Mircea cel Batran Naval Academy (MBNA) is an accredited higher education institution in Romania for the maritime officers and specialists for maritime and port industry, both civilian and military. MBNA has its foundation roots in 1872 in ancestor Fleet School, its present value being certified by the Romanian Agency for Quality in Higher Education with highest level of trust, and by different international bodies as high-quality academic institution (e.g. European University Association, IAMU, EMSA, U-Multirank etc).
MBNA is certified since 2003 in its Quality Management System by Bureau Veritas, based on ISO 9001/2008. The educational offer is focused both on academic (undergraduates and postgraduates programs) and training programs, in field of navigation, naval electro-mechanics, electric engineering, port management and operations, naval equipment and automation, sustainable development and marine environment, counting an average number of 2.500 students and 80 teaching staff core. The educational programs and the training courses on vocational dimension are accredited by the national and international authorities and are developed under ISO 9001/2015 standards.
MBNA has the operational capacity to provide a wide range of didactic resources for setting up and developing training courses, providing specialized staff and a rich operational endowment, consisting in classes, integrated laboratories, simulators or educational on-line resources and platforms. As academic facilities, MBNA has more than 60 simulators, laboratories, offices and specialized rooms with appropriate modern equipment, a Training Ships Formation (including the Training Ship "Mircea", motorboats and training crafts), a Training Center for Seamanship and Nautical Sports, a Damage Control Centre, an ITC Center, a department of micro-production and practical training, and also a modern sport complex.
The research and development programs in MBNA are carried out in compliance with the general EU and national framework, covering a wide range of subjects, in field of naval equipment and technology or maritime and port industry. MBNA has developed two major interdisciplinary research centers: Research Centre in Marine Engineering and second, in Naval Engineering and Management. Most relevant results were achieved in several significant area of knowledge as electrical engineering and automation filed, mechanical engineering, sustainable development technologies and maritime networks development. MBNA has been granted both with national funds (under National Plan for Research or Sectorial Initiatives) and European funds, under ESF (Cohesion Structural Funds – Human Resources Capacity), ERDF-RoBg Cross Border Programme, ENPI/IPA programme, or EEA grants on Romanian-Norwegian Programme, where MBNA has been involved as coordinator or project partner in international consortium. Developing such training and research facilities for maritime body of knowledge MBNA has become a relevant educational and research institution in the Black Sea area, availing its services in applied research programs for naval and port industry. Counting on its laboratories, simulators and research centers, as on its valuable human resources, MBNA is ready and capable to contribute in innovation and scientific research in different areas of knowledge defined by the maritime industry.
NTNU is a university with an international focus, with headquarters in Trondheim and campuses in Ålesund and Gjøvik.
The largest university in Norway, NTNU has over 9,000 employees and over 42,000 students. NTNU in its current form was established by the King-in-Council in 1996 by the merger of the former University of Trondheim and other university-level institutions, with roots dating back to 1760, and has later also incorporated some former university colleges. NTNU is consistently ranked in the top one percentage among the world's universities, usually in the 101–500 range depending on ranking.
NTNU has the main national responsibility for education and research in engineering and technology, and is the successor of Norway's preeminent engineering university, the Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTH), established by Parliament in 1910 as Norway's national engineering university. In addition to engineering and natural sciences, the university offers higher education in other academic disciplines ranging from medicine, psychology, social sciences, the arts, teacher education, architecture and fine art.
NTNU is well known for its close collaboration with industry, and particularly with its R&D partner SINTEF, which provided it with the biggest industrial link among all the technical universities in the world.
NTNU has a main profile in science and technology, a variety of programmes of professional study, and great academic breadth that also includes the humanities, social sciences, economics, medicine, health sciences, educational science, architecture, entrepreneurship, art disciplines and artistic activities.