The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (Romanian: Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza"; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia Mihăileană was converted to a university, the University of Iași, as it was named at first, is one of the oldest universities of Romania, and one of its advanced research and education institutions. It is one of the five members of the Universitaria Consortium (the group of elite Romanian universities). The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University offers study programmes in Romanian, English, and French. In 2008, for the third year in a row, it was placed first in the national research ranking compiled on the basis of Shanghai criteria. The university is a member of some of the most important university networks and associations: the Coimbra Group (CG), Utrecht Network, European University Association (EUA), International Association of Universities (IAU), University Agency of Francophony (AUF), and the Network of Francophone Universities (RUFAC). Source: Wikipedia (en)