The “George Enescu” National University of Arts in Iași continues the tradition of the former School of Fine Arts established in 1860, which later became the Academy of Fine Arts (1931-1949). From 1949 to 1950, for the first time, it reunited the three artistic fields of Music, Theatre and Visual Arts within the Institute of Arts. Starting with 1977, the “George Enescu” Conservatory in Iași continued the tradition of bringing together Music and Fine Arts, so that in 1990, within the “George Enescu” Academy of Arts in Iași, the two fields were joined by Theatre. Later, the “George Enescu” Academy of Arts changed its name to the “George Enescu” National University of Arts in Iași, a public higher education art institution unique in Romania due to its form of organization, reuniting Music, Theatre and Visual Arts.

IOSUD from UNAGE Iași aims to become a pole of advanced knowledge in the arts, a relevant center in the educational and artistic landscape in Romania and abroad, providing role models for artistic practices, theoretical or historiographical research for professional artists in the visual arts, music, theatre and performing arts. This institution has a unique profile in Romania as it integrates three doctoral schools from three distinct artistic fields; a fact capitalized through interdisciplinary projects that will develop further in the future. A feature of the contemporary artistic phenomenon is the fluidization of borders of the artistic domains, the hybridization of artistic environments, the development of artistic discourses and integrated critical studies. This type of approach is the core vision of IOSUD UNAGE Iași.

Currently, IOSUD within UNAGE Iași is made up of three doctoral schools:

THE DOCTORAL SCHOOL OF MUSIC

 

The specific mission of the Doctoral School of Music is to stimulate knowledge and creativity in music, namely in its three departments: musicology, interpretation and composition. This is achieved by fundamental scientific research in all branches of musicology, by researching the phenomenology of the artistic act of interpretation and musical creation at the interference between aesthetics, stylistics and musical technique.

THE DOCTORAL SCHOOL of THEATRE – THEATRE AND PERFORMING ARTS

The mission of the Doctoral School of Theatre and Performing Arts is threefold:

  • formative, aiming at the current specializations and the ones proposed for the upcoming years, as well as the development of individual or collective research projects, integrated into research themes involving teamwork specific to the art of theatrical performance;
  • creative, aiming at scientific research and/or artistic creation,  developing the creativity of PhD students in the context of acquiring national and universal values ​​specific to the field;
  • complementary training, which involves articulating projects related to socio-cultural development policies, in order to raise awareness on human issues and moral values, as well as integration into the development of Romanian culture.

THE DOCTORAL SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS

The specific mission of the Doctoral School of Visual Arts is to produce original scientific and artistic knowledge that is internationally relevant, a key element for a career in higher education and research, as well as to train specialists in the field of visual arts that will develop artistic practices or produce theoretical studies on the complex phenomenon of visual arts past and present.

The focus in the activity of the three doctoral schools within IOSUD is the promotion of artistic creation and research, multidisciplinarity and the internationalization of the entire educational approach. The mission of IOSUD at UNAGE Iași is consistent with the mission of UNAGE Iași, that is to prepare well-trained specialists that can offer the public a high-quality cultural act through sustained creative activity and artistic research, ensuring the development of Romanian art and culture on a national and international level.

Speaking of artistic education, the three doctoral schools offer two types of PhD: the scientific PhD and the professional PhD. The Doctoral School of Theatre offers only the scientific doctorate, while the other two doctoral schools, Music and Visual Arts, offer both the scientific and the professional doctorate. Each doctoral school cultivates excellence in scientific and artistic research, with doctoral theses being scientific works (history or theory) or artistic works (complex visual or musical research projects) supported by a solid theoretical foundation. The research activity in all three doctoral schools is closely related to the activity of the existing research centers at university level. The central element of the research infrastructure is the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research in Art (ICMA), which has been operating since 2021 and which employs researchers in the three fields: Music, Visual Arts, Theatre and Performing Arts. The institute collaborates with the other research centers within UNAGE.