For Irina Purcarea, an Assistant Professor with teaching and research experience in Romania and France, one of the most important career breakthroughs happened while leading an educational programme. Working with approximately 300 students and local and international non-governmental organizations, she faced a challenge that reached well beyond the classroom: bringing together people with different expectations, navigating constraints and obstacles, and keeping the experience valuable for both students and partner organizations.
Her title was Assistant Professor. Yet the work was also shaping her as a project manager. Recognizing that connection helped her see what her move to France had made possible. A childhood ambition to teach was developing into a career in which educating others and managing projects could strengthen each other.
That realization connects the different stages of her journey, from studying in Romania and gaining international research experience to pursuing project management certification and volunteering with professional communities around the world.
An early ambition and a personal transformation
Growing up in Romania, she dreamed of becoming a teacher. She later studied Business Administration through a programme taught entirely in English and completed a PhD in Business Administration. During her doctoral studies, a research visit to the United Kingdom and participation in international conferences gave her opportunities to exchange ideas beyond her home country.
Teaching brought a different kind of development. As a student, she had been shy. Standing in front of large audiences gradually strengthened her confidence and helped her discover how much she enjoyed educating others. The classroom became a place where she could develop personally while contributing to the development of the next generation.
Her motivation extended beyond explaining a subject. Sharing knowledge meant helping students prepare for their futures, and that responsibility gave the childhood dream a practical purpose. It would remain central to her career as new interests and opportunities emerged.
Making room for project management
Project management had interested her since university. Working on European Union-funded research projects in Romania brought her closer to its practical application and encouraged her to pursue her first project management certification through a local organization.
The decision gave a longstanding interest a more deliberate direction. Alongside teaching and research, she wanted to develop the ability to manage projects herself. Certification was a concrete step toward that ambition, opening a path that she would continue exploring through experience.
A two-week international course in France became another turning point. Visiting as a professor allowed her to experience a different academic environment and recognize a direction she wanted to pursue: teaching project management while also practicing it within higher education. She subsequently decided to relocate to France.
“Relocating to a new country is never easy,” she reflects. The move involved difficulties and adaptation, but it also created opportunities to take on responsibilities that would expand her skills. Determination and curiosity helped her keep developing in an unfamiliar setting. The value of that decision became especially clear through the programme she went on to lead.
The programme that changed how she saw her role
At a French business school, she led an applied project management and experiential learning programme for three years. The initiative involved approximately 300 students, more than 20 student teams working on community projects, and over 30 local and international NGOs.
Its scale mattered, but the deeper challenge was managing the relationships within it. Students and organizations brought different expectations to the collaboration. There were constraints to work within, obstacles to resolve, and a continuing need to ensure that both sides found value in the experience.
Leading the programme required her to engage with that complexity directly. Teaching project management was now accompanied by the responsibility of managing a substantial initiative herself. The work strengthened her project management skills while giving her a clearer understanding of the professional she was becoming.
Looking back, she identifies this as the moment when she recognized that relocating to France had been the right decision despite its challenges. She had arrived with academic experience and an ambition to combine teaching with practice. Here was an opportunity to do both, on a scale that pushed her to grow.
Although she was the Assistant Professor, she realized that these responsibilities were also shaping her project manager profile. That recognition was transformative. It gave her a stronger reason to pursue further development and seek opportunities beyond her existing role.
Learning through international volunteering
As her interest in project management grew, she began volunteering with various project management organizations around the world. These experiences allowed her to contribute to projects, strengthen her skills, and build relationships with professionals whose experience she could learn from.
She describes having “met amazing PM professionals around the world.” Those connections made professional development a shared experience. Working with others brought new knowledge and opportunities to apply her abilities beyond the educational programmes she led.
Volunteering became a practical way to keep progressing. It connected her growing project management identity with an international professional community and offered opportunities to contribute while continuing to learn. The motivation was, in her words, “a desire to always get better.”
A longstanding ambition eventually became reality through collaboration with a chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI). She now volunteers as a project manager organizing a forthcoming global project management event with the chapter, alongside experienced professionals.
For her, this is a meaningful achievement because working on projects connected with PMI had long been a dream. The event is still ahead; the milestone is the opportunity to take responsibility for its organization and contribute as part of the team. It represents another setting in which she can practice, learn, and develop.
Helping others grow while continuing to learn
Today, education remains at the heart of her work. She continues sharing knowledge and contributing to the preparation of future business leaders, while collaborating with project management organizations and developing her own expertise.
The student–NGO programme offers concrete evidence of the responsibilities she has taken on. Its three-year duration and the number of students, teams and organizations involved show the scale of the initiative. Its personal significance lies in what leading it taught her: the work of an educator can also become a setting for substantial professional transformation.
Her journey suggests a useful starting point for someone considering a new direction. Pay attention to the responsibilities that energize you and the skills you are already developing through them. A certification, a visiting teaching opportunity, or a volunteer project can provide a way to explore that direction before its full significance is clear.
She hopes to continue working on meaningful projects that help shape the future. The motivation that began with teaching now extends across education and project management: keep learning, remain curious, and share what you discover. For her, growth gains purpose when it helps others grow too.
