The Conclusions & Debate session marked the official closing of the third edition of the FAST festival in Iași, offering a final moment of institutional reflection after several days dedicated to architectural dialogue.
Held on November 7 at Baia Turcească, the conference brought together the five deans of Romania’s architecture faculties for a structured conversation about the future of education and the profession.
Continuing a format established in previous editions, the gathering functioned as a roundtable between academic leaders, focused less on ceremonial closure and more on critical exchange. The session addressed the pressures currently reshaping architectural education, including shifting professional expectations, social responsibility, and the need to adapt teaching models to increasingly complex realities. Rather than positioning schools as isolated institutions, the discussion emphasized their role as interconnected actors within a shared educational ecosystem.
Students occupied a central place in the debate.
The deans framed architectural education not only as a technical training process, but as a formative environment where future professionals develop ethical judgment, collaborative skills, and a sense of public responsibility. Questions of pedagogy were closely tied to questions of trust: how institutions earn credibility, how they maintain relevance, and how they prepare graduates to operate responsibly in uncertain contexts.
The session was explicitly aligned with the festival’s overarching theme, Becoming Trustworthy: Architecture as a Framework for Collaboration and Trust and within this framework, trust was discussed as a practical principle rather than an abstract ideal. The conversation examined how curriculum design, institutional transparency, and inter-school cooperation contribute to a culture of accountability. The deans highlighted the importance of exchanging knowledge across faculties, encouraging mobility, and strengthening partnerships that allow schools to respond collectively to national and international challenges.
Another key direction of the discussion concerned the relationship between academia and the profession. Participants noted that architectural education must remain in continuous dialogue with practice, public institutions, and communities. By reinforcing these connections, schools can act as mediators between theoretical knowledge and societal needs, ensuring that architectural culture remains both critical and grounded in real contexts.
The debate of FAST’s third edition articulated a set of shared concerns and priorities, reinforcing the value of sustained dialogue among institutions. The roundtable confirmed that cooperation, rather than competition, is essential for strengthening the credibility of architectural education. It also reaffirmed the responsibility of schools to cultivate not only competent designers, but reflective professionals capable of building trust in the public sphere.
