Murmu, who arrived in Romania on Thursday on a state visit, was conferred the Doctor Honoris Causa, the university’s highest academic distinction, awarded to eminent personalities for exceptional contributions to academia, public service and international cooperation.
In her acceptance speech, Murmu said she was deeply honoured to receive this prestigious honorary doctorate.
“I extend my sincere gratitude to the Rector, the Senate and the entire university community for this recognition, which I accept with humility on behalf of 1.4 billion Indians, as a reflection of the enduring friendship between the peoples of India and Romania,” the president said.
Murmu said education has been the single most transformative force in her own life.
“I was born in a small village, in a family with very limited means. I was the first girl from my village to go to college. That experience taught me, more powerfully than any textbook, that education is the great equaliser, it does not ask where you were born, only how far you are willing to travel,” she said.
The president said she had the privilege of working as a teacher for some time in India and “saw first-hand how a single classroom, however modest, can change the course of a family’s future, and in time, of a whole community’s”.
“This conviction has stayed with me throughout my years of public service that education is not merely a means of individual advancement, but the surest foundation of a just and inclusive society,” Murmu said.
“Today, as the world is being reshaped by artificial intelligence, digital technologies and other rapid scientific advances, universities like this have even greater responsibility to ensure that knowledge is guided by wisdom, ethics and compassion,” she said.
“India and Romania may be geographically distant, but our civilisations have long spoken to one another, often through our poets before our diplomats,” Murmu said.
“Almost exactly a century ago, in November 1926, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore came to this very city and addressed an overflowing hall at the National Theatre of Bucharest on the unity of the human spirit,” she said.
He was moved by how deeply the people of this land understood the Indian way of thinking, the president said.
“Your own national poet, Mihai Eminescu, studied the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita during his student years, and these learnings deeply influenced his writing,” Murmu said.
“This shared civilisational instinct is what the ancient Indian phrase Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam- the world is one family – seeks to express, and it is the principle that guides India’s engagement with the world today: cooperation in place of competition, dialogue in place of discord, and a shared responsibility for our common future,” she said.
“Education has been one of the strongest pillars of this partnership. For decades, Romanian universities have welcomed Indian students, particularly in medicine, engineering and technology,” the president said.
Addressing the gathering, comprising students and faculty members among others, she said, “Success is measured not only by professional achievement, but also by the values you uphold and the positive differences you make in the lives of others.” “May you remain curious in your pursuit of knowledge, confident in your abilities and compassionate in your actions, using your talents to build bridges across cultures and contribute to a more peaceful and prosperous world,” Murmu said.
The decision to confer this high academic title is the result of the proposal submitted by the Council for Administration of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies and its unanimous approval by the University Senate, said Professor Gheorghe Hurduzeu, President of the Senate of the BUES.
“Through this gesture, our academic community expresses its deep appreciation for a figure whose life journey has become, for the entire world, a testament to the power of education to transform destinies,” Professor Hurduzeu said.
