ASE’s library provides:

• Free access to textbooks and courses on different topics, as the library improves its online offer of the specialized bibliography provided in the curriculum. The digital material is available for online consultation on the library platform. The ASE library provides off-campus online access to electronic resources to scientific or specialized electronic resources for the economic field and related disciplines according to the university curriculum and research fields through the mobile access service.
• Training sessions on various topics.           
• Free of charge access to materials such as digitized publications, eBooks and others.
• Open access inside the library for the general public, and charged for those who are not part or study in the university.
• Free access to specialized software used in research, documentation and individual study processes by members of the ASE academic community (Details here, p.43)
• The ASE Library continued to expand access to specialized literature by updating and developing the “Online Library” component, which integrates a series of teaching staff publications published under the auspices of the ASE Publishing House. The collection of specialist titles available online includes university courses, textbooks, books and application papers in electronic format. The online library is accessible to the general public here.
• Courses, books and other publications recommended/requested by the teaching staff for the course bibliography, or in order to prepare the exams, have been digitized, being available for consultation in electronic/digital format in the Online Library. The online courses available on the library platform in full format or selections can be consulted without authentication.

Access to free courses is made available as a result of participation in different international projects:

• Teaching materials and tutorials in Applied Computer Science or programming engineering. These specialized sites also allow the running of applications, not just the display of didactic materials.
• Training materials for entrepreneurs, for supporting the personal and organizational development process
• Culture and language courses.

Other targeted initiatives:

• Let’s talk – meetings to improve vocabulary in certain foreign languages (Details here, p.68). 
• Heal your Brain – restoring mental balance after the pandemic (Details here, p.67).
• Speak your mind – improving public speaking skills (Details here, p.69).

Free additional online training in Microeconomics and Mathematics and free courses in November, December 2022 and January 2023 for students on first-year undergraduate university programs.

Free courses for learning foreign languages (Russian, French, German, Turkish, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Spanish) provided by the Department of Modern Languages and Business Communication

Free access journals, allowing the share of latest scientific results in both Romanian and English (the Amfiteatru Economic Journal) or in English (such as the Journal of Economic Computation And Economic Cybernetics Studies and Research, Romanian Economic Journal, Journal of Accounting and Management Information Systems (JAMIS), etc.)

Free chess lessons for ASE students, both beginner, intermediate and advanced levels.

Free courses provided through summer schools:

• Japanese language courses for students who have studied at least one year in the optional Japanese language course at ASE.
• Courses on the topic of resilience and good governance in the context of the crisis, following the summer school developed under the project “Teaching Institutional Resilience and Prompt Reaction to Crisis: Good Governance Experiences in Europe”.
• The course “Becoming a leader”, for the development of leadership skills among ASE students.

Elective course for pupils, named “Robotics and Life”, developed by professors within ASE for teaching in an interdisciplinary way elements related to mathematics, informatics, physics, biology, but also sustainability.

ASEciti Magazine is a free access space for sharing the novelties in the university through the eyes of the students. 

The Professional Training Program Regarding Local Gastronomy Points, provided by the Faculty of Agri-food and Environmental Economics within ASE in partnership with the National Agency of the Mountain Region.

The skills acquired covered aspects related to:

• Local Gastronomic Points (PGL) – concept, legal framework, specific aspects;
• Organization of PGL activity – facilities, rules for sanitation and security of premises, hygiene of people who serve PGL, waste management and environmental protection;
• Basic activities in PGL – providing ingredients for food preparation (from the household or neighborhood), handling and storing food, preparing food, receiving guests and serving the meal;
• Promotion of PGL and customer loyalty – communication of offers;

After completing the course, students received a certificate of participation required for the establishment of a Local Gastronomic Point.

ASE has a special programme for teaching Romanian as a foreign language to international/foreign students (and not only) at a high academic level, focused on 3 modern conceptual skills: professionalism, multiculturalism and europeanism.

Entrepreneurial training programs: 814 ASE students enrolled in entrepreneurial training programs, of which 673 students completed the courses and obtained the certificate of entrepreneurial skills (Details here, p.101).

ASE provides access to the public to different events. Some of them are free, while others are charged.

a) Free events:

ASE Library training sessions for useful information on documentation resources available in the library, services and facilities offered by the library, conditions of access and services, types of collections, electronic resources, the online library, full text or data journal platforms and ways to access, mobile resource access service.

Open Days virtual caravans, which are online promotion events that provide interested persons with a virtual tour of study programs and educational facilities.

The International Week and the International Knowledge Fair in ASE hosted a series of events in the university campus as well as in the online environment, open to the general public:

• The International Week: 36 events (video-conferences, webinars, interactive debates, working meetings) were organized. The event enjoyed the presence of international professors, public and private representatives that debated specific topics, such as:              
  • Measuring mass flows crossing economic systems to switch from linear to circular economy models. Evidence in the area of food waste. Special guest prof. Vera Amicarelli (Aldo Moro university, Bari, Italy)
  • NextGenerationEU: Debate on the role of youth in the EU. Guest speaker: Leonard Orban, the first Romanian EC, former Minister of European Affairs
  • Workshop: “METRO Cash&Carry: Who we are + Tips & tricks to start your career!”
• The International Knowledge Fair addressed the topic of Sustainable Development Goals in a series of 17 events open to the general public, such as:
  • Research and education for sustainable tourism. Special guest associate prof. Francesco Badia, University of Bari Aldo Moro
  • Workshop – The contribution of circular economy to territorial sustainable development: employment contributions. Special guest prof. André Torre, President of ERSA (European Regional Science Association) University Paris-Saclay, INRAE – Agroparistech
  • Seminar How can academics contribute to the SDGs objectives in our university?, Host prof. Nadia Albu, Faculty of Accounting and Management Information Systems, ASE
  • Addressing the Sustainable Development Goal 5 ”Gender Equality” at the level of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies: Overview of the Gender Equality Plan of the University for the period 2022-2030, Host prof. Roxana Elisabeta Marinescu Department of Modern Languages and Business Communication, ASE
  • Fishing or Finding in the Arena: A PostCOVID-19 alternative to work, work-life balance and the pursuit of happiness. Special guest prof. Julia Underwood Dean, California Institute of Advanced Management
  • Free access to justice and sustainable development. Guests: associate prof. Ovidiu Ioan Dumitru, associate prof. Cătălin Octavian Mănescu, Faculty of Law, ASE.

Editorial events of the ASE Publishing House: participation in the 15th edition of the Bookfest International Book Fair, the 29th edition of the Gaudeamus Radio Romania Book Fair and involvement in organizing events for books releases, a good opportunity for generated exchange of ideas with the general public. (Details here, p.63-66)

The Student Entrepreneurship Society within ASE is hosting events that target topics on entrepreneurship, also with free access.

SPEAK YOUR MIND – COMMUNICATION IS THE KEY – Project dedicated to all ASE students who face the fear of public speaking, for facilitating their integration on the labour market (Details here, p.69).

LET’S TALK – TIPS & TRICKS FOR JOBS – Workshops helping students who know a foreign language to practice their knowledge. Within the project, debates are held on various topics in English, French, Japanese. (Details here, p.68).

DEBATE ASE – Starting from situations in everyday life, the “Debate Romania” project promotes dynamic debates with economic character, in a non-formal setting, where clear arguments are combined with convincing discourse (Details here, p.68).

SPEAK YOUR MIND – Project aiming to improve students’ public speaking skills. The main objective of this project is that, at the end of the training session, the speech has the following characteristics: clarity and fluency, coherence and accuracy, correctness, logic and effectiveness.  (Details here, p.69).

b) Free and charged events:

The conferences and business events hosted by ASE where the representatives of public institutions, private environment or foreign speakers are invited are also free to the general public. Details here.

Events and conferences hosted by the Centre of Counselling and Career Orientation in ASE. (Details here, p.37)

ASE Museum was opened for visitors during the event “Night of Museums” and received the visit of over 600 persons in 2022. (Details here, p.73)

c) Charged events

ASE organizes several conferences, both national and international, where the participation of the public is charged. A comprehensive list of the conferences is available here.

ASE provides postgraduate training and continuous professional development programs with durations between 20 and 198 hours, vocational training programs with a duration of 48 hours. (Details here, p.26)

The Faculty of Accounting and Management Information Systems developed the project “The implications of the sustainability reporting on the accounting profession”, in which it develops partnerships with national and international professional associations and organizations to strengthen sustainability reporting and promote education in the area of sustainability reporting.

ASE is providing the course “Public administration for sustainable development” for central public administration employees.

ASE has a special programme for teaching Romanian as a foreign language where usually foreign students within ASE study the Romanian language. However, the study programme is open to the general public too.

The Professional Training Program Regarding Local Gastronomy Points, provided by the Faculty of Agri-food and Environmental Economics within ASE in partnership with the National Agency of the Mountain Region.

The Smart Lab Inaco – a project which develops the first intelligent laboratory in Romanian schools, where students learn using multifunctional educational robots, virtual reality glasses, pencils, scanners and 3D printers. The project is implemented by assoc. prof. Andreea Paul, member of the ASE academic community. The originality of the project lies in the integration of 4.0 technologies and the creation of intelligent digital content, which transforms learning into an enjoyable, pragmatic, friendly activity with long-term results. Thanks to the best-performing audio-video streaming system, students can collaborate with other Smart Lab-equipped schools in the country and abroad, and teachers can collaborate with other teaching staff to support them in perfecting modern teaching activities. Smart Lab Inaco was the winner of the “Innovative Educational Project of the Year 2021 BETT Educational Fair” section, which took place in London in March 2022.

The conference “Career counselling and the professions of the future” organized by the Career Counseling and Guidance Center within ASE. The conference had over 40 participants from the business environment, from the counselling centres of public and private universities in Bucharest, Cluj, Craiova, Pitești, Târgoviște and Timișoara, but also from the university community, students and teaching staff. The event was part of the series of actions to promote good practices in advising students and the dialogue between representatives of universities and those of the socio-economic environment in order to provide advice for the professions of the future. (Details here, p.38)

ASE has different activities and organizations which extend the presence of the university beyond the campus:

• Free business consulting services, which is a unique approach in the Romanian university environment: over 1300 students have offered free generic consulting for 350 Romanian entrepreneurs in the last 5 years. Whenever necessary, consultancy could be provided on both planned programme and ad-hoc basis in the case of each organization acting under ASE or the projects developed by ASE specialists.
• “The ASE caravan” is a project in whichthe university interacts with high schools in the region, presenting the educational offer or providing basic courses in economics.
• The student associations within ASE are highly involved in the community and act on a voluntary student-run schemes
• Contests for pupils in high schools with economic profile is another activity in which ASE is involved (Details here, p.118)
• ASE participated in the “Night of European Researchers 2020” dedicated to the direct relationship between researchers and the public and presenting year after year the diversity of research throughout a series of workshops. (Details here, p.174)

Opportunities on the development of different career workshops with company specialists or training and education visits.

Through its activities, targeted groups and stakeholders, ASE has already demonstrated and is prone to further guarantee that access to lifelong learning is accessible to all. The principle of non-discrimination to which ASE subscribes state clearly that within ASE, any form of discrimination is prohibited based on: gender, sexual orientation, genetic characteristics, age, nationality, race, colour, ethnicity, religion, political option, social origin, disability, family status or responsibility, union activity. The principle is inscribed in both the Internal Regulation and the ASE Charter.

More than that, there is the Office of Quality Management and Internal Managerial Control for ensuring the quality of the educational and scientific research process, within which there functions the Commission for evaluation and quality assurance at the level of the entire ASE and Committees for evaluation and quality assurance for each faculty within ASE. The Office annually prepares the Academic Quality Assurance Self-Assessment Report and quality assurance specific documents.

In order to further improve the quality of education and to ensure access to lifelong learning, ASE approved, for the first time in its history, the Digitization Strategy for the period 2022-2027.

Under the umbrella of the strategy, the “Sustainable university through digitization. Investing in research and education infrastructure” project will be implemented. The project aims to invest in 5 essential objectives formulated in accordance with the Digitalization Strategy of ASE: CA oct

• the redesign and rewriting of the education management system;
• the modernization of the e-learning platform;
• modernization of the Data Centre equipment;
• modernization of the communications infrastructure of Intranet-ASE;
• modernizing the equipment of the educational spaces allocated for seminars and laboratories; creating advanced digital skills in emerging technologies and improving educational and research activities.

Within the project, there will be created:

• 8 new research laboratories for artificial intelligence, urban digital agriculture, 3D printing, cyber security, virtual and augmented reality, advanced robotics, digital communication, marketing simulations and research in neuro- sciences as well as a computerized digital testing centre.
• 10 digital business transformation laboratories where members of the academic community will be able to use modern technologies in the teaching and research process.
• 31 study programs will be updated to provide specific skills for emerging professions and to strengthen entrepreneurial skills in the digital sector.

Involvement in events with the representatives of the public environment for developing a better approach to quality education and improving the insertion on the labour market:

• Participating in the first meeting of the Education Research Network, established at the proposal of the Scientific Council of the Education Research Unit, within the National Centre for Policies and Evaluation in Education. The role of this network is to address strategic themes that will be analysed in working groups and will help decision makers in substantiating policies.
• Participating in the launch event of the Internship Guide, which helps on the professional insertion of young people on a basis of skills harmonized with the needs of the business environment, thus strengthening the ability of companies to recruit and retain talent.
• Participation in the event “State of the Nation: Level of Digital Literacy in Romania”, which presented the results of the digital literacy report were presented. During the discussions, ASE reiterated the stringency of digital development, as a theme of maximum importance for the economic, social and academic environments. He also referred to the benefits of holding such conferences that debate the need for digital transformation of economic organizations, including universities, and the possibility of rapid adaptation of economic players to the implementation of digital infrastructure projects.
• Involvement in the debate in the Romanian Parliament, on the topic of „The importance of internships for young people and the improvement of the legislative framework”.
• Participating in the UNICA General Assembly and Rector’s Seminar “Leading Digital Transformation in the Post-COVID University”, which took place at University College, Dublin, Ireland, in which member universities analyse the latest activities, develop ideas for new projects and initiatives, have the opportunity to discuss policy issues related to the European Higher Education Area and the role of universities in society.
• Involvement in the debate for the approval of the new National Plan for Research, Development and Innovation 2022-2027.
• Meeting with the Prime Minister, the Minister of Education, the Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitization and the Presidential Adviser for Education and Research on issues regarding issues related to the university environment, ethics and deontology issues.
• Working meeting with the Minister of Education to debate the proposals regarding the Education Law.
• Involvement in the debate “Capital versus responsibility and independence in the field of liberal professions” within the Committee for Budget, Finance and Banks of the Chamber of Deputies.
• Involvement in the debates on the competitiveness of higher education at the conference “Bridges to the future: proposals for public policies and systemic measures to increase the quality and competitiveness of higher education in Romania”.

Events with the public and private environments, teaching staff and students for addressing lifelong learning and the adaptation of the educational offer to the needs of the labour market:

• The event “Adaptation of the educational offer to the requirements of the labour market”. Representatives of the ASE management, the socio-economic environment, teaching staff and students participated and the debate focused on the skills needed by young graduates on the labor market, as well as the correlation of university programs with them. On this occasion, the provision of opportunities for students, such as internships, internships, jobs, scholarships and research awards, was also discussed. Solutions for improving current processes and developing soft skills were also identified.
• The thematic workshops “Analysis of the correlation between the professional path of the graduates and the skills obtained in the study programs of ASE. Involvement in activities, projects, programs intended for students” and “Ensuring skills in the context of the dynamics of the global economy and the evolution of the digital society (new jobs, opportunities in IT, agriculture, energy, support services for companies, etc.)” involved discussions regarding the skills useful for the professional course, acquired as a result of the ASE study programs, the skills necessary for ASE graduates in order to be employed and the involvement of the socio-economic environment in the correlation of the educational offer of ASE Bucharest with the requirements of the labour market.