The University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest is the oldest and largest institution of agricultural higher education in Romania. Barbu Stirbei, Prince of Vallachia, signed the foundation document in 1852 and the Agricultural Institute in Pantelimon started its courses in 1853. Two years later, in 1855, the Veterinary Instruction School was also founded. Both agricultural and veterinary higher education advanced simultaneously towards more complex forms, connected with the increasing demand for specialists in plant and animal breeding and with the progress of basic and applied sciences in the specific field.
In 1867, after including the forestry subjects in the syllabus, the Agricultural Institute became the Central School of Agriculture and Forestry, which, in 1869, changed its location in Herastrau, the present site of the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest. The first Romanian teaching and experimental farm was founded here in 1873, followed, in 1886, by the Agronomic Station of Bucharest, the first agricultural research institution in Romania. In 1893, as the forestry department became independent, the establishment received a new name: The Agricultural School of Herastrau.
The agricultural higher education conti-nued its development in the years that followed and the successive names were: The Agricultural Higher School of Herastrau (1915), The Academy of Higher Agronomic Studies (1929), The Faculty of Agronomy as a department of The Polytechnic School of Bucharest (1938), The Agricultural Institute of Bucharest (1948). In 1952, commemorating the death centenary of the great Romanian patriot Nicolae Balcescu, the Institute was given his name. In 1992, the University name changed into the University of Agricultural Sciences and, since 1995, it has been known as the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest.
The veterinary higher education deve-loped in the latter half of the 19th century, having as a starting point the foundation of the veterinary department of the National School of Medicine and Pharmacy (1861), followed by the School of Veterinary Medicine (1871) and The Higher School of Veterinary Medicine (1883). The Faculty of Veterinary Medicine was established in 1922 and the Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, with two distinct faculties, in 1948. In 1951, the Faculties of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine got separated and they both became part of the Agricultural Institute of Bucharest. In 1970, the Institute incorporated the Faculty of Land Reclamation, which became the Faculty of Land Reclamation and Environmental Engineering in 1990.
At the present moment, the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine has seven faculties: Faculty of Agronomy, Faculty of Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and Rural Development, Faculty of Horticulture, Faculty of Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Land Reclamation and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Biotechnology. Each one of them is providing undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral courses.
The Faculty of Biotechnology, was founded in 1994 and it has 3 sections: Agricultural Biotechnology, Industrial Biotechnology and Medical - Veterinary Biotechnology. The Faculty of Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and Rural Development was founded in 2000.
The Senate, a Rector, three Vice-Rectors and a Scientific Secretary head the University. The Faculty Board, the Dean, the Vice-Dean and the Scientific Secretary run every faculty. Mandated by both the University Senate and the Faculty Boards, the Senate Bureau, together with the Faculties Board Bureau, run the current activity.
For a long period of time (until 1920) the University, as the oldest establishment of agricultural higher education in Romania, concentrated all the scientific personalities of the Romanian agriculture. Most of them had been trained in German, French, Belgian, Italian, or American schools.
Since the end of the 19th century, the University staff has been involved in the agrarian reforms carried out in Romania (in 1864, 1923 etc.), in the organisation and scientific guidance of the Romanian agriculture, in the foundation of national research institutions, such as: The Animal Breeding Re-search Institute, The Serum and Vaccine Institute "Pasteur", The Romanian Institute for Agricultural Research, The Geological Committee and in the foundation of the Romanian National Network of Experimental Stations. At the same time, the academic staff has been elaborating textbooks, treatises, monographs and studies on very specialised areas of interest. It has also been training teachers and researchers for the entire Romanian national structure of agricultural education, research and management. Outstanding names of Romanian scientists are associated with our University fame: