Valentin Popa

Valentin Popa is a Romanian engineer, university professor, and politician. On 17 February 2012 he was elected rector of the Ștefan cel Mare University of Suceava.[1] He was also minister of education of Romania from 30 January to 27 September 2018.[2][3]

Valentin Popa
Valentin Popa
Born	(1964-07-12) July 12, 1964 Corabia, România
Citizenship	Romanian
Occupation	Professor
Academic background
Alma mater	Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi
Thesis	Contributions to the growth of processing speed in modems (1998)
Academic work
Discipline	Electronic and telecommunications engineer
Institutions	Ștefan cel Mare University of Suceava
Minister of National Education
In office 30 January 2018 – 27 September 2018
Preceded by	Liviu Pop
Succeeded by	Rovana Plumb (interim)
Personal details
Political party	Social Democratic Party (Romania)
Website	http://www.eed.usv.ro/~valentin/

Academic career

Popa obtained a degree in electronic and telecommunications engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Iasi, the current Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi, in 1989. He started his academic career as a teaching assistant in a college of this university in Suceava, which would one year later become the current Ștefan cel Mare University of Suceava. He obtained a PhD from the same Polytechnic Institute of Iasi in 1998, and rose through all the academic ranks in Suceava until he became full professor in 2005, and was habilitated to supervise doctoral research in 2009.[4] On 17 February 2012 he was elected rector of the Ștefan cel Mare University of Suceava.[5]

International profile

During his mandate as rector, Popa raised the international profile of Ștefan cel Mare University of Suceava. On 7 July 2015, the President of Moldova, Nicolae Timofti, was awarded an honorary doctorate by this university, in the presence of the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis. Popa was also the one who proposed Russian ambassador Valeri Kuzmin at a seminar in Suceava to strengthen scientific co-operation in order to improve tank braking systems. The polemic Moscow diplomat in Bucharest had declared that Russia had not intervened in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbass, as proved by the fact that, when they really did intervene in Abkhazia, their tanks did not stop until they were close to the Georgian capital Tbilisi.[6] In 2015 he sponsored the creation of the first master's degree entirely taught in English at the University of Suceava, which was also the subject of a double-degree agreement with a Spanish university.[7][8][9]

Political activity

The nominalization of Popa as minister of national education faced the initial opposition of an influential faction of the Social Democratic Party (Romania). They backed the powerful Ecaterina Andronescu, who had been active in national politics since 1996, including three times as minister of national education. Commentators of this internal conflict, that was very apparent in the Executive Committee of the party, already foresaw that the "hunt" of the new appointee, as they defined it, would continue in the media.[10] But Popa's nomination resisted the pressures, as he had the backing not only of his party in Suceava, but also of 45 out of 48 Romanian rectors and, most importantly, the national leader of the party, Liviu Dragnea.[11] On 27 September 2018 he announced his resignation as minister of national education, as a result of a dispute with UDMR, a key partner of the coalition government he was part of, over whether Romanian language courses for Hungarian minority pupils should be taught by native Romanian speakers.[12][13][14]

References

1. Alphonso, Oana (18 February 2012). "Valentin Popa este noul rector al Universităţii „Ştefan cel Mare"". Monitorul de Suceava. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
2. Neagu, Alina (30 January 2018). "Valentin Popa a preluat mandatul de ministru al Educatiei". HotNews.ro. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
3. "Cabinetul Dăncilă a mai pierdut un membru". Retrieved 28 September 2018.
4. "Valentin Popa - Pagina personala". Facultatea de Inginerie și Știința Calculatoarelor. Universitatea Ștefan cel Mare din Suceava. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
5. Alphonso, Oana (18 February 2012). "Valentin Popa este noul rector al Universităţii „Ştefan cel Mare"". Monitorul de Suceava. Retrieved 7 March 2018.
6. Baias, Ionut (27 January 2018). "Cine este Valentin Popa, noul ministru al Educatiei, surprins in repetate randuri facand greseli gramaticale si de limba". HotNews.ro. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
7. Axon, Magda (30 January 2015). "Master de turism, în limba engleză, la Universitatea „Ştefan cel Mare" Suceava". Crai Nou. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
8. Talpala, Adelina (30 January 2015). "Primele demersuri pentru înfiinţarea unui master în limba engleză la Universitatea Suceava". Monitorul de Suceava. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
9. "Master in limba engleză la Universitatea „Ştefan cel Mare" Suceava". Newsme.ro. 29 January 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
10. Voicu, Ion (16 January 2018). "EXCLUSIV Valentin Popa, Educație, lovitură în Comitetul Executiv PSD. STENOGRAME". DCnews. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
11. "Gafele ministrului propus la Educație". Digi24. 28 January 2018. Cum comentează Tăriceanu și Dragnea. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
12. Stepanov, Raluca (28 September 2018). "A demisionat ministrul Educaţiei, Valentin Popa. „Limba română şi România nu sunt de negociat"". Adevarul. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
13. Moise, Iulia (27 September 2018). "UPDATE. DISPUTA cu UDMR, MOTIVUL pentru care Popa face un pas în SPATE. Breaking news. CUTREMUR în PSD. Ministrul Educației a DEMISIONAT!". EVZ.ro. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
14. "Valentin Popa recunoaște că a demisionat din cauza UDMR şi povesteşte ce experienţă a avut la o şcoală din Harghita". Digi24. 27 September 2018. Retrieved 8 October 2018.