ULBS Rector Asks Students to Put Books Before Likes on Social Media

The Rector of the "Lucian Blaga” University of Sibiu (ULBS), Sorin Radu, urged students, at the opening of the academic year, to find a balance between classical education, based on reading and research, and the digital world dominated by social media. In a speech with personal accents, the Rector confessed that he opened an Instagram account to better connect with the way young people think. "I try to update my language, so that I can understand the humor in memes and what is relevant to you. I admit, at first it was difficult and I had to resort to "translators'. Today, I speak the online language quite well,” said Sorin Radu. However, the Rector warned of the increasingly widespread confusion between online popularity and scientific validity. "We tend not to validate information through the lens of scientific truth, but through the lens of the person who said it. Is he an influencer with a million followers? Then he is right! It is wrong. This confusion between scientific truth and "the truth on the internet' must stop", he stressed.

• Between books and TikTok

Sorin Radu did not declare himself against social networks, but he asked students not to let them replace reading and studying. "Replacing 2 minutes of TikTok with hours of research, narrating novels on YouTube with hours of reading, seems like the quick solution of the future, but of a future built crookedly and fragilely", said the rector. In his speech, the rector also mentioned the European debate on establishing a single minimum age for access to social networks. France, Greece and Spain are already calling for such a measure, in the context of the risks to which minors are exposed. "For us adults, the recent elections have shown us that through social networks we can win or lose elections. Democracy can be in danger. Manipulation and disinformation are the new fears of humanity," pointed out Sorin Radu.

The "Lucian Blaga" University of Sibiu currently has 16,000 students, of which over 5,000 are freshmen in the 2025-2026 academic year.