8 June 2011 - KPMG in Romania and ASE Bucureşti signed a cooperation agreement for the KPMG Professorship at the Academia de Studii Economice (ASE) in Bucharest, reflecting the close links between KPMG and one of Romania’s leading Universities for the study of Economics and related subjects.
Sponsorship of higher education institutions is not new to KPMG. In the US, the KPMG Foundation has been sponsoring KPMG Professorships since 1974, and since then 51 US academics have held this title. Higher education propels the advancement and dissemination of knowledge. At the root is a very important individual: the professor. So today KPMG and ASE are delighted to announce that Professor univ. Dr Pavel Nastase, Vice Rector of ASE will be the first KPMG Professor here in Romania and conf univ dr. Catalin Albu, KPMG Fellow.
Under this scheme, KPMG will also support the Academic Community in initiating and developing projects related to the study of finance and accounting. Serban Toader, Senior Partner KPMG in Romania explained that “the grants will encourage academic staff to think laterally in their disciplines when training students to solve modern business challenges”.
“The goal is to apply cutting-edge, interdisciplinary thinking to big business problems,” said Ion GH Rosca PhD, Rector of ASE. “Business leaders of today need to have knowledge from a wide range of disciplines so that they are able to step outside their traditional training, so they can tackle complex issues. So we aim to help the University and its Students to gain broader perspectives and develop innovative approaches. ASE is known as an incubator for innovative curriculum and leadership development. KPMG is a highly respected international firm which provides consultancy on sustainable practices, corporate governance, and risk management. Together we’re working to develop a new generation of business leaders trained to look outside their discipline for solutions”.
Professor Donna Street from Dayton University in the US is a former KPMG Professor in US and has been present in Bucharest to receive an honorary doctorate from ASE. Professor Street comments: “It’s a great pleasure to see that ASE will be benefiting from a KPMG Professorship. I found the experience extremely valuable in terms of professional development and I’m sure the same will be true for Professor Nastase. As an academic, I found it particularly useful to be able to build stronger ties with the business community, so business people could learn from my experience and I could learn from theirs.”
As Serban Toader concludes: “We initiated this partnership to develop and better train students for the future challenges of the business environment. We chose a proactive approach for this partnership because we believe it is our responsibility to make our contribution to an educational system which will provide the next generations of employees and business leaders. Development of people is a critical part of our philosophy as a firm”.