West University of Timișoara
Institutional description
The West University of Timișoara (WUT) is the largest public university in western Romania, with around 15,000 students and 12 faculties covering arts, social sciences, and exact sciences. It promotes interdisciplinary education, internationalization, and strong links with pre-university education. Including 1,000 international students (6% of the student body), WUT fosters a globally oriented, interdisciplinary academic environment.
As a member of the UNITA European Alliance, WUT collaborates with 550+ global partners and supports student mobility. WUT has led and participated in numerous EU-funded projects, ranks 8th nationally, and runs advanced research centres in fields like AI, environmental science, and social sciences.
Website
Team members
Principal Investigator
Leyla Safta-Zecheria
Assistant Professor
ResearchGate profile https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andra-Jurca
Leyla Safta-Zecheria is a lecturer at the Educational Sciences Department, West University of Timișoara, a research affiliate to the Central European University’s Democracy Institute Inequalities and Democracy Workgroup. She holds two Bachelor of Arts degrees in Pedagogy (from the University of Bucharest) and European Studies from the University of Bremen, as well as an MA in European Ethnology from Humboldt University Berlin and a PhD in Political Science from Central European University Budapest. She has benefited from study and research stays at multiple institutions and universities around the world, including: Democracy Institute Budapest, Center for Advanced Studies Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen, Vienna (Austria), University of Sao Carlos (Sao Paulo, Brazil), University of Toronto (Canada) and New Europe College Bucharest. Her research is transdisciplinary and seeks to understand the ways in which instances of social, economic and educational inequality are lived through and described by marginalized people, as well as how these instances come to be constructed socially and epistemologically. Her inquiries are based on qualitative, visual, genealogical and participatory methods. She is the principal investigator of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Staff Exchange project “Ecosystems for Higher Education Inclusion”.
Researchers
Andra-Maria Jurca
Assistant Professor
ResearchGate profile https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andra-Jurca
Andra – Maria Juca is an assistant professor at the Department of Education Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, West University of Timișoara. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Special Psychopedagogy and graduated as double valedictorian from two master’s programs, namely Educational Counseling and Integration, as well as Educational Management and Curriculum Development. She worked as a traveling and support teacher in a middle school, helping students with special educational needs (SEN). Therefore, she has practical experience in inclusive education in primary and secondary education. Her areas of professional interest are: educational research, inclusive education, special education, self-esteem development in children with special needs, educational policy development, and educational management.
Melinda Dincă
Assistant Professor
ResearchGate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Melinda-Dinca
Melinda Dincă is an Associate Professor in the Sociology Department, Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, at West University of Timișoara (UVT), Romania. She holds a PhD in Sociology (2008) from the University of Bucharest and a doctoral grant in Social Anthropology at Université de Fribourg from the SCOPES program of the Swiss National Fund for Scientific Research (2005-2006). She defended her habilitation thesis in 2024 and coordinates doctoral studies in Sociology. She has conducted extensive fieldwork in marginalised communities, on the work integration process of disadvantaged people like Roma ethnics, young NEETs, persons with disabilities, migrants and refugees. Her research interests include social identity, social inclusion, cultural diversity, team-based and problem-based learning, and the internationalisation of higher education curricula in social sciences. Her recent research activities include participation in European projects such as: Bringing Real Life into Virtual Classrooms – EEA Grants (2022-2023), Ecosystems for Higher Education Inclusion – HORIZON-MSCA-SE-2024 (2025-2029), Sustainable Accessibility to the Labour Market – Interreg Europe (2024-2027), and Smart Shrinkage Solutions – HORIZON-2020 (2017-2020). Since 2012, Melinda has been coordinating the International Summer School in Social Anthropology, a blended, international co-teaching and co-learning intensive programme between UVT and the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. She is also responsible for the internationalisation of curricula within the European Alliance UNITA through collaborative international learning activities and cultural exchange (COIL/Virtual Exchange).
Mihai Predescu
Assistant Professor
ResearchGate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mihai-Predescu-2
Mihai Predescu is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Sciences at the West University of Timișoara (UVT), Romania. He holds a PhD in Psychology and currently serves as the Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences. His academic and professional work focuses on the fields of Special Education, Educational Psychology, and Disability Studies. Dr. Predescu is also a Senior trainer in Life Space Crisis Intervention (LSCI) and a founding member of the University Clinic for Therapies and Psychological and Educational Counselling. Through both his research and clinical practice, he explores ways to improve educational inclusion and psychological support systems. His work addresses several key areas, including the development of inclusive education frameworks that support the integration of students with disabilities and special educational needs into mainstream and higher education. He also focuses on behavioural interventions, promoting positive discipline strategies and ecological approaches in working with individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In addition, his research investigates psychological well-being among students and the role of educational institutions in fostering resilience and supportive learning environments.
Marius Lupșa Matichescu - Associate Professor
Marius Lupșa Matichescu is a university Associate Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Sociology and Psychology within the West University of Timișoara. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Timișoara and completed his master’s and doctoral studies at the University of Monpellier 3 in France. His areas of interest are quality of life, social integration of immigrants and political representation of minorities.
Since 2016, he coordinates yearly the research project Quality of Life in Timisoara, carried out on a representative sample basis of at least 1200 interviewees. This research aims to analyze the perceptions of the inhabitants about the city of Timisoara and the degree of satisfaction with the quality of life in the city. The study is structured in five dimensions aimed at: satisfaction with the city’s infrastructure and facilities, satisfaction with environmental indicators, perception of the city and the neighborhood and, satisfaction with one’s life.
His research interests are quality of life, immigrants’ integration and political representation. He is co-author of: “Electoral Rules and Ethnic Representation in Romania” (Communist and Post-Communist Studies), “Clientelism and Political Recruitment in Democratic Transition: Evidence from Romania” (Comparative Politics), and “Political Recruitment in Romania: Continuity and Change” in Ronald King and Paul Sum (eds), “Romania under Basescu: Aspirations, Achievements, and Frustrations during his First Presidential Term”.
The most important publications related to migration issues are: L’émigration roumaine. Une question de famille. Paris, France: L’Harmattan Publishing and The Romanian Migration: Development of the Phenomenon and the Part Played by the Immigration Policies of European Countries, (Review of Research and Social Intervention 2015), L’émigration roumaine en Europe de 1990 à 2007: Causes, cadre juridique, évolution et développement, profil d’émigrant – Ediția a doua revizuita. Editura de Vest,
Theofild-Andrei LAZĂR - Associate Professor
Theofild-Andrei LAZĂR, graduate of the West University of Timisoara, currently works as a Associate Professor at the West University of Timisoara (Romania). He received his PhD from West University of Timisoara in 2010 with a thesis on rural community development. His professional interests are focused on the following areas: social work, social services, community development, social integration of vulnerable groups, employment strategies and penitentiary studies.
Velibor Mladenovici - PhD
Velibor Mladenovici holds a PhD in Educational Sciences (summa cum laude, April 2025) from the West University of Timișoara, Romania. Since 2017, he has worked in research and training roles at the university’s Center of Academic Development, supporting instructional development for higher education teachers. His doctoral research examined how academics’ conceptions of teaching and learning evolve and how these shifts relate to their teaching approaches and, in turn, to student learning. His current interests span curriculum and instruction, student-centred teaching, AI in education, diverse methodological designs, and advanced quantitative methods for evidence-informed improvement and evaluation (e.g., multilevel modelling, latent growth analysis, network analysis). He has published in leading international journals in higher education and educational research and maintains an active international conference profile. He has authored/co-authored 15+ peer-reviewed publications (primarily in the Web of Science) and serves as a reviewer for several renowned journals in the field. Currently, he is engaged in teaching and learning innovation initiatives, including inter-university collaboration, with a growing focus on how inclusive research and inclusive teaching principles can be translated into practical teacher training and academic development.
Web of Science profile: https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/AHD-0038-2022
Google Scholar profile: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=9T8bwGYAAAAJ&hl=ro
ResearchGate profile: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Velibor-Mladenovici
ORCID: 0000-0002-6118-7046
Claudia-Vasilica Borca - Associate Professor
Claudia-Vasilica Borca is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, West University of Timișoara. Her research interests in educational inclusion in the context of special educational needs, neurodevelopmental disorders, sensory disabilities, high abilities, and metacognition have resulted in over 60 publications.
She has developed and implemented continuing education programs for teachers and other education professionals on the above-mentioned topics. She has over three decades of experience in the theory and practice of special and inclusive education.