Press review – January 11, 2021

The revision of the university funding system, the funding of research, creation and sport in higher education, the improvement of the accreditation system, equity in the representation of students, professors and universities in consultations and decisions regarding this field are among the main requests that the Consortium addresses to the new government The university, which brings together some of the largest profile institutions in the country.

In a message signed by their rectors, the Consortium also calls for the "redrawing" of the map of Romanian higher education, through a classification of universities according to their assumed mission and international scope, but also the creation of a mechanism for monitoring the professional career of graduates, with the help of platforms interoperable management.

The proposals of the University Consortium
for a reform of higher education and research in Romania 

The main objectives of the higher education system are to generate knowledge, to produce innovative ideas, solutions for Romania's social and economic problems (through the research system), to form quality human resources (through education and training programs) to implement these solutions in the labor market, in society and in the economy, in order to create a better quality of life for all Romanians.

Within these processes, the role of professionals, professional elites is essential because they generate ideas and solutions and thus make a difference in global competition, in society and in the economy based on knowledge and innovation. That's why, while maintaining its inclusive and fair character, higher education is predominantly based on merit and performance (assessed based on individual and collective results).

As a field of national importance well funded by public money, the field of research and tertiary education must benefit from access to funding resources distributed on the basis of performance and justify the use of resources through public reporting and external, impartial evaluation of the results obtained.

In order to achieve the above wishes, we, the representatives of the University Consortium (Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University in Iași, "Babeș-Bolyai" University in Cluj-Napoca, University of Bucharest and West University in Timișoara ), we propose to the Government of Romania the implementation of the following measures, specific to research and higher education:

1. Funding of scientific research, university creation and sports performance in universities 

a. Implementation of a new program and a distinct line of funding for scientific research, university creation and sports performance dedicated to universities with real performances in the field of research at national and international level, measurable through impact indicators used at international level as well.

b. Funding from the funds allocated to the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization of research projects and infrastructure in universities, through a mechanism similar to the "Nucleu" program.

2. Fair representation, proportional to the number of students and teaching staff, of all universities, types of universities (comprehensive, medical, art, etc.) and all fields of major studies (social, humanities, vocational fields, etc.) in all advisory and decision-making structures in the fields of higher education and research.

• Representation in the boards and management offices of CNFIS, CCCDI, CEMU, CNSPIS, CNBU, CNECSDTI, CNCS, etc. to be provided with distinct places and respecting the principle of proportionality of representation, by types of universities and by fields.
• The selection processes of the managements of the previously mentioned institutions must be based on the principle of meritocracy and based on their managerial programs, and not on the membership (only) of certain fields of study, types of universities or interest groups.
• Proportional representation of universities in the National Council of Rectors with 1 representative (1 vote) per 3-5 thousand enrolled students and the consequent establishment of a differentiated fee.

3. Improving the system of accreditation of universities and study programs and quality assessment in research and higher education. 

a. Alignment of the Romanian educational system with the international ISCED system of classification of fields of study.

• Urgent evaluation of doctoral studies (fields, schools, IOSUD).
• Analysis and improvement of the regulations regarding the selection of members and the operation of ARACIS (eg: OM 5751/2015) to ensure a good representation of specialists and members of academic communities, based on the principle of meritocracy and representation, as well as to avoid dysfunctions, bureaucratic formalism and of lack
  professionalism and equidistance in the evaluation process.

On 8.01.2021/2019/2020, the first meeting of the working group that brings together representatives of some Romanian universities that are members of European alliances that implement Erasmus+ European Universities projects took place. As part of this initiative, the European Commission financed, in 41 and XNUMX, XNUMX alliances of universities in the European space. The aim is to create transnational institutional alliances aimed at generating systemic changes in European and Member State higher education, to develop innovative teaching and learning models, to generate research-based solutions to the economic and social problems we face, to promote European values ​​and support European higher education in an increasingly globally competitive academic world.

The working group was formed at the initiative of UVT, which, through its rector, Professor Marilen Gabriel Pirtea, invited all Romanian universities that are members of such alliances to join this proposal. The group includes the following higher education institutions in Romania: University of Bucharest, Technical University of Construction Bucharest, "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iasi, Polytechnic University of Bucharest, "Iuliu Haţieganu" University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca, Technical University from Cluj-Napoca, the University of Petroşani, the Polytechnic University of Timisoara and the West University of Timisoara.

The objective of this approach is twofold. First of all, it is about establishing a unique dialogue partner with various relevant central institutions for the implementation of our activities, from which the participating universities need support and openness in the implementation of projects of such scope. On the other hand, however, the universities participating in this approach assume not only the implementation of the projects of which they are a part, but the role of partners of the competent Ministry or other central institutions in order to generate public policies, innovation in the field of education and research and promoting Romanian education and the academic communities they represent, at the European and global level. Thus, we consider that the solutions we will develop together to overcome the obstacles we encounter will generate the changes needed in the development of higher education in Romania.

Western University opens the series of preparations for students on the threshold of the baccalaureate on January 16, and those who want to participate in the classes must register by filling out a form.

The training will take place between January 16 and June 12, every Saturday of the week, excluding public holidays. The full program for each discipline can be accessed here.

The schedule was established in such a way as to allow students to participate in the preparation programs for all the subjects for which they are to take the written test in the baccalaureate exam. Thus, between the hours of 9.00-10.30 the Romanian language and literature modules will be held, between the hours of 10.45-12.15 the modules from the disciplines of history and mathematics will be held in parallel, and from 12.30 the modules for the related disciplines will be held 3rd exam papers (biology, chemistry, economics, philosophy, physics, geography, informatics, logic, psychology, sociology), also in parallel.

All the activities in the preparation modules for this year's baccalaureate exam will be conducted online, through the Google Meet platform, and for each discipline a course will be created on the Google Classroom platform, which will facilitate communication between teachers and students.

Registration can be done through a form that you can find here. After registration, each participant will receive an email with details on how to connect to the training activities and the Google Classroom platform.

"I studied without a scholarship", "We don't give scholarships because the parents of the children drink the money", "Do we have to give the money ourselves? Then we don't have time", are some of the responses of the mayors of Timișoara, to the attempt of the NGO "Clean Schools" to introduce the right to the scholarship in the educational units of Timiș, where there is not even a local council decision in this regard.

The "Clean Schools" project was started in September, after the coordinators held a public meeting with the people who have decision-making power in the county and exposed them to the problems reported in Timișoara education. Then the town halls were questioned about scholarships and investments in schools and it was found that only 5% of the 99 UATs complied with the scholarship law. There were localities where a scholarship of 20 lei was granted, but also municipalities that invested 0 lei in the school infrastructure, in Jimbolia, Liebling, Balinț, Recaș, Tomnatic.

"At the meetings with the representatives of the town halls, we present the "Clean Schools" project, conclusions from our report, we talk about the relationship between the town hall and the school, we try to find out more about the challenges faced by the respective school, but we also look for examples of good practices in what concerns local educational and social policies. Unfortunately, we had a series of meetings with mayors who did not show up for the meeting, although it had been scheduled together. Teremia Mare, Otelec, Orțișoara, Iecea Mare town halls are the town halls that simply did not honor us with their presence at the scheduled meeting. There are also those town halls that refuse the meeting from the start: Buzias, Ghizela, Știuca, there are town halls where we failed to convince the mayors of the usefulness of these meetings. The town halls that were open to receive us in the audience are: Biled Town Hall, Ghiroda Town Hall, Saravale Town Hall, Victor Vlad de la Marina Town Hall, Cenad Town Hall and Dumbrăvița Town Hall. All these meetings were a positive experience, and the participating people (mayors, vice-mayors, councilors, etc.) assured us of their involvement and desire to invest more in the area of ​​education. They told us that they will correct the irregularities and ensure that the students' rights are respected. Our approach will continue throughout the month of January," Andrada Maziliu, coordinator of the "Clean Schools" project in the county, told tion.ro.

The "Clean School" project is a pilot project started in 2019, which has student volunteers from the entire county and which takes care of the smooth running of schools by monitoring the allocation and spending of public money for the benefit of education.

The year 2021 begins with good news at the Western University of Timișoara, as a result of the results obtained by the teaching staff in the competition of exploratory research projects, submitted in 2020 to UEFISCDI.

2020 Exploratory Research Project Funding Competition by UEFISCDI highlighted once again the concern of the academic community of the Western University of Timișoara for the performance in scientific research. The results of this competition materialized by winning seven exploratory research projects, accumulating an amount of 7.633.260 lei, dedicated exclusively to the financing of scientific research activities.

The rector of UVT, prof. univ. dr. Marilen Gabriel Pirtea, underlines the competitive performance of UVT researchers:

"The entry into the new year brings for the UVT community a confirmation of the significant scientific value of its exceptional researchers, through the funding of the seven projects considered competitive by UEFISCDI. We have all overcome a complicated, difficult year through all the trials and challenges we have known, but here talent and perseverance have helped us, as always, and inspired us in imagining and writing well-scored research projects in the national research competition, a confirmation of our concerns oriented towards high performance."

The experience, tenacity and performance orientation of the teaching staff and researchers who submitted projects in this competition made UVT have the highest success rate (31,8% of all projects submitted by UVT) in this competition, compared to the others universities in Romania.

The funded projects are assigned to the following scientific fields: 3 – social and economic sciences (psychology), 1 – computer science, 1 – mathematics, 1 – biology and ecology (biology), 1 – humanities (philology).

What happens to the students is more important than what happens to the tablets or the classroom; teachers have to develop new skills and knowledge, often very different from what they were used to; and learning losses and gaps are a problem that urgently needs to be addressed. These are the three big lessons of the pandemic for the world's education systems, according to a report of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) launched at the end of 2020, summarizing the main measures taken by world governments, in the field of education, in the context of the Covid-19 crisis.

• The OECD appreciates, in the preamble, that this Covid-19 crisis has major implications for education, which may last long after the crisis is over. Among the causes: extended and repeated school closures, major learning losses suffered by the world's students, constraints on school resumption, technological impact. "All this means that a simple return of education to the old normal, which already failed to meet the needs of those who learn, is no longer an option".

The report summarizes all the processes of the year in three "lessons" of the Covid-19 crisis for school systems, lessons about strengthening their resistance to major shocks and their ability to react when the needs of students change.

Lesson no. 1: Education actors should support resilient ways of thinking about the educational process, where people and processes are valued, not the classroom or the work apparatus.

As a moment of large-scale innovation and improvisation, the current period offers an opportunity for education systems to gain greater flexibility and strengthened resilience in the fundamental principles on which they are organized. This means adopting new teaching methods so that schools respond more quickly and better to the learning needs of all students and in all contexts, the OECD report says. (Preparation for classroom, distance or hybrid teaching, with greater involvement of teachers in the decision-making process, to reduce imbalances and benefit all categories of students).

Lesson no. 2: Teachers need new skills and new knowledge to respond to new educational priorities, with the help of new means of education delivery

Just as governments have looked to teachers to deliver education in times of crisis using innovative methods, there will still be a need for those same governments to ensure that new skills and flexible approaches to education continue beyond the current crisis. They must prioritize professional training and support for teachers so that they not only cope with, but sustain, long-term changes in an ever-changing educational process. Those who provide learning must be encouraged to choose for themselves how to grow professionally, be given the tools they need for different teaching contexts and be encouraged to collaborate with each other, says the OECD.

Lesson no. 3 Learning gaps need to be filled now to minimize disruption to students' education

The disruptions produced during the crisis disproportionately affected students, especially the most vulnerable among them, deepening previous inequalities. The implications can be dramatic and long-lasting, notes the OECD report. It shows that urgent action is needed to reduce learning losses and ensure the continuation of education for all students. And in the long term, the report says, systems must provide learning environments where students can cope with change and have the opportunity to achieve skills to their full potential.

• The full OECD report can be consulted here

"At the moment, know that the reports I have are of 237.000 students who did not have internet and 287.000 students who did not have IT equipment. We asked for an update in these reports and we will see what the extent of the phenomenon is. If the values ​​are really that high, it means that we will have to intervene with other measures besides the remedial ones", declared Sorin Cîmpeanu.

In the initial census of students without devices and without internet, carried out last spring, The Ministry of Education announced that there were almost 250 thousand students in this situation. The statistic was the basis for the purchase of tablets, in total value of almost 150 million lei, money allocated from the emergency fund available to the Prime Minister, from the Government.

The auction was launched in the summer, and the tablets were distributed to schools in full only last month. The Minister of Education, Sorin Cîmpeanu, said at the beginning of the week that not all the tablets reached the students because 20% of them would not have been picked up for various reasons, whether the students already had tablets from other sources, whether the parents refused or that the students and their parents did not show up to pick them up.

In addition to these tablets, the Orban Government launched a parallel scheme for the settlement of tablets or lapropos from European money, through the Ministry of European Funds, in which schools, town halls, or partnerships between schools and school inspectorates or schools and town halls could participate.

The employment rate of the population aged 20-64 was in Q3 2020 of 71,2%, with 1,2 percentage points above the national target set at 70% within the Europe 2020 strategy, according to the data communicated by the INS.
Romania thus achieved its proposed objective, but will still remain below the target level of 75% set at the European level.

The employment rate of the working-age population reached 66%, an increasing value compared to the levels reported in 2016 and 2018, although the active population started to decrease and the number of employees remained unchanged compared to two years ago ( 6.497 thousand people, i.e. almost exactly one third of the resident population).

We remind you that the Europe 2020 strategy for sustainable development includes five fundamental objectives. Along with employment, research and development, education, poverty and social exclusion and climate change and energy are also on the EU agenda. Romania is in a rather weak position in all these objectives, except for the last one.

It should be noted that, although systematic increases in the number of salaried people can be seen in all segments of activity, a decrease in the active population can be observed, a consequence of the massive emigrations after the entry into the EU and after the gradual full liberalization of labor movement.

Beyond the fact that approximately one in five Romanians in the 20-64 age group went to work abroad, here we could have the explanation not only for the low share of young people's employment but also for that of the elderly (but still able to work) who can find 'lucrative' deals in the care sector in the West.

Regarding the evolution of the employment rate by group from 2007 onwards, in order to have a reference regarding what happened from the accession until the last years), only one significant increase can be observed, somewhat surprisingly placed in the age group 55-64 years old (almost nine percentage points compared to 2007, of which two thirds from 2016 onwards and +0,7 pp during the pandemic).

Simplified, the data suggest that these are people trained in socialism, who stayed in the country and work in capitalism.

The situation is somewhat better than in 2007 and for the most important segment of the population, the 25-54 year old, which in Q3 2019 managed to reach an occupation of 82,1% but was hit by the pandemic. Instead, the 15-24 age group remained below the level of the first year of EU membership and the small attempt to return in 2019 was canceled (Q3 2020 shows the same level as in 2018, respectively 24,7% or less than a young person out of four able to work).