Romanian Funds and Foundations in Transylvania that supported the Phenomenon of Peregrinatio Accademica (The Second Half of the Nineteenth and the Early Twentieth Centuries)

Abstract

In the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, many young Romanians from Transylvania went to the universities of the Habsburg Empire, but also to universities in France, Germany, Switzerland, or Italy. For material academic support, they resorted to the foundations and funds established by the Greek‑Catholic Church and the Orthodox Metropolitanate of Transylvania, as well as by banking institutions or private individuals. The amount of scholarships varied depending on the number of years of study and the city where the young scholars were studying. After graduation, most of these youth returned to Transylvania, where they either practiced liberal professions such as medicine or law, or became teachers in Romanian high schools. These young people, trained at prestigious European universities, later formed the Romanian political and intellectual elite in Transylvania.