Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism

Located in the heart of Bucharest’s old town, Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism provides training for future architects, product designers, monument restorers, as well as landscape, territorial and urban designers. The university’s alumni include award-winning architects and designers working around the world including Serban Enache and Oana Vinatoru.

There are three faculties at Ion Mincu: architecture, interior architecture and urbanism. All offer a mixture of different graduate and undergraduate courses. Over 1,800 students are currently enrolled.

The university’s six-year, full-time architecture diploma is valid for professional practice in all other European Union member states. This qualification also means that anyone intending to work as an architect in the UK would not have to pass the qualification exams set by the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Ion Mincu, who gave the university its name, was an architect viewed by some as the creator of the Neo-Romanian style, which integrated medieval Romanian features into 19th Century building constructions. The university’s main headquarters includes a building designed by Grigore Cerchez, one of Mincu’s contemporaries.

Since 1982, the university has operated a museum dedicated to the history of architecture in Romania. Ion Mincu claims its library is the oldest specialist book collection in the country. Ion Mincu is also home to several specialist research facilities, such as the Centre of Studies in Vernacular Architecture.

Students at Ion Mincu have the opportunity to study abroad in one of 50 partner universities across Europe. Work placements are regularly organised at architectural and design firms in both Romania and other countries.