Ro

• Master of Sciences
• The Department of History

1.      The description of the specialization

The Eastern Roman World. The History of the South-East European Provinces in the 1^st-6^th centuries AD – it is a field of research for the graduates of the Section of History, specialized in World ancient history, with special focus on the Balkan provinces of the Roman Empire.

 2.      The legal framework of the specialization

This 2-year program is organized by the Department of History of the Faculty of Letters and History in the University of the West, Timisoara, according to the Education Law no. 84/1995. It was based on a 1-year program initiated in 1996, which was turned into a 2-year program in 1998.

 3.      The mission of the specialization

It aims at ensuring the didactic-professional training of the students at the level of the national and international standards.

Its objectives are:

• to improve the knowledge of ancient history, which is very important for the students as future specialists in archaeology, numismatics, history, etc.

• to initiate the students in the current problems of inter-disciplinary research

• to train specialists in the field of ancient history and archaeology by focusing on the analysis of the inter-spiritual phenomena between Dacia and the other provinces south of the Danube; at the same time, it lays great emphasis on the research based on the inscriptions or on the archaeological pieces from the province, the methods of identification, recreation and chronological determination, reconstructions of ancient technology, which are all essential for the students’ future research activity

• to turn the students’ double specialization to good account by using the comparative study with a view to improving their knowledge of ancient culture; this aspect assumes even greater importance because of the necessity to emphasize, on the one hand, the diversity of the material and spiritual culture of the Roman Empire, and, on the other hand, the unity of the ancient civilization

• to train specialists who are directly involved in the activity of The Centre of Historical and Archaeological Studies, Timişoara, a centre of the type C, which was accredited in 2001. The head of the centre is one of the members of this 2-year program’s teaching staff: Ph.D. Professor Doinea Benea

• the graduates of this specialization can continue their postgraduate studies by becoming Ph.D. candidates under the coordination of Ph.D. Professor Doinea Benea, who has been Ph.D. coordinator at the University Babeş-Bolyai in Cluj since 1996, and at the University of the West in Timişoara since 2003

4.      The organization of the teaching process

The courses of lectures are delivered by teachers from the Department of History, as follows:

Instruction period: 4 semesters

Degree: Master’s degree

Number of places:

• Subsidized places: 7

• Tuition-fee places: 5

The structure of the academic year

• Semester I: 14 weeks – 12 hours/ week = 168 hours

• Semester II: 14 weeks – 12 hours/ week = 120 hours

• Semester III: 14 weeks – 12 hours/ week = 120 hours

• Semester IV: 10 weeks – 10 hours/week = 100 hours

Holidays:

• The winter holidays: 2 weeks

• 1 week after the winter session of exams

• 3 days off for the Easter

• The summer holidays: 10 weeks

Sessions of exams:

• Semesters I, II, III: 4 weeks

• Semester IV: 3 weeks

Dissertation:

• Announcing the theme of the dissertation: semester II

• Writing the dissertation (about 100 pages)

• Defending the dissertation: in February

Teaching staff:

• Ph.D. Professor Doinea Benea, the scientific secretary of the Faculty of Letters and History

• Ph.D. Professor Adrian Bejan, the head of the Department of History

• Ph.D. Professor Dan Negrescu, the head of the Department of Classical Languages:

• Ph. D. Lecturer Nicolae Sacara

• Assistant Lecturer Dorel Micle

The material resources and the infrastructure

The courses of lectures are delivered in the University of the West, Timişoara, where the teachers and the students have at their disposal the logistics necessary to conduct scientific research in the theological field mentioned above. The research activity takes place on the educational sites of the Department of History (Dalboset, Jupa, Mehadia) and in the library of the University of the West, of the Banat’s Museum in Timişoara, of the Romanian Academy.

The financial activity

The financial support is ensured by the University of the West, Timişoara. Additionally, there is also the money paid by the students which occupy tuition-fee places (since the academic year 2002/2003).

In the students’ practical training, the specialization disposes of modest material resources, which, so far, have allowed the endowment of the archaeological sites at Jupa, Tibiscum, Mehadia – Praetorium, Dalboset. This has been achieved for each archaeological site in its turn, in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Cults, Bucureşti.

The management activity

The head of the specialization is Ph.D. Professor Doinea Benea, who teaches 9 courses and seminars.

The program is also supported by Ph.D. Professor Adrian Bejan (3 courses), Ph.D. Professor Dan Negrescu (2 courses), Ph. D. Lecturer Nicolae Sacara (1 course) and Assistant Lecturer Dorel Micle (2 courses).

The coordinator of this program is the Department of History.