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New Grading System Means Competition for Student Aid

Grades and Aid

Oana Trifan

Students who score high on their yearend grades can now earn free tuition in state universities – and those who don’t may lose their financial aid.

Under the new incentive plan, the top 30 freshmen from each school will qualify for free tuition next year.

New Blogs Born Every Minute

It’s Getting Crowded in Cyberspace

Elena Todica

Adrian Miu worries on the web that the dispute over newspaper cartoons of Mohammad might start an all-out war between Muslims and westerners. A woman in Iraq sees the situation from a closer and scarier perspective: “The sounds of shooting and explosions usually begin at dawn,” she writes. “At least that’s when I first sense them, and they don’t really subside until well into the night.”

Editorial

When Going Along Means Going Wrong

Andreea Retea

I learned early that corruption was a way of life. Later on, I learned that it doesn’t have to be.

School as Submission

Succeeding in School Can Be a Holy Order

Victoria Vioara

She never skips classes and she always completes her assignments. She is No. 7 on the school’s matriculation list. Andreea Zarafu, 26, obeys authority, but she is no snob or teacher’s pet. She’s a nun.

Climbers Look Forward to Growth of Their Sport

Tea Vasilescu

Don’t look down! Although mountain climbing is not a traditional sport in Romania, young climbers are looking ahead. The two youth branches of the Romanian Alpine Club are planning to re-establish University Cup competitions, the first since the communist era.

This Career Is No Sure Bet

Casino Dealer Plans to Finish College

Oana Trifan

Some young students make lots of money, get free gifts and enjoy an exciting night life.
Most people would be satisfied to live like that, but for Adrian Lãmãºanu and many of his colleagues, it’s just another job. They’re still hoping to hit the big time.

Around Town

Music, museum, books

Florin Ciocotisan, Alexandra Ginja, Andreea Retea

Read the full article

Movie Careers

Sometimes You Don't See the Stars

Oana Trifan

After finishing journalism college two years ago Aniela Gãliceanu worked as an assistant movie director for two years before moving to Media Pro, where she does similar work. The days are long: 12 to 14 hours, six days a week. The pay is good: up to 500 euros weekly. Her story is an example of how more young Romanians are making it in the entertainment business.

Students and workers complain

Law School Students suffer dog attacks

Claudiu Ludoşan

Aggressive wild dogs attack people in the Law School campus of the University of Bucharest almost every week and nobody in the university leadership seems willing to take action to solve the problem, students and workers complain.

University websites

Google this … if you can

Mariana Marin

What do Cambridge University, Harvard, Yale or even Petrosani University all have in common? Tough question I know, but the answer is both simple and painful: they all have websites that are better than our own at the University of Bucharest (www.unibuc.ro).

The Bullet Poll

Many students work during university

Alex Cilibianu, Paul Dumitru, Ioana Pavel

Over half of Bucharest university students work for money during their studies and most of those who do not would like to get a paying job at some point, according to a poll conducted by “The Bullet”.

When talking dirty online pays

Secret life of Bucharest girl student

Cristina Mazilu

Adriana has a secret life. Most people know her as a second-year psychology student with a boyfriend and a normal life. But to her customers on a video sex chat Internet site, she is Anysia, a “blond with a perfect body, light skin and blue eyes”, who likes to “please all her guests”.

What’s happening to boys in our universities?

Paul Dumitru, Mariana Marin, Ioana Pavel

What’s happening to young men at our universities? While the number of students in Romanian higher educational institutions rose from 190,000 in 1990 to 650,000 by 2005, the proportion of male students has fallen sharply. Today, nearly 71 percent of students enrolled at the University of Bucharest are female, according to Teamwork, a private organization of academics and students linked to the Department of Sociology.

Fungus

Health crisis at university building

Claudiu Ludoşan, Simina Mistreanu

Water leaking into the A building in the Leu campus is threatening its structural soundness, interfering with education and poses a health hazard to students and professors alike.

Students live amid garbage

“They just throw the garbage out the window”, Maria said about her campus colleagues at Leu.

Hygiene in dorms and cafeterias - below acceptable standard

Simina Mistreanu, Claudiu Ludoşan

A survey of student dorms and cafeterias in Bucharest has revealed unacceptable standards of basic hygiene at many facilities with the cleanliness of toilets providing a particular problem.

No campaign to inform students about HIV/AIDS

Laura Elena Culiţă, Cristina Negraru

Romania has one of the largest AIDS/HIV problems in Europe but at the moment the University of Bucharest offers no information programs on this deadly disease to students.

Students with Children Balance Books with Diapers

Iulia Roşca, Alexandra Zachi

For some students, campus life is more than attending classes, cramming for exams, clubbing and late night conversations with friends. Some choose the responsibility of raising a family while they work for their degrees and have to balance their studies with the need to wake up in the middle of the night to feed a baby.

Dorm residents plagued by “thieves in the night”

Simina Mistreanu, Claudiu Ludoşan

What’s it like to wake up in the middle of the night with a stranger trying to collect all the mobile phones in your room? Well, this happens often to students living in university dorms in Bucharest.

As politicians squabble, students yawn

Cristina Mazilu, Cristina Pelerini

As the President and Prime Minister hurl insults at one another and struggle for supremacy, Romanian students say they don’t care about politics unless it is the subject of their next exam.

The spring cleaning needs volunteers

Paul Dumitru

The second edition of „The Spring Cleaning Campaign” will takes place Saturday, March the 24th, from 9 a.m. till 4 p.m.. This is an initiative of the student organization Team Work, in collaboration with the „Dimitrie Brândză” Botanical Garden.

Art School Misses Construction Deadline

Simina Mistreanu

Despite promises from the authorities to improve the situation by the end of last year, students at the University of Arts in Bucharest are still forced to work in overcrowded and noisy conditions while repairs have dragged out far beyond the deadline.

Students Union Gives Young Minister Cautious Welcome

Iulia Roşca

The National Union of Students in Romania (UNSR) is hoping for close relations with the new Education Minister, Cristian Adomniţei, a 32-year-old whose appointment last month drew criticism due to his youth and relative lack of experience.

Many scholarships available but few know about them

Cristina Pelerini

Romanian universities offer a wide range of student scholarships but many students seem not to know about them while others say they are too low to be worth applying for.

Wild Dogs Strike Again: University ‘Can Do Nothing’

Claudiu Ludoşan

Wild dogs have bitten at least three students on the campus of the Law School in recent weeks but university authorities say they are powerless to solve the problem. The Bullet drew attention to these dog attacks in its November 2007 issue. But nothing has been done and students are still being threatened, terrorized and injured.

New Youth Theater Offers Unkown Young Actors Chance to Shine

Andreea Tincea

Although the formal opening is not until September 27, the Metropolis Youth Theater at No. 89 on Mihai Eminescu Street is already a happening place.