'Stefan cel Mare' University of Suceava (USV) will include, starting with the 2026-2027 academic year, a master's programme dedicated to artificial intelligence and social robotics with applications in healthcare, USV Rector Mihai Dimian told AGERPRES.

According to him, the programme will be taught in English and will be organised jointly with two partner universities, in Tours, France and Orebro, Sweden, through semester-long study placements at the two institutions.

'On the one hand, there is demand both from employers in the area and from students to develop a master's programme in artificial intelligence. On the other hand, by also analysing our collaborations and the research projects we run together with colleagues from the Faculty of Medicine and Biological Sciences, this need has emerged for them as well, for their graduates, noting that artificial intelligence is increasingly applied both in medical imaging and in the organisation of other processes, such as genetics, an area we are developing intensively in Suceava (...) And here is a series of factors that have led us to this development, adding social robotics to artificial intelligence. We will probably also have the opportunity to visit at the university a laboratory we are developing involving humanoid robots and, so to speak, an artificial intelligence laboratory,' the USV rector told AGERPRES.

Mihai Dimian supports the need to anticipate labour market developments and the need to adapt to them. He is convinced that the master's programme dedicated to artificial intelligence and social robotics with applications in healthcare is preparation for the future.

'It is preparation for the future, only that this future is quite close and, in general, universities must prepare not only for the present, but for what will happen in three, four or five years. If we talk about a bachelor's degree, those who enter studies next year will graduate in three, four, five, six years in Medicine... So we must prepare, we must make a forecast, difficult to make, but you have to make a certain forecast of the labour market. On the other hand, we see that technologies change so much and so quickly that it is not enough to prepare someone for what will happen at the time of graduation, but for what will happen perhaps even five years after graduation,' Rector Dimian argued.

He also pointed out that USV has a new quantum computing laboratory, developed from the premise that 'universities must be incubators of the future.'

'At the moment, in the Suceava and Botosani area, these computers are not used. Internationally they are, but we expect that within five to ten years these computers will also be used in our area. As a result, we are developing the laboratory and preparing for the future. I think this characteristic of higher education may not be well defined in Romania. We do not understand in Romania that universities must be incubators of the future. We start from the image of pre-university education, which generally teaches, let's say, standard and classical things. These are things that have been known for decades, perhaps even hundreds of years and this foundation offered to young people is needed, but later, when you reach university, you have to see the future. All these laboratories cost money, training people for the future costs money. I am also thinking of teachers, not just students. But this is the role of a university,' the USV rector added.

According to him, USV also runs an introductory course in artificial intelligence and cyber security, which must be attended by all students, regardless of their area of study.

'We believe that every student who graduates from a university, whether we are talking about Law, economics or even philology, should know how to use these artificial intelligence tools and should have certain verification keys, because we already see that people ask whether what is written there is true. They do not question that it might be. And there are clear reasons for which the result may be erroneous. On the other hand, of course, we must protect ourselves in cyberspace. We see that many electronic thefts are currently being generated, but perhaps we do not realise data thefts, which are just as important as electronic money thefts,' Rector Mihai Dimian also said. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Cristian Lupascu; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)

Photo source: CRISTIAN LUPASCU / AGERPRES