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Education

Introduction

During the 24-year reign of Nicolae Ceauescu, Romanias system of education remained
under strict state control. Curricula strongly emphasized Marxist-Leninist ideology, and
universities, in particular, came under the direct influence of Ceauescu and his wife, Elena. As a
result of the governments isolationist policies, higher education was virtually cut off from the
rest of the world. Since the overthrow of the Ceauescu regime in 1989 and the countrys
transition to a market-based economy, many educational reforms have been implemented.
However, not everyone has been happy with the changes. Under communist rule, all Romanians
were required to attend primary school. But starting in 1989, mandatory primary school was
abolished, and as a result, illiteracy has increased throughout the country, especially in rural
areas. The countrys successive post-communist governments have attempted to reverse this
trend by offering educational programs to young people who abandoned compulsory schooling.
These programs have been targeted especially towards children living in rural areas, urban slums
and geographically remote communities in addition to ethnic minorities. So far, progress has
been slow.

The National Education System

Education in Romania is based on a tuition-free, egalitarian system. Access to free
education is guaranteed by Article 32 in the Constitution of Romania. Compulsory education
lasts ten years and is made up of four years of primary school and six of secondary schooling (6
16 years). For the school year 2008/09, the student population increased to 4,324,992 students.
In 2000, the educational system underwent additional changes. A comprehensive plan of
the reforms was drawn up in 1997 and called for the following:
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1) Modify teaching methodology, academic programs and textbooks, and make the national
curriculum more compatible with the rest of Europe.
2) Shift from rote learning to problem solving, and resume research in universities.
3) Establish links between secondary and postsecondary schools and their economic,
administrative and cultural environment.
4) Undertake infrastructural improvements, particularly with regard to the World Wide Web and
other forms of electronic communication within the classroom.
5) Decentralize secondary and postsecondary schools and grant autonomy to various institutions
of higher education.
6) Enhance cooperation at the international level.
The language of instruction in schools and universities is Romanian, but Hungarian and
German are also used for the benefit of the countrys two largest ethnic minorities. The academic
year runs from October to June.
Accreditation of Private Institutions of Higher Education
In 1993, the National Council for Evaluation and Accreditation was created to carry out
the accreditation of higher education institutions and the recognition of diplomas.There are
currently two steps institutions must undertake to acquire accreditation in Romania:
1) They must obtain legal authorization to operate.
2) The must obtain full accreditation after a designated period of time and must submit to re-
evaluation after five years.
Private institutions of higher education currently operating in Romania fall into two
categories:
1) Those that have been authorized by the government to operate based on the recommendation
of the National Council for Evaluation and Accreditation (this authorization is the first step to
accreditation).
2) Those that have absolutely no legal right to operate.
Once a private institution has been accredited, it enjoys the same organizational and
functional autonomy as public institutions. Until a private institution is fully accredited, it does
not have the legal right to issue state diplomas. However, students can take the diploma
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examination at a state university, and if they pass, receive a state diploma issued by that
particular institution.
Laws and other basic regulations concerning education

The Education Law No. 84, promulgated on 24 July 1995 and amended among others by
Law No. 131 of 29 December 1995, Law No. 268/2003 and Law No/ 345/2004, regulates the
organization and functioning of the national education system at all levels. The nea National
Education Law No. 1/2011 was adopted on 1 January 2011 and took effect on 9 February 2011.
The new Law defines the concept of lifelong learning education and vocational education and
training in an integrated and coherent manner and sets the recognition and certification of skills
acquired through formal, non-formal and informal education context. Morevore, the Law
provides for the establishment by local authorities of Community Centers for Lifelong Learning
designed to implement lifelong learning policies and strategies at community level.
The Law No. 288 of June 2004 on the organization of universities studies complemented
by Law No. 346 of November 2005, as well as a number of ministerial orders, governments
decisions and ordinances issued in 2004-2006, established a new three-cycle structure of higher
education in line with the implementation of the Bologna process.
The Law on Adult Training No. 375/2002 regulates the accreditation of the vocational
training providers, with a view to improving the quality of both public and private training
programmes. The Law also provides for the evaluation and recognition of competences acquired
through non-formal and informal learning and the introduction of credit transfer based on
a;ternative training forms.
The Teaching Staff Statute (Law No. 128), promulgated in June 1997 and complemented
by Law No. 349/2004, regulates the teaching profession, the required qualifications, the in-
service teacher training, the evaluation of teachers, etc.
The Law on Education Quality Assurance No. 87/2006, approving the Government Emergency
Ordinance No. 75 of 12 July 2005 regardin quality assurance in education, provided for the
establishment of the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Pre-universitary Education
(under the Ministry of Education). Article 6 of the Constitution, approved by referendum on 8
December 1991, stipulates that the State recognizes and quarantees the right of persons
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belonging to national minorities to the preservation, developmend and expression of their ethnic
cultural, linguistic and religious identity. Accordint to Article 32 public education shall be free
and the right of persons belonging to national minorities to learn their mother tongue and their
right to be educated in this language are guaranteed; the ways to exercise these rights shall be
regulated by law.
Education is free at all levels and untill 1999 compulsory education comprised eight
years (i.e. eight-year primary and lower secondary programme) on full-time basis. The Law No.
151 of July 1999 introduced a nine-year compulsory education programme consisting of primary
(grades 1 to 4) and lower secondary education (grades 5 to 9). The Law No. 268/2003 introduced
a ten-year compulsory education programme consisting of four years of primary education and
two phases of lower secondary education, i.e. four-year gymnasium (grades 5 to 8) and two
additional years either in the lower cycle of the lyceum (grades 9 and 10) or in arts and trades
schools providing vocational education. Arts and trades schools have replaced the vocational
schools and apprenticeship schools. They offer training programmes at different levels and also
provide access to higher education; the first level of the arts and trades schools (grades 9 and 10)
is part of compulsory education.

Administration and management of the education system
The national education system is under the overall resposability of the Ministry of
National Education. Pre-universitary education is subordinated to the Ministry of Education
though school inspectorates, while higher education is coordinated by the Ministry with due
respect for university autonomy. Educational institutions are legal entities, except for grades 1-4
schools. Among other functions, the Ministry of Education: formulates and implements the
general education strategy in consultation with other instituions and ministries concerned; sets
the objectives of the education system in general and of each separate level and field of
education; coordinated and monitors the national education system and organizes the public
education schools network; approved the establishemnt of secondary and postsecondary schools,
colleges and faculties; coordinates research activities in educations. The Ministry of Education
has also the responsibility for vocational education and training (VET) within the formal
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education system and develops strategies, policies and legislation, approves curricula and the
nationl assessment standars as well as the school network.

Participating institutions and structures

Institutions in the subordination of the Ministry of National Education:
- Institute for Sciences of Education, a national institution for research, development, and
training initiated evaluation projects, adult literacy courses and programmes or trainers training
courses for those involved in adult literacy activities.
- Houses of the Teaching Staff, documentation centres, and centres for teacher training
accessible to the entire teaching staff. The Houses of the teaching staff operate all over the
country and in Bucharest, being subordinate to the school inspectorate; their structure and
responsibilities are established by regulations issued by the Ministry of National Education.
- Centres for Psycho-pedagogic Assistance also operate in all 41 territorial-administrative
units as autonomous institutions subordinate to the School inspectorate. Their methodological
activity is co-ordinated by the Ministry of National and the Institute for Sciences of Education.
They play a special role in the relations between children and parents.
Institutions in the subordination of the Ministry of Culture:
- Popular universities offer various adult education courses and programmes. As cultural
institutions, they offer courses and programmes in "popular education", operating as autonomous
institutions ("Popular University" or "Open University"), or in the framework of culture houses.
- Cultural Homes are organised at the level of territorial administrative units in rural
areas.
Institutions subordinate to other ministries:
- Among other central institutions (ministries, subordinate institutions) implementing and
co-ordinating programmes involved in adult literacy, mention must be made of:
- The Ministry of Justice organises literacy and basic education courses for convicts.
Also, since 1970, it has been providing convict-counselling services.
- The Ministry of Internal Affairs organises training courses for commissioned and non-
commissioned officers involved in educational programmes addressing the military personnel.
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- The Ministry of National Defence organises literacy courses for illiterate private
soldiers, civic education courses for the military.
- The Ministry of Youth and Sports organises non-formal education programmes,
especially for young adults. The topics are youth participation in rural communities, economic
and tourist development of rural areas, ecology, and spare time entertainment.
- The Ministry of Health, in co-operation with concerned associations and foundations,
organises programmes for adult sanitary education, and trainers training programmes.
Non-governmental organisations:
From among non-governmental organisations offering adult courses, literacy courses
included, the most active are:
- Associations representing Gypsy minority, among which the Rromani CRISS
Association is most active. In co-operation with local communities, international foundations and
NGOs, domestic governmental organisations, the Association is active in the support granted to
this minority.
- Romanian Association for Human Rights organises training courses on human rights.

- The National Association of Popular Universities ensures the education and training of
the teaching staff involved in adult education, prepares and disseminates new educational
methods, techniques, and means, specific of adult education, co-operate with similar
organisations in Europe or adult education institutions abroad.
- The SOROS Foundation "For an Open Society" develops programmes addressed to
both educational institutions and individuals willing to participate in educational programmes,
adult basic education and literacy programmes included.
- The University of the Black Sea organises summer coursed on various topics in the field
of adult education.
- The PHOENIX Centre for Communication with and Counselling of Youth in Cluj-
Napoca offers training and counselling programmes designed for youth employment in a
professional activity, etc.
Integration of the "Education for All" Concept in the Romanian Educational Policy
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Although it encompasses most of the measures of the education reform, being the object
of concrete decisions and projects, and it even affirms itself as one of the fundaments of the
education reform, the education for all principle acts in a rather transversal way, as an element of
a strategic reference framework, always referred to, without being named and analysed according
to its own requirements. As appreciated by some specialised studies, in 1990, due to the yet
unclear internal political context at the time, the Jomtien Declaration had a quite week echo.
Only the report made in 1995 by a team of researchers from the Institute of Educational Sciences
managed to draw attention on the education for all issues. According to this report, at that time,
these issues were: dissipation of efforts, due to the absences of lifelong education policies;
existence of a large population at risk, exposed to a chronic lack of basic education (long term
unemployed individuals, persons not included in compulsory schooling, Rroma population,
disabled persons, migratory population, refugees etc.); lack of fundamental skills for adjusting to
the needs of the market economy (entrepreneurial spirit, risk management, organizational
culture, competition ethics) and of the civic society (exercise of the civic rights and freedom,
assumed responsibility, critical spirit, social dialogue, tolerance etc.); re-emergence of the
functional illiteracy , considered as completely eradicated in the 50s. Meanwhile, some of these
problems accentuated and became more complicated, especially those directly related to the
deterioration of the social and economic conditions as a consequence of an unfinished transition,
such as school participation and access to education, while others began to be solved due to the
reform of education. We could mention here aspects of basic education or education in the
mother tongue of national minorities. However, new issues emerged, such as the redefinition of
the State education as education (public service).
Despite the fact that after 1998 the reform of education in Romania made significant
progress, beyond this kind of problems, from the perspective of the integrating concept that is the
education for all, the partial approach still constitutes a general characteristic of the educational
policies. Thus, aspects regarding the access, the equal opportunity, the protection and education
of socially disadvantaged children, the protection and education of disabled persons, the
education of children from ethnic minorities, the street children problem, the basic education
provision, the literacy, the adult education, the development of the distance education; the
universities opening towards larger groups of young people, the development of the educational
forms for adults or lifelong education are viewed as separate issues. A second aspect, more
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general, is the discrepancy between the greater interest shown to the social aspects of the
education for all (the school access, the development of the rural education, ensuring the
schooling costs in the context of the decrease of the populations incomes and of a policy of
austerity etc.) and less attention given to the contents of the education for all (education
understood as a value expressible in terms of human capital, as a basis for the individual
development and the quality improvement of social participation etc.).
The two observations should not be taken negatively. They only represent an attempt to
describing a process in which, things that have an integrating, unitary and global character seem
to be more successful than those that are divided, partial or inconsistent. In fact, as it is argued
below, the education for all remains in Romania, an un-problematized concept, then not yet
discussed at theoretic level and consequently operationalized, because State education (the only
one available during the communist period) seems to continue to be perceived as a kind of
materialization of the education for all, since it provides free-tax compulsory education. The
transition phenomena made more visible the problems related to the access to education, began
to underline the importance of education in orientation and success in the new conditions, and
drew attention on the training discrepancies existing, for instance, between pupils from urban
and rural areas. All these, lead to situating the education for all concept in a larger problematic
context.
As shown above, although the objective of education for all is not explicitly formulated,
it encompasses the majority of the measures of the education reform. Next, well present the way
this concept interferes with reform policies, attempting to outline its different reference links
within these policies. Among them, we should underline, in the first place, the legislative
provisions that create the framework for accomplishing the education for all, especially those
proposed by the Ministry of National Education and confirmed by the amendments made to the
Law of Education even in the course of the 1999 year:
to give more attention to individualisation, by strengthening the differentiated education
and the educational pluralism;
redefinition of State education as public education end explicit derivation for authorities,
communities and local economic agents on their participation in creating and maintaining
the school system;
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extension of compulsory schooling from 8 to 9 years, concluded with a Capacity
examinations, sustained after graduating the 9th grade;
reorganisation of the high school system by profiles and branches, according to the
requirements of the economy, administration, culture as well as of the pupils
development needs; organisation of high school education in three branches: academic
(humanistic and scientific), technological (technical, services, exploitation of natural
resources and environment protection) vocational (military, theological, sports, art,
pedagogical);
development and organisation of the apprenticeship schools and, in general, of the
vocational education in accordance to the local needs, and demands of the economic
agents and interested institutions;
change of the vocational education duration (vocational school and apprenticeship
schools) - years of study I-II/III;
inclusion of lifelong education in the national education system; regulating the
organisation and functioning of the national continuing education system, through
educational institutions, by changing schools into multifunctional centres of professional
training (Government Order no. 102/1998);
development of distance and open education forms;
approaching the professional competence issues from the perspective of explicit
occupational standards;
organisation of autonomous units (services, offices, agencies) to undertake, in a
decentralized manner, fundamental aspects of education: evaluation, curriculum, sports in
school, tourism in school, occupational standards etc;
reform of the educational units financing, in the direction of global financing,
autonomous use of the extra-budgetary resources, reporting of sums unliquidated in a
budgetary year etc;
promoting the financial autonomy of educational units, where their own resources and
institutional development are concerned; each educational unit distinguishes itself
through their performances, resources and international cooperation projects;
elaboration of new regulations regarding certification and access criteria at higher levels
of education;
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admission in high school education based on the National Capacity Examination;
delivery at high school graduation, together with the Baccalaureate diploma, of a
Certificate of Professional Competence (for pupils from specialized high schools);
introduction of amendments to the contents of the National Baccalaureate Examination
and diversification of this examination according to the high school branch;
organisation of Centres and Offices for Psycho-pedagogical Assistance and Career
Orientation in each county;
involvement of parents, representatives of the local authorities and of the civic society in
school governing (Administrative Councils).
The school system restructuring takes in consideration the demographic evolutions and
the local economy, the revitalization of rural education through a special programme favoring
libraries, computerization and equipment of laboratories of rural schools and high schools, the
school transportation, the implementation of special education programmes for Rroma
population. All these refer to equity and equal opportunities. The paradigmatic change of
learning by passing from reproductive to problem-solving education, reducing learning during
class hours and reducing the weight of "parallel education" (private coaching) in school
achievement, reforming exams by reducing their number, introducing the formative evaluation.
In this respect, a special emphasis will be put on sustainable knowledge as well as on making
pupils familiar with new electronic means of scientific information, on pupils acquiring of
minimum knowledge and skills to be used later on in the continuing learning process, on
acquiring basic knowledge able to put to good use the capacity to integrate into the new social
economic environment and contribute to facilitating access to higher levels of education.
The education for all is also realized through computerising education by implementing
a programme of equipping schools and high schools with computers and of extending the
educational network ROEDUNET. The programmes included in this segment of the reform are
aimed at facilitating the access to higher levels of the education system. The continuing
education becomes an integrating part of the high school, post-secondary, vocational schools,
colleges and university programmes. Distance education provides high school studies and studies
leading to university diplomas. This kind of study is organized upon request of institutions or
individuals.
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The school management reform regards the following principles: obtaining institutional
autonomy for schools in mobilising and using their extra-budgetary resources; strengthening the
pedagogical autonomy of schools in establishing their own educational offer; elaboration and
implementation of their own development programmes; selection of teaching personnel;
decision-making autonomy where pupils education and mobility are concerned; training of
educational managers, through special programmes, run on this purpose. In this perspective,
school is understood as an active element within the public education system, having its own
management, development project and educational offer. It has to approach in a concrete manner
and answer autonomously to the current education demand.
The same principles function with regard to the school-community partnership that
makes communities part of a complex of relations aimed at ensuring the quality of basic
education and continuing education, the provision of specialized personnel, access facilitation
etc. The structure of the school system depends on the local development, so that local budgets
ensure the buildings maintenance and the investments while high schools, post-secondary
schools and universities organise the continuing education and the distance education. Also, local
authorities can offer contractual scholarships to pupils and students that promise to return to the
respective localities after graduation. The institutional framework of the reform projects in this
field is given by the right of persons belonging to national minorities to study in their mother
tongue, within faculties, school units, classes and study groups with teaching in mother tongue.
The amendments made in 1999 to the Law of Education made possible the establishment of
universities with teaching in minorities mother tongue. This type of programmes refer to the
provision of education in national minority languages, reflection of each minority history and
tradition in the contents of education, provision of textbooks and necessary material support as
well as training of personnel in the national minority language.
International cooperation is also important. From the complex of measures and projects,
those that come in front are related to the implementation of the SOCRATES, LEONARDO,
CEEPUS programmes, the extension of the " joint curriculum" cooperation form in high schools
and those destined to the international mobility of pupils and students. These programmes
intensify the European Dimension of the contents and studies, understood not only in the
perspective of the education quality improvement but also through the inclusion among basic
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acquisitions of the behavioral competencies necessary to integrating into processes specific to the
global environment.
The consolidation of the social status of teachers, pupils and students regards a series of
measures of teachers professional training and, the possibility of their engaging professional
initiatives and bank loans, the implementation of special programmes for teaching personnel an
pupils from rural and disadvantaged areas.
From public reforms to private initiatives
The access to education is guaranteed to all children and young people, disregarding the
social and ethnic origin, sex or religion. The Constitution states the open character of education
and guarantees the access of each citizen to all levels and forms of education and the possibility
to pass from one type of school to another. All these condition represents more than simple legal
regulations. They are also an integrating part of the specific way of life of the society, being
taken as granted, things from which the State and the community, in general, cannot abdicate.
For instance, although a series of stereotypes regarding the social roles and the relationships
between sexes, as well as some ethnic and religious aspects still exist in the Romanian society,
they are not developed nor integrated in any way in discriminating practices included in the
education organisation or functioning.
Although traditionally perceived as public service, the Romanian education system is
open to private initiatives and educational alternatives. Thus, after 1990, the private education
sector developed mainly at university level (we can even speak about an explosion of the number
of state and private universities), but also at secondary level, and in the alternative education
domain (Freinet, Petersen, Waldorf, Montessori etc.). These phenomena are understood by the
public and assimilated by the educational policies as ways of facilitating access to higher levels
of the education system, and increasing the possibility of getting equal chances (especially for
access to higher education - where "numerus clausus", established by planning admission at
national level, still functions). At the same time, where primary, secondary and high school level
are concerned, the public continue to strongly trust the State education system, this explaining
the small number of private schools at these levels, private education developing mostly in the
alternative education and pre-school education areas. In conclusion, the emergence and
development of private education system do not affect the equity of the access to education.
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However, the equity of the access to education was affected lately by the transfer of a
series of educational costs upon the population, this transfer diminishing the possibility of having
equal opportunities of access to pre-school, secondary, and university education. Thus, due to the
inflation process as well as to the general decrease of the living standards, the access to pre-
school education becomes dependent of the family possibilities of supporting its part of the
meals and hosting costs. The data presented in this survey are significant in this respect. At the
same time, the developing asymmetry between the public pre-school education offer and the
private one (focused on foreign language studying, personalization of learning and application of
active methods) the access to which is conditioned by costs that go far behind the possibilities of
a common family, also contributes to reducing equal opportunities and equitable access.
The pressures on the family expenses for education are increased by State renouncement
of ensuring free of charge textbooks for the high school level (this measure being correlated with
the liberalization of the textbooks market). On the background of the austerity policy of the last
few years, there must be also taken in consideration the tacit introduction of several taxes, paid
by pupils and covering the costs relative to different forms of examination: application to
admission examinations at high schools, vocational schools and universities, delivery of study
certificates and voluntary contributions. At all these, we must add other pressures of financial
nature, resulted from the fact that, also tacitly and mostly at secondary education (college) level,
the family pays some of the smaller costs of building reparation and auxiliary teaching materials
acquisition.
The equity of access is also affected by the consequences of a process specific to
Romanian education, that of spontaneous regulation of the quality of education and access to
higher levels in the conditions of very severe admission examinations, known as "coaching".
Coaching represents a private supplement to education that follows the state education and
consists in preparing (coaching) pupils privately, in most cases individually, through
supplementary lessons given by teachers or persons with higher qualifications, paid, on this
purpose, directly by the family. Some documents appreciate that coaching contributes to the
polarization of educational by social criteria and narrows the access to education of children
from families with small incomes. Others even speak about the school "undermining" and think
to be their duty to make from public education a base sufficient for getting access to high schools
and universities.. The existence of this private supplement to education is mostly caused by
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inertia. Nevertheless, they continue to be fed by old elements, still persisting in the curriculum
(the old curriculum used to focus on transmission and reproduction of a large quantity of
knowledge) as well as by maintaining the system of access to higher levels through admission
examinations.
The social costs of the reforms
A number of negative phenomena from the last period are linked to the emergence of
new realities, especially as a consequence of the economic crisis impact. Some of them have a
more general character and derive from social costs associated to the reform such as the rapid
erosion of the real incomes of the population, particularly salaries and resources subject of social
transfer, especially as a result of the elimination of subventions for basic products and services,
of the differentiation of incomes and finally of impoverishment of large segments of population.
Some others regard distinct groups of population such as the poor population, the population
from disadvantaged areas, Rroma communities. In this context, some sociologists sustain that the
young population, the children represent the most disadvantaged social segment of the transition.
The place where the main cause of this phenomenon must be looked for is the communist
regime, whose pronatalist policy made possible the profound cleavage between family incomes
and birth rate. Those with higher incomes managed to keep control on their family size while the
size of poor families increased. Thus took place a polarization of families depending on incomes
and relations with certain social groups such as Rroma communities. In the same way appeared
important groups of street children and abandoned children (see in this respects the analysis from
the first chapter of this report).
These phenomena have negative consequences on the possibility of ensuring education.
Although there is no unitary and explicitly formulated conception with regard to this aspect, the
Romanian experience combines a series of social and educational policies aimed at reducing the
impact on education. In this context, it can be mentioned the delivery of the family allowance for
children depends on school participation, which has a positive impact on the enrollment rate and
school drop prevention (in pre-school education, where the family allowance is not conditioned,
the enrollment rate is much more reduced than in primary education, for instance). Also, among
these measures there must be mentioned the supplementary allowance for families with two or
more children, as well as the 1997 Governmental measure of allocating, material support for
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disadvantaged children, through the medium of school, cost reductions for day-course pupils and
students, on local and railway transport means etc. In the same direction are acting the measures
of social support for children and students from economically disadvantaged families; the system
of social grants and the merit scholarships; the bank credit for students from state education
sector etc.;
To the same package of measures aimed at facilitating the access to education in the
present conditions belong a series of MNE decisions regarding the organisation of education in
disadvantaged areas such as the organisation of school units with reduced forces, in isolated
areas, with a low demographic rate, in difficult to access areas etc., the supplementary wages
granting for teaching personnel from isolated areas (differentiated by the isolation degree of the
respective locality) the possibility, for schools from rural areas, to modify the school year
structure according to the calendar of agricultural works, in order to ensure the pupils
attendance. To these we must add a series of special programmes such as the programme for
rehabilitating schools, building up schools from local resources, school transport for pupils in
rural areas, equipping schools with computers, providing equipment for distance education
offices, connecting them to the international network, using Radio and TV in distance education,
or local programmes for the infrastructure. In these programmes, a special attention is drawn to
distance education development and rural education re-launching. For instance, the programme
of re-launching rural education is conceived as an answer to the drop-out and non-enrollment
problem associated, in rural areas, with a disadvantaged status characterized by a precarious
material situation, locality isolation, big distance between domicile and school, lack of adequate
school rooms etc.
The national education system: facts and figures
Romania has certainly made great strides with its educational reform and, at least
ostensibly, supports EU policies and regulations for education. The funding available in other
countries, however, is still lacking in Romania.
Though Romania has increased the percentage of its GDP spent on education from a low
of 2.86% in 2000, to a high of 4.25% in 2007, (Eurostat, 2011b) this number is still lower than
all but four EU countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, and Slovakia). In 2005, the
most recent year to date that Romania declared its expenditure per pupil, the country spent
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1,437.9 Euros per student per year, lower than any other European country (Eurostat, 2011a).
Romanian primary and secondary schools have changed little since joining the European Union.
Reforms in the 21st century have been comparatively calm as opposed to the extensive reforms
following the fall of communism, and they still have much to accomplish before being able to
match the reform of higher education. Teodorescu and Stoicescu (1998) stress that change should
begin with school administrators and also for the need to initiate improvement akin to that of
higher education reform. They cite direction which includes supportive relationships between
teachers and school administrators, efficient communication between educational actors, teachers
and principals professionalism, shared decision making, school autonomy and community
support and last, but not least, the financial situation of faculty (8). Their suggestions seem
legitimate, but change in Romania, though good in theory, is prone to resistance and foot-
dragging which can easily slow reform of any type.
As we can observe in the chart below, the financial crisis has affected the public
expediture on education, determining a decrease of the GDP procentage (according to Eurostat
2014 data) allocated to education. Public expenditure on education consists of current and capital
public expenditure on education includes government spending on educational institutions (both
public and private), education administration as well as subsidies for private entities
(students/households and other privates entities).




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The private expenditure on education does not offer a more optimistical scenario,
encountering the same negative evolution over the last years. Thus, a policy to stimulate
donations may increase the amount donated to schools. Not all categories of donors will react in
the same way. Some donors will never change their behaviour, others will increase the amounts
donated, while others will reduce their contributions. The overall effect will be positive because
most donors are represented by the group of those who will respond positively to incentives.
Underfunding education has been a constant for the whole period after 1990. In two
periods, 1995-1998 and 2005 2008, relatively greater financial resources were allocated. In
2007, the share of education spending reached a historic maximum, 13.74%, of the total
budgetary expenditure. One can notice the pro-cyclical nature of this share, the growth periods
overlapping over the periods of expansion of the overall economic activity, and the downturns
overlapping over the periods of economic crisis. A relative increase in the attention paid to
education in the four years mentioned above does not diminish the overall appearance of
underfunding in this area during the 23 years analyzed.
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Another important aspect when analysing the national education system is the quality of
education. In general, the the quality of a process, in our case the educational process, is
characterized by its results. A large number of pupils with good results during the school year, a
successful participation in national and international tests, passing to higher levels of education,
competitions etc. are characteristics of a quality education system.
There are some relevant data for the education quality in Romania:
a large number of drop-outs. For example, in the school year 2008-2009, over 80.850
children left the education system;
non enrolment in the education system of a large number of children. For example, in
2010, 362,062 children were not enrolled in the education system (preschool, primary,
secondary or vocational), although they were age appropriate;
poor performances in reading, writing and numeracy. In 2009, the percentage of pupils
15 years old with poor performance in mathematics was 47% (EU average is around
20%);
a larger number of graduates of secondary school/high school/ college are socio-
professionally nonintegrated. In 2012, the unemplyment rate among youg people in
Romania exceeded 25%;
a large number of offences committed by young people. There is an ascending trend
among juvenile delinquency, along with increasing severity of offences committed.
The quality of an education system is influenced by factors external to the school, such as
the students socio-economic familial environment, the parents education level and occupation.
18

Marketing strategy for a sustainable development of the education system

1. Developing the human capital
Human capital development is one of the major directions of future development of
Romania, in order to ensure socio-economic development of European type. Convergence with
the EU can only be ensured in the long term and requires the development of two major
categories of infrastructure, the physical infrastructure and, respectively, human infrastructure.
Investment in human capital (through education, training, lifelong learning, strengthening the
link research - development - innovation, effective public health policies, social policies and
modern occupational) ensure sustainability of economic growth, since an educated and healthy
population is efficient and adaptable to the EU and globally.
2. Attracting third parties in the development of the national education system
Attracting private institutions in this process is highly essential.
3. Stimulationg a Life Long Learning Mentality
Increasing adult participation in lifelong learning is crucial, particularly for the low-
skilled. This requires additional fiscal and financial incentives. Not only the long-term
competitiveness but also the economic recovery risks otherwise to be constrained by the
inadequate skills levels of the work force.
4. Stimulating public funding
As public funding is reduced, it is necessary to search private financing methods that will
improve the quality of education. The most interested in improving the quality of education are
parents. Some practices of parents financial involvement or contributions to the class and school
were rejected and classified as illegal. The potential donors are divided into three groups: one
group which includes those who are willing to donate less than 100 lei per year, a group which
includes those who are willing to donate between 100 and 300 lei per year, and a group
comprising those who are willing to donate over 300 lei per year. Donations are free and produce
donors' satisfaction.
5. The IT component in education
Very soon we can look for interactive video technologies to allow parents to play a more active
role in their children's education (e.g. watching a class presentation via online video). Schools
that actively pursue such avenues will be in great demand.

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