The Romanian Institute for Adult Education (IREA) was funded in March 2000 out of the initiative of the West University of Timisoara(UVT), of The Social Romanian Institute Banat – Crisana (ISRBC) and of the German Institute for Adult Education (DIE), also funding members of our institute.

IREA was established as a non-profit institution, as a pedagogic research institute in the field of adult and continuing education, aiming to provide scientific and methodological support for all adult education institutions in Romania and to establish the link between the academics and practitioners in adult learning area. Although as an independent research unit, IREA belongs to the the Department of Education Sciences, Faculty of Sociology and Psychology, West University of Timisoara.