Seven World Sports Champions and Olympians Enrolled at the University of Bucharest in the July 2023 Session and will Benefit from Excellence Scholarships

Seven world sports champions and Olympians, who enrolled at the faculties of the University of Bucharest in the July 2023 admission session, which ended on Tuesday, July 11, will benefit from the performance scholarships launched this year and special conditions during the years of study. They are part of the first generation of performance scholarship holders of the University of Bucharest and will receive scholarships worth 1,500 lei (gold medal/1^st place), 1,250 lei (silver medal/ 2^nd place) and 1,000 lei (bronze medal/3^rd place), as well as the possibility to enroll in a place of study financed by study grants, benefiting from the status of a special place. The decision to grant the performance scholarships was adopted by the Senate of the University of Bucharest in the meeting of May 17, 2023. Also, each Olympian will have at the level of the faculty in which she/he will study, a mentor, chosen from among the teaching staff of the faculty, who will guide the progress during the three years of study.

Among the Olympians who chose the University of Bucharest to continue their studies, five opted for the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science, one chose the Faculty of Business and Administration and another one, the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences.

The performances of the champions who opted for the University of Bucharest also indicate the interdisciplinarity that characterizes the progress of Olympians, from mathematics or computer science to shotokan karate, rugby or swimming.

Thus, David Popovici, multiple world swimming champion, chose the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences. Named the best swimmer of 2022 by “Swimming World Magazine”, the most prestigious publication in the world dedicated to swimming, David Popovici has managed to achieve numerous outstanding results throughout his career. Among them, we mention the two gold medals from the World Swimming Championships in Budapest (2022) – 100 and 200 meters freestyle, the silver medal at the World Swimming Championships in Melbourne (2022) – 200 meters freestyle, but also the gold medals obtained in 2022 at the European Swimming Championships in Rome – 100 and 200 meters freestyle and in 2021 at the European Swimming Championships in Kazan – 200 meters freestyle.

Lucia Rîșnoveanu, multiple Olympian in mathematics, chose the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science. Two of her most important achievements are the gold medal obtained at the European Girls’ Mathematical Olympiad in 2021 and the bronze medal obtained in 2022 in the same competition.

Mihnea Andreescu, multiple Olympian in computer science, also chose the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science. Among the performances achieved during the high school years, we mention the silver medals obtained at the Informatics Balkaniad (2022 and 2021), 1^st Prize at the National Olympiad of the Society for Excellence and Performance in Computer Science (2021) and the awards obtained during the Tournaments of Computer Science from 2021 – silver medal and from 2019 – bronze medal.

Mircea Munteanu, multiple rugby champion, chose the Faculty of Business and Administration. One of Mircea’s best performances is the bronze medal obtained at Gymnasiade Normandy (2023) – rugby in 7. To this is added second place at the U18 National Championship (2023), first place at the U17 National Championship (2022), as well as first place at the U14 National Championship (2019).To the four previously mentioned Olympians, two international Olympians in mathematics and a world champion in shotokan karate are added, who chose the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science of the University of Bucharest.

“The University of Bucharest supports performance and champions in all fields. We are honored to associate with great champions and great characters like David Popovici and contribute to their education and professional training in parallel with participation in scientific or sports contests and competitions. Our new Science Olympians and Sports Medalist Performance Scholarship program has begun with the admission of seven outstanding medalists, four International Academic Olympiad medalists and three sports champions, and will continue in the September session when we expect including those who will be medalists at this summer’s competitions. Romania needs elites to stay in the country, to inspire and lead the young generations. But to stay, we need to create the best milieu for champions in sport and science to value the huge potential they have already proven. I am happy to note that this is happening, the University of Bucharest is the first university in Central and Eastern Europe and among the top 200-250 worldwide in the Times Higher Education Impact Ranking 2023, a performance due primarily to the importance that we put on sustainability, on humanist values, on social impact and on our contribution to an inclusive society”, declared the rector of the University of Bucharest, prof. Marian Preda, PhD.