences as well as provide the conditions for them to build the relationships that will follow them throughout their future academic and professional lives.

“Ten years ago, there were few opportunities for access to higher education for Roma students and fewer opportunities to access the labor market. Through the academic, Roma Education Fund has made possible the creation of dozens of generations of Roma graduates in all professional fields, an important component of the program is to encourage all students to not forget their origins beneficiaries and become citizens, active in society and in promoting opportunities among Roma pupils and students. 

“An important objective of the program is to try to reach those who need the most support REF, thereby maximizing the impact of the investment. REF university scholarship program is part of a wider intervention Foundation to promote access to inclusive education, quality, aimed at all age groups, corresponding levels of preschool, primary and secondary education or higher education,” said Dan Pavel Doghi, National Director, Foundation Romania Roma Education Fund.

Speakers at the event included Prof. Dr. Vasile Astărăstoae, Rector of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Grigore T. Popa” Iasi; Dan Pavel Doghi, National Director of Roma Education Fund Romania and Higher Education Prorgram Manager at Roma Education Fund’s headquarters in Budapest; Maria Ursu, Project Manager; and Mihaela Iancu, National Coordinator of the Roma Memorial University Scholarship Program (RMUSP) from the Roma Education Fund Foundation Romania. They were joined by special guests Vasile Ionescu, one of Romania’s leading Roma scholars, and Margareta Herțanu, president of the ProRoma Association.

Photographs of the event can be accessed here.

Background

The Roma Education Fund operates a proven pattern of interventions that begin with educational services for early childhood development in disadvantaged communities and continues with tutoring, mentoring, afterschool support and stipends to help Roma pupils complete primary and secondary school. REF additionally provides tertiary scholarship support to Roma students through scholarship programs for the last 9 years.

The REF scholarship program recognizes over 1,500 students each year to talented Romani students pursuing degrees in tertiary education. Including this year’s cycle, REF has successfully sponsored over 15,000 beneficiaries with its scholarship programs and continues to promote access of quality education to Roma through its related programs, slowly creating a pool of Roma graduates in all professional spheres.