R&D projects as instruments for enhancing gender equality in Universities

Gender equality,enshrined in European treaties, is one of the fundamental values of the European Union. It is a focal point in today’s value systems as well as national, sectorial and organizational policies, and it is also a recurrent theme thoroughly used in current parenting and education strategies. Given that higher education institutions (HEIs) and research centers are considered, in general, to be entities that lead the way in many aspects of our lives, theyalso represent the focus of our investigation of ‘gender balance’. In this paper we look atthe Romanian HEIs to determine the level of gender balance in Romanian HEIs in general, and then we concentrate our attention on the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași (UAIC) as a representative case study for the Romanian HEIs. Finally, we highlight the role that research and development projects may play in promoting gender balance at UAIC. In this regard, the paper employs a multi method approach based on quantitative analyses and interviews. The results reveal that women are well represented in academic and research positions both within the Romanian HEIs and in the Iași University, with two exceptions: full professor rankand R&D project manager, these being dominated, in general, by men.