The Bucharest University of Economic Studies (, abbreviated ASE) is a public university in Bucharest, Romania. Founded in 1913 as the Academy of Higher-level Commercial and Industrial Studies (Academia de Înalte Studii Comerciale și Industriale (AISCI)), it has become one of the largest economic higher education institutes in both Romania and South-Eastern Europe. The Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies is classified as an advanced research and education university by the Ministry of Education. It is one of the five members of the Universitaria Consortium (the group of elite Romanian universities). History Established on 6 April 1913 by the Royal Decree of Carol I of Romania, the Academy of Higher-level Commercial and Industrial Studies was the first economic higher education institution established in Romania. In 1947, the Academy was reorganised and merged with the Academy of Cooperative Studies to form the Academy of Commercial and Cooperative Studies. During the Communist Era, in August 1948, it turned into the Institute for Economic Sciences and Planning, according to the model provided by the Soviet higher education institutions. During the 1967–1968 academic year, the institute was reorganised again and became the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, a name which the university still holds today. Institution The Bucharest University of Economic Studies has 22,684 students (undergraduate and graduate levels) in eleven faculties. The university has positioned itself as a research institution, hosting 13 centers of research acknowledged and endorsed by the National Council of Scientific Research in Higher Education. A notable presence inside ASE is the Business Information Technology department (Romanian: Informatică Economică) which is an entity that promotes an educational philosophy based on combining economics and software development as a way of creating experts suitable for the Information Age. Format and length of studies In the 1970s and 1980s, master's degrees in economics were awarded to full-time students after 4 years of study, except for the Faculty of 'Cibernetics and Informatics', which required one additional year. After 1990, Undergraduate studies at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies ended with a Bachelor's degree in Economics, while acquiring a second specialization according to the department where they were enrolled. Up to 2005, undergraduate studies at the Academy of Economic Studies consisted of a four-year cycle (five-year cycle for the Faculty of 'Cibernetics and Informatics'). Master studies would continue for two more years, and doctoral programmed would normally be three years long. Since 2005 however, the university