The New Europe College (NEC) is an independent Romanian institute for advanced study in the humanities and social sciences founded in 1994 by Professor Andrei Pleşu (philosopher, art historian, writer, 1990–1991 Romanian Minister of Culture, 1997–1999 Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs) within the framework of the 1994 established New Europe Foundation (a private foundation subject to Romanian law). Its impetus was the New Europe Prize for Higher Education and Research, which was awarded in 1993 to Professor Pleşu by a group of six institutes for advanced study (the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, the National Humanities Center, Research Triangle Park, the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities and Social Sciences, Wassenaar, the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in the Social Sciences, Uppsala, and the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin). Since 1994, the NEC community of fellows and alumni has enlarged to over 450 members. In 1998, the New Europe College was awarded the prestigious Hannah Arendt Prize for its achievements in setting new standards in higher education and research. One year later, the Romanian Ministry of Education officially recognized the New Europe College as an institutional structure of continuous education in the humanities and social sciences, at the level of advanced studies.
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