In Romania, Timişoara is considered a gate to the west. Due to its architecture, it is called Little Vienna. The city lies in the southwestern Romania, just 500 km away from Vienna, Zagreb and Skopije, 600 km away from Bucharest and Soa, 300 km away from Budapest and Sarajevo, and only 150 km away from Belgrade. Timișoara is one of the most important educational centers in Romania. The university centres in Timișoara ranked among the top are four in the country. With more than 37 faculties and 40,000 students, public and private universities provide training for real valuable specialists in all areas of socio-economic and political life.

Due to the big number of investments and to the existence of high quali­fied working personnel, the unemployment rate fell from 9,4% (1998) to 1,64%. In the region there is still great potential for labour force if we take into account the 15.000 unemployed people and about 12.000 university graduates each year.