Centre for Higher Education, Bucharest, Romania; Romanian Academy, ... Romanian higher education institutions face significant difficulties in "re-connecting".
Higher Education 30: 135-152, 1995. 9 1995 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
Higher Education Reform in Romania I THOMAS OWEN EISEMON, IOAN MIHAILESCU, LAZAR VLASCEANU, CATALIN ZAMFIR, JOHN SHEEHAN & CHARLES H. DAVIS The Worm Bank, Washington, D. C., U.S.A.; University of Bucharest, Romania; Unesco European Centre for Higher Education, Bucharest, Romania; Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania; University College, Dublin, Ireland; International Development Research Centre, Montevideo, Uruguay Abstract. This paper reviews the crisis in Romanian universities since the country's political transition in 1989, and describes the government's strategy for revitalizing the higher education system. Attention is drawn to the expansion of access to higher education, the dramatic increase of enrollments in social science fields, the spontaneous establishment of private higher education institutions, and to the many difficulties institutions are experiencing in coping with these changes especially because of resource constraints. Comprehensive reform of the role of the state in the financing and governance of higher education are proposed. The government's reform strategy involves accreditation of public and private institutions, establishment of open transparent mechanisms for allocating institutiolial and research funding, as well as changes in the structure of academic employment. Successful implementation will require strengthening the fragile management capacity of the Ministry of Education and the higher education institutions.
Romanian higher education institutions face significant difficulties in "re-connecting" their activities to a changing and uncertain labor market, to the needs of enterprises which are being privatized and to the international scientific and academic communities. There are many reasons why this should be a priority for the country's reform agenda. Romania's economic and political transition requires appropriately trained human resources. A wide variety of highly skilled labor is needed in a nascent market economy that wishes to become a more important part of the European economy; not just economists, accountants, management and marketing specialists, but also lawyers, social scientists, engineers with broad skills, technicians of many types, language specialists, and, above all, well informed citizens. Following the many years of capricious political interference, reform efforts understandably focused on changing the role of the state, most notably in relation to the universities whose students and staff were prominent in the political events at the end of 1989. The public universities soon amended their charters, declared themselves politically autonomous, adopted participatory forms of governance and were largely purged of many appointees of the Ceausescu regime. Previous restrictions on university admissions were lifted and the monopolistic role of government in higher education were challenged by the establishment of a large number of private higher education institutions that are graduating their first students this year (1994). Higher education participation rates have nearly doubled since 1989. About 20 percent of the relevant age cohort is now enrolled in public or private institutions. However, the responsiveness of the higher education system to the growing
136 demand for new skills is limited by the mismatch between the distribution of student enrollments and available instructional resources, especially full time staff. Neither the public nor the private universities are able to mobilize the resources they need to increase staff in expanding fields, the former because of constraints on cost-recovery and the latter as a result of the dramatic fall in real incomes which have declined by about a third since 1989. This paper examines the present crisis of Romanian higher education. Importance is given to the proliferation of new public and private universities and to the dramatic growth of student enrollment in applied social sciences in the context of diminishing resources and policy constraints that make accommodation to these changes difficult. The concluding section describes the Ministry of Education's strategy for reforming the higher education system which was adopted by government in late 1994 and is now being implemented.
Public higher education: growth and greater diversification High priority has been given to increasing access to public higher education. The total number of public degree-granting institutions has grown to 56 from 44 in 1989/90 while the number of teaching faculties has more than doubled (Table 1). New public universities have been established, especially in more educationally disadvantaged regions. Several recently established universities previously had the status of universities but had been transformed into post-secondary vocational colleges in the 1970s, when the government tried to redirect secondary school graduates into short cycle programs (Sadlak 1993a, 83). Many, like the University of Oradea in Eastern Transylvania, are former diploma-granting institutions offering teacher training and technical programs. Most of the new institutions have small enrollments as do the majority of older ones. In 1992/93, 18 institutions enrolled fewer than 1,000 students and only 6 had enrollments of more than 10,000 students, the largest institutions being in the Bucharest region which accounts for 40 percent of all university enrollment (Mihailescu 1993, 8). Enrollment of day students has been encouraged and they now account for about Table 1.
Public higher educationenrollmentby level and kind of study, 1989/90-1993/94
Institutions/enrollment No. of Institutions No. of faculties Total enrollment, of which: % Day students % Evening students % Distancelearning students Source:
Mihailescu (1993), 2.
89/90
90/91
91/92
92/93
44 101 164,507
48 186 184,171
56 220 205,393
56 237 240,000
58 36 6
71 24 6
74 19 7
137 three fourths (74%) of students in higher education institutions. This has probably increased the social selectivity of higher education enrollments. Distance learning programs are favored for increasing educational opportunities as well as for retraining of managers, engineers, teachers, physicians and other professionals. The potential demand for continuing education is considerable. It has been estimated that 400,000 graduates presently under the age of 35 require professional retrainingImostly engineers and teachers (Popa and Chera 1993, 12). Despite the rapid expansion of higher education enrollments in the public sector, access to universities is still highly competitive. In the 1993 university entrance examination, the ratio of candidates per seat was 20:1 in some faculties (Mihailescu 1993, 5) though the number of places has increased appreciably. Many students who fail to gain entry to a public university and who lack the financial resources needed to enroll in a private higher education institution (see below), enter a post secondary vocational institution. In 1993, there were about 420 such institutions, usually attached to secondary schools, with a total enrollment of 37,000 students-a large increase from 161 institutions and 18,000 students in 1990/91 (Vasilescu and Calota 1993, 1 & 6). The post-secondary vocational institutions offer programs of between one to three years in duration in traditional fields such as teacher and technical training as well as in new fields like tourism and business administration that are important to the local economy. However, the number of entering students is now declining while university enrollments continue to expand. There have been dramatic shifts in the distribution of enrollment among fields of study, away from science and engineering and toward commerce, law and the social sciences. "Out of the utopian ambition to achieve economic and technological breakthroughs," Mihailescu notes, "the communist bureaucracy magnified the size of certain economic fields, and that of related higher studies. In metallurgy, chemistry, mechanical (and other engineering specialities), oversized faculties and departments were developed" (Mihailescu 1993, 4). These are the fields which have experienced the most radical reductions both as a share of total enrollment at the university level and in absolute numbers since 1989. For instance, engineering enrollments have dropped precipitously from 65 percent of total enrollment to 38 percent in 1992/93 (Table 2). In some engineering and technical fields, in 1993 there was competition for less than 10 percent of the available places (Mihailescu 1993, 5). Meanwhile, enrollments in economics, social sciences and the humanities have grown and now account for almost half (45%) of higher education enrollments. New courses have been introduced in fields such as journalism, social work and business, while studies in sociology, psychology and other social science disciplines that were suppressed during the Ceausescu period have been revived.
Resource Constraints
Public higher education institutions have two main revenue sources: a) the state
138 Table 2. Distribution of Higher Education Enrollment by Field of Study, 1989/90-1992/93 (percent) Field Engineering Agriculture Economics Law Medicine Sciences, Soc. Sciences & Humanities Fine Arts Total
89/90
90/91
91/92
92/93
65 4 9 1 10 10 1 100
59 4 10 3 10 14 1 100
54 4 12 4 10 16 2 100
38 4 20 3 7 25 3 100
Source: Mihailescu (1993), 4.
budget; and b) income from self-financing activities. The proportion of resources derived from each source since 1989 is shown in Table 3. It is apparent that the 40fold increase in Lei denominated income was insufficient to compensate for inflation, if one takes the US dollar equivalent as an indicator of real resources. It is also apparent that the state budget has accounted for a steady increase in the source of income, but the amount has fallen when measured in dollars. In 1992/93, the state budget accounted for about $92.2M, well below $129.2M in 1991/92. Since 1988/89, the state budget has been broadly maintained in real terms (it was $102.3M that year), with the decline in other sources of income accounting for a significant part of the 36 percent fall in real resources. The decline in self-financing through 1992/93 was due mainly to the abolition of compulsory contract research activities by university staff in 1990. Resources from the state budget are allocated to the public universities according to an outline budget for all salary and non-salary expenses. This must conform to a very detailed set of norms which have very extensive information requirements and specify, for example, allowable expenditures for energy based on square meters of space for students (Tutor and Dornean 1993, 4-6). All important cost parameters are prescribed, including wages and salaries and even staffing levels for the student hostels and refectories. These matters are outside the control of the universities. Consequently, the large differences in unit costs among institutions (and between fields) mainly reflects variation in capacity to fill allocated staff positions. Table 3. Level and Sources of Income for Higher Education Institutions, 1988/89-1993/94 Year
1988/89 1989/90 1990/91 1991/92 1992/93
Total Income Lei (B)
$(M)
2.24 3.33 10.39 29.36 87.12
151 148 136 96 116
State Budget % 67 86 95 96 --
Sources; Dogaru and Vasilescu (1993), 3; M. Tutor and M. Dornean (1993), Annex C3. Note: The exchange rates used to convert to US$ are annual averages.
Self-Financing % 34 14 5 4 --
139 In determining an allocation from the state budget, the relevant ministries (finance and education) take into account estimates of internally generated income (self-financing). The resulting grant is split into a series of chapters with very limited scope for virement. In other words, the grant from the state budget effectively becomes a residual, even though it may account for more than 90 percent of an institution's income. Thus, according to Bodar (1993, 19), the grant is best conceived as "a subsidy covering the gap between the necessary total funds and the institutions own revenues." It is a residual because, for any total level of expenditure by an institution, the higher the estimated self-financing, the lower the required state subvention. Any effort by an institution to raise funds may be offset by a reduction in state grants, or at best the net gains will be temporary as extra funds raised in say 1993, may not come to the notice of budgetary officials until full accounts for 1993 are available. In such a case, the offsetting reduction in the grant will occur in 1994 or 1995. The principal effect of this system of allocating resources, though, is to generally discourage institutions from diversifying their income. Public universities are seriously constrained in responding to recent enrollment shifts by the poor incentives to attract and retain qualified academic staff in areas of high student demand. Although the overall student to academic staff ratio changed very little, from 13.4:1 in 1989/90 to 13.2:1 in 1992/93, there were large changes in individual fields. In economics and business courses where enrollments increased from 12,500 to 27,000, actual staff numbers were constant, increasing the studentto-staff ratio to almost 50:1 in 1992/93. However, in engineering, the student staff ratio fell from 19:1 to 13:1 (Sheehan 1993, 17). Data from the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies are particularly revealing. The overall percentage of filled posts has decreased steadily from 94 percent in 1988/89 to 52 percent in 1992/93, with the result that the student/staff ratio increased from 17.5:1 to 27.7:1 (Oprea and Apostol 1993). If all posts had been filled, the ratio would have been 14.5:1. The proportion of filled posts has been lowest in the junior grades. For example, less than half (48%) of the positions at the lecturer level and only 30 percent of the assistant lecturers posts were filled in 1992/93.
Spontaneous Development of Private Higher Education Nowhere in Eastern or Central Europe has private higher education developed more rapidly than in Romania, which had no history of private university education. High student demand exacerbated by the limited absorptive capacity of public institutions, led to the establishment by 1993/4 of as many as 66 private institutions. These may now enroll 100,000 students (Mihailescu 1993, 9). According to government sources, 86,411 students were taking courses in private institutions in 1992/93 which have almost tripled their enrollments each year since 1990/91 (Vlasceanu 1993, 84). However, precise estimates are not available (Mihailescu 1993, 9; Palade and Enache 1993; Toma et al 1993; Sadlak 1993b.). Almost all (57 of 66) of the private institutions claim university status and propose
140 to grant degrees (Vlasceanu 1993, 44). The programs of the private institutions are not accredited nor are the degrees they offer recognized by the state. Diversity is the outstanding feature of the private higher education sector. The private institutions, which are widely distributed throughout the country, range in size from a few hundred to more than 6,000 day students at Ecology University, Hyperion University and the Dimitrie Cantemir University in Bucharest. A relatively high proportion of students are enrolled in part-time programs. The largest institutions have multiple campuses. These are often situated at secondary schools and postsecondary institutions whose facilities are used for both day and evening classes. The private higher education institutions have two characteristics in common. First, their curricula generally replicates that of the public universities, although there is much experimentation with new fields like cognitive science and nonconventional courses of study such as parapsychology, acupuncture and homeopathic medicine. Predictably, many institutions emphasize low cost courses like law, economics, management, foreign trade, European languages and computer science. However, unlike private higher education institutions in most other countries, those in Romania also offer degrees in generally high cost, high demand fields such as medicine, dentistry and architecture. Medical programs, for example, are offered at about 40 institutions! The development of such programs, combined with the high rate of growth of these institutions and their reliance on self-financing, raises serious questions about the quality of instruction students receive. Second, private institutions draw their mainly part-time academic staff from the public universities and colleges as well as secondary schools. This has worsened the already serious staffing shortage in the public sector particularly in the fields which have expanded most rapidly in enrollment, although it has provided an important source of extra income for their poorly paid staff. Most private institutions have adopted the nominal entrance requirements of the public universities. While they mainly recruit students who fail to gain entry to a public institution, admission is reported to be competitive. For example, the Ecology University in 1993/94 accepted about one of six qualified applicants, a decrease from a ratio of one to ten in 1990/91 but sufficient to ensure continued, though more modest future growth. Drop out rates in private institutions are reported to be very low--2-3 percent of the instructional cohort per year (Palade and Enache 1993; Vlasceanu 1993, 87). Fees ranged in 1992193 from $216 to $333, well below the unit costs in public universities. However, this is suggestive of the significant potential for private financing of public higher education. Fees in private universities are estimated to be, on average, about what a student previously paid for private tutoring to pass the entrance examinations to the public universities (Consultative Group 1994, 31), or about a quarter to a third of real per capita GDP.
Structural Reforms, New Programs and Constraints on Innovation
The rapid growth of public and private higher education and radical change in the
141 distribution of enrolhnents anticipate fundamental changes in the labor market. There is very little reliable information on the employment of recent graduates. What information is available is mainly anecdotal. For instance, while administrators report that many engineering graduates at the prestigious Polytechnic University of Romania encounter difficulties in finding employment, about 80 percent of last year's graduates of civil engineering obtained jobs within two to three months (personal communication 1994). This is attributed to the revitalization of the construction industry. Graduate unemployment is said to be concentrated in mechanical, metallurgical and certain fields of electrical engineering leading to employment in state-owned enterprises. The declining enrollment in these engineering fields suggests that students are responding to labor market "signals." Likewise, the recent decline in interest in medical studies in the public universities may reflect the government's intention to redirect training priorities in the health sector, reinforced by a sharp reduction in the number of residencies. Fields where the public sector provides the only opportunities for employment like teaching and medicine are becoming less attractive. In the public sector, average earnings differentials among individuals with different educational qualifications are relatively narrow by comparison to many OECD countries, though they are higher than some other Eastern and Central European countries (Sheehan 1993, 4). A university graduate earns nearly three times as much as an unskilled worker. This does not take into account pay incentives offered to unskilled and skilled workers but unavailable to most white collar workers in the public service which probably narrows this difference appreciably. In the private sector, earnings differentials in favor of university graduates are likely to be much greater. There are some indications that graduates in law, economics, computer science and business management-especially those with foreign language skills-are in short supply in the nascent private sector. The evidence is also impressionistic. Nearly all of last year's graduates of the Bucharest Academy of Economics, for instance, are reported to be employed (personal communication 1994). An informal survey of administrators of public and private higher education institutions in Bucharest suggests that the majority of 1993 graduates of arts, social science and law programs are entering the private sector and that few are tmemployed (personal communications, 1994). Most advertisements for private sector employment requiring some form of advanced professional or technical training that appeared in the ten largest national newspapers surveyed in mid-1994 were for positions in computer sciences, law, and particularly accounting. There was very little diversity in the length and structure of undergraduate programs prior to 1989. Programs in science, arts, social science and the humanities were usually for four years, while programs in some professional fields, such as engineering and medicine, were five years. Evening courses required an additional year. Teaching faculties functioned autonomously in regard to admission, instruction and examination, and programs were highly specialized: "student horizontal mobility (between fields) being an exception...Student specialization would start from the very first year. Certificates and diplomas issued would indicate narrow specialties. A decrease of workplaces in certain sectors would entail manifold difficulties in finding
142 another job for those specialized in one field only" (Mihailescu 1993, 10). More flexible program structures are now being developed in many public universities. Two- to three-year certificate programs are being established in many new fields; for example, in library and information sciences. Traditional degree courses, especially in engineering, are being divided into two cycles; a short-cycle diploma program of three years, with two additional years of study leading to a degree. At the Polytechnic University of Romania, broader areas of specialization such as electrical and mechanical engineering are now emphasized, and studies are offered in English, German and French as well as in Romanian. In addition, the older public universities are introducing Master's programs of one- to two-years duration, including some in new inter--disciplinary specialties such as ecology and environmental engineering. Doctoral programs are also being re-established and are now offered in about 40 public universities, entry to which will soon require the new Master's degree (Vlasceanu 1993, Annex 4). Less progress has been made in reforming the organization of instruction and assessment. Programs of study are still course- rather than credit-based, which limits students' choices, fosters premature specialization, and prevents mobility among fields, faculties and institutions. Students who wish to broaden their undergraduate training must be readmitted and start their studies from the first year. The number of hours of compulsory instruction, 36 hours a week, is very high by comparison to Western European or North American universities. This leaves little time for self-study. Students rely on their lecture notes to prepare for course examinations which are usually given in the oral format (Vlasceanu 1993, 36 & 37). Private universities like Ecology University have been somewhat more innovative in these respects, pioneering the introduction of the credit system, major and minor program concentrations and new methods of assessment. The shortage of staff represents a serious constraint on curricular modernization, and especially on the development of graduate programs which are needed to produce the next generation of academics. In 1992/93, the student-to-staff ratio in public universities was 7.5:1 if the number of authorized staff posts is taken as the denominator, and about 13:1 if actual staffing is used (Sheehan 1993, 7). Almost half of all sanctioned academic posts in the public universities were vacant in 1993/94. It is the high coursework requirements of academic programs that distorts this situation. If staff teaching workloads remained unchanged (at 12 hours for teaching assistants and 6 hours for professors) but course requirements for undergraduates were reduced to, say, 24 hours of instruction per week, significant staffing resources would be freed to support development of new programs, especially at the Master's and doctoral levels.
Outdated Laws and Mechanisms of Control Another important obstacle to restructuring higher education, according to Mihailescu (1993, 13), "is the absence of an adequate legal framework...Academic structures have been changing faster than rules and regulations. The older law of
143 education has not been invalidated yet, although in many respects, it utterly contradicts the latest changes." Without an appropriate legal framework for managing the higher education system, the Ministry of Education has been forced to rely on temporary expediencies. Since 1990, more than 2,000 decrees and ministerial orders have been issued to legitimate the management of the higher education system. "We are confronted," Vlasceanu (1993, 72) points out, "with a paradoxical situation: a multiplication of regulations and yet, a certain shortage of regulations necessary for the normal operation of the system." The spontaneous development of private universities perhaps best illustrates the need for reform of the legal basis of the higher education system. A law passed in 1990 (35/90) allowing non-governmental entities to provide educational services was the foundation for the establishment of private higher education institutions of many kinds. The law was apparently intended to legalize private tutoring for admission to public universities, a prevalent practice that was made illegal during the previous regime (Vlasceanu 1993, 44). It was sufficient legal basis for the proliferation of private universities, though several of them have sought additional legitimacy by claiming to be successors of philanthropic educational societies allowed under laws passed before 1948 (Sadlak 1993b., 5). Traditions of close government supervision of the public higher education system continue, while the rights and responsibilities of universities vis-a-vis the state are ill-defined in law. The education law of 1977 and earlier statutes relating to teaching staff gives the Ministry of Education broad powers over the universities, including control of their curricula, appointment of administrative and academic staff, and promotions and conditions of employment as well as determination of the level and distribution of student intake (Sadlak 1993a., 1993, 85 & 86). The public universities have reclaimed some of their former rights through assertion of the principle of academic freedom. The government has not opposed efforts by the universities to appoint their own administrators, design study programs (subject to ministerial approval) or apply additional admissions criteria for entry to teaching faculties. However, it continues to negotiate student intake with the public universities through control of their finances. In addition, it retains the power to approve academic titles, stipulate criteria for appointments and promotions, and to determine the workloads and remuneration of staff.
Reform of Higher Education The recent changes that have taken place in the higher education system have done little to correct the chief legacy of the Ceausescu era--the development of significant training capacities for which a transitional economy does not have much need, and the underdevelopment of fields that are critical to its future growth. Public expenditure is allocated inefficiently within the higher education system. Capacity in public higher education is concentrated in fields and programs such as engineering, for which there is declining student and labor market demand. There are serious staff shortages in both public and private institutions in fields of
144 importance to a market economy like economics, management, and other applied social sciences. The shortage is exacerbated by policies and practices that produce inefficient use of scarce instructional resources, such as the high number of hours of compulsory instruction students receive.
Differentiating the Structure of the Higher Education System The government's strategy emphasizes the importance of reforming the structure of the higher education sub-sector as a whole, including the postsecondary vocational institutions as well as the universities. In regard to postsecondary vocational education, it notes that these institutions may have a more prominent role to play in the future in absorbing some of the social demand for higher education, but identifies several problems: a) unclear missions; b) overspecialized programs, many of them in technical fields for which there is now little labor market demand; and c) poor articulation of their programs, both with those of secondary schools and the universities and also with the employment needs of the regions in which they are located. Having expanded rapidly after 1989, first-year enrollments in postsecondary vocational institutions are beginning to decline. The proliferation of public and private universities has been a contributing cause. The evolution of these institutions into community colleges offering a wide range of short courses addressing the needs of the regional economy is seen as having many benefits. This would require, however, reform of secondary as well as university education, together with the strengthening of local governments. In anticipation of such changes, the government's intention is to begin shifting some of the burden of financing postsecondary vocational education to regional and municipal authorities. That will have to be accompanied by reforms in the governance of the postsecondary vocational institutions to encourage local participation as well as by significant devolution of national government control of their curricula and budgets. Beginning in 1995, the government will transfer funds to local governments for maintenance and other non-salary educational expenditures. At the university level, there is a need for greater differentiation also. The narrowness especially of programs in many scientific and technical fields combine with the tradition of early specialization to produce extreme rigidity in the courses of studies offered by the universities, at a time when the labor market is undergoing much change. Curricular reforms, even in the private universities, are constrained by government control of academic programs. Previously, "the Ministry forced a single curriculum on all faculties of the same profile which prevented institutions from identifying a mission to match their potential" (Consultative Group 1994, 24). Although the universities have contested the Ministry's control of their curricula as an infringement of academic freedom, they still lack the autonomy necessary to undertake major curriculum reforms at the undergraduate level. The distortions resulting from previous staffing patterns are perhaps a more
145 serious constraint to program innovation. The universities have excess instructional capacity in fields of limited student demand and serious difficulties in staffing new programs of studies. This is best illustrated by the problems experienced by many institutions in accommodating the increasing enrollments in economics, management and other applied social sciences and in developing graduate programs. Priority has been given by the universities to an expansion of doctoral enrollments, despite the fact that they often lack the qualified staff and necessary facilities to support research activities. Insofar as reform of academic programs is concerned, the objective of the government's strategy is to: (a) encourage development of short- and long-cycle courses (with possibilities for transfer between postsecondary institutions and universities); (b) phase out many overspecialized undergraduate programs, and reduce the number of hours of compulsory instruction; (c) allow multiple specializations in certificate and degree programs; and to (d) establish Master's programs as a pre-requisite for doctoral studies, which would involve full time coursework as well as research in "centers of excellence" (Consultative Group 1994, 24-30). These reforms are viewed as being contingent on changing the role of the state in the financing and management of the higher education system to increase autonomy and to create conditions that will allow institutions to redeploy instructional resources. The creation of a private higher education sector is presented in the reform strategy as a potentially healthy and necessary development. Attention is drawn, however, to the compensatory and "parasitic" relationship between public and private universities. The private universities mainly enroll students who fail to gain admission to public universities which, in turn, supplied about 91 percent of their teaching staff in 1992/1993 (Consultative Group 1994, 31). Their capacity to offer a high quality of instruction is limited by reliance on self-financing. This is exacerbated by a tendency to offer programs in many fields of high student demand like medicine, that have costly instructional resource requirements (Zamfir 1993b.). Nevertheless, it is noted that "university autonomy and diversification of the sources of financing (by the public universities) will gradually narrow down the differences between public and private institutions. But this will take time" (Consultative Group 1994, 31). Importance is placed on the need for significant rationalization of the private institutions and their programs so that a smaller number of more viable institutions can emerge and public and private institutions can develop more clearly defined roles in the higher education system. A law creating a National Council on Accreditation and Evaluation was passed by Parliament in 1993. The law sets out general criteria and minimum standards which institutions must satisfy to be accredited as universities. These relate to their forms of governance, organization of programs, teaching staff and instructional resources, as well as to the proportion of their budgets used for quality improvements. Institutions founded after 1989 are obliged to prepare a self-evaluation report and submit to an external evaluation. Institutions functioning in 1989 are required to present themselves for periodic evaluation. Accreditation of private higher education institutions and their programs was begun in 1994. This has already
146 resulted in the suspension of instruction in programs like medicine, and the closing of several for-profit private institutions.
Diversifying Financing to Accommodate Growth and Support Institutional Reforms Addressing the financial crisis in public higher education, brought on by rapid enrollment growth and declining real resources to support expansion, is at the core of the government's strategy for reform. The scope for increased efficiency of resource utilization is limited in the absence of fundamental reforms in the s t r u c t u r e of public higher education programs. The two largest sources of potential efficiency gains involve: a) expansion of short-cycle programs which might reduce overall unit costs if they re-distribute enrollment and can be serviced more inexpensively than the existing long-cycle programs; and, more importantly, b) reduction in the number of hours of compulsory instruction. In 1994, the Ministry of Education issued regulations reducing the number of hours of instruction from 36 to 22-24 hours per week at the undergraduate level and from 24 to 12 hours for graduate students, to take effect in the 1994/95 academic year. This directive will require the universities to radically rethink how they organize and staff their programs. New regulations have also been issued on the length of short- and longcycle studies. The government's strategy acknowledges that increased public investment will be necessary to support reforms, but that public higher education institutions will have to raise more private financing: "While so far higher education has been almost exclusively financed from public funds, the time has come for radical changes to be made in its financing to attract its other beneficiaries" (Consultative Group 1994, 50). New approaches to financing the public universities and post secondary vocational institutions are advocated with core budget funding being provided on the basis of the level and distribution of enrollment according to transparent criteria (Consultative Group 1994, 53). Private institutions would be able to compete with public institutions for funding to support training in fields of strategic importance for national human resource development (Consultative Group 1994, 52). In addition, normative financing mechanisms would be designed to encourage the universities to supplement public funds with financing from other sources including funding from local governments (especially in the case of the postsecondary vocational institutions), fees (to be raised, gradually, from 20% to 30% of total costs, depending on level and field of study), from contributions from enterprises (for training, contract research and consultancy) and through private philanthropy (from alumni and other private benefactors) stimulated by tax incentives. Diversification of financing will require increasing the autonomy of public institutions in matters relating to how they raise resources and, significantly, in how they utilize them (Consultative Group 1994, 54-56). The latter will involve removing the present disincentives to private financing as well as the many
147 restrictions imposed on how the universities use their budgets. The state would provide subsidies to students on a more selective basis. Various kinds of scholarships would be provided; fellowships to support graduate studies (administered nationally), merit scholarships (given to undergraduate students according to their performance at "the secondary level), study scholarships (allocated to institutions and through them to faculties and departments, to be awarded on a competitive basis), and national scholarships for payment of accommodation and subsistence, awarded on the basis of merit as well as financial need (Consultative Group 1994, 57 & 58). Other forms of assistance would be provided for talented students from poor family backgrounds, such as allowances to cover medical insurance, and the costs of student hostels and refectories. Eventually, an income contingent student loan scheme might be developed when real incomes have stabilized and the country's financial institutions are stronger. A semi-autonomous National Council on Higher Education Financing was established by the Ministry of Education in late 1994 to begin to implement these reforms. Normative financing of the public universities will be introduced gradually beginning in 1995. The formula to allocate funds will be designed to shift most of the growth in undergraduate enrollments to the newer regional universities, to concentrate graduate enrollments in the large universities in Bucharest and other major urban centers, and to increase internal efficiency in the utilization of public resources. Core budget funding will be provided in the form of block grants. Support for new programs of study will be given on a discretionary basis, subject to institutional reform strategies and budgetary priorities as well as to periodic evaluations of program effectiveness.
Reforming the Structure of Academic Employment Growing enrollments have led to a chronic staff shortage in fields with high employment opportunity. It has led as well to the recruitment of many young staff without doctoral degrees whose heavy teaching responsibilities discourage their professional development. Academic work confers lifetime security of employment, and salaries are rigidly tied to rank, with eligibility for promotion based on length of service. To ensure uniformity in the professional standards for promotion in higher education institutions, the National Council for Attestation of Academic Titles, Degrees, Diplomas and Certificates, appointed by the Ministry of Education, establishes criteria for advancement and monitors their personnel practices. A professorship represents the pinnacle of an academic career. Traditionally, promotion to the senior ranks of the professorate (associate professorship or a chair) has required a doctoral degree and involvement in research and doctoral supervision. The very rigid, uni-dimensional structure of academic work fosters a high degree of uniformity in the missions of higher education institutions and the aspirations of their staff. One consequence is the stimulus provided to staff to seek recognition of
148 the right to guide doctoral studies (and, thus, to admit students), an opportunity denied to many staff before 1990. The number of staff deemed qualified to supervise doctoral studies increased by almost seven times between 1990 and 1992, contributing to a massive expansion of doctoral enrollments (Vlasceanu 1993, Annexes 4 & 5). Because doctoral training has been equated with research, almost all new higher education institutions wish to be recognized as research universities and offer doctoral degrees. This includes most of the new private higher education institutions. The reform of the structure of the professorate would permit concentration of research and graduate training activities in a few institutions and academic units with the capacity to support such activities. That is critical in light of the lack of qualified staff and poor laboratory and library resources (Vlasceanu 1993, 9193). Until the expansion of undergraduate enrollments moderates and significant new resources are made available, efforts to strengthen research and training will have to be selective if the quality of these programs is to be strengthened. In order to develop a more differentiated higher education system, the government proposes to change the structure of academic employment in several ways (Consultative Group 1994, 61-70). Its proposals involve: a) introducing a distinction between contract and tenured academic employment, the former applying mainly to young staff who have not completed their doctoral degrees; b) designing a "credit" system to relate rank and salary to individual qualifications and experience, on the one hand, and to the particular missions of institutions, departments and academic disciplines, on the other; and c) developing a two track scheme for promotion, one for teacher/researchers and the other for teachers, with staff free to chose either career stream. Thus, "research work will no longer be part of the obligations of every academic teaching staff" (Consultative Group 1994,35; Zamfir 1993a.). Academic ranks would be reformed accordingly. The post of teaching assistant would disappear. The post of assistant professorship would be held under contract for a specified period of time with renewal based on performance. Lectureships would be offered to doctoral degree holders for an indefinite period of time without necessity of review for promotion while the associate professorship would be available to qualified candidates. Qualification for promotion would vary for the teacher/researcher and teacher streams. In exceptional cases, teacher/researchers could be promoted to professors. The National Commission for the Attestation of Academic Titles would formulate minimum standards for promotion and review institutional recommendations. Promotion from one rank to another would not depend on time served at a lower rank. The salary structure would also be reformed. Greater salary distinctions would be made among academic ranks. More importantly, the salary structure would be liberalized so that salaries would vary by field and type of institution, and pay would be linked to annual evaluation of performance. No penalties would be imposed on staff who are able to supplement their salaries with employment in their field of expertise and such work would be taken into account in decisions relating to promotion and salary review. However, these changes will require
149 amendments to the civil service regulations which have been proposed by the Ministry of Education for inclusion in a new labor code.
Strengthening System and Institutional Management To implement reforms in the management and financing of higher education, the government's strategy is to increase the autonomy of institutions while establishing more effective mechanisms of accountability, including new structures for steering the development of the system "at a greater distance." The self-governance of the universities would continue to be respected; their right to select staff, admit students, distribute intake and award degrees protected; and their autonomy in matters relating to the design of academic programs and the generation and allocation of resources to support them extended (Consultative Group 1994, 40--43). At the same time, the universities would be held more accountable for their funding as well as for the quality of training and research they provide. The Ministry of Education's responsibilities vis-a-vis the higher education system would be more well-defined. They include: (a) strategic assessment of national high level human resource requirements; (b) periodic assessment of the performance of institutions; (c) attestation of the credentials they award; (d) providing core budget funding for higher education institutions, funding for capital improvements, scholarships to students, and support for graduate education and research; and (e) establishing certain system level policies governing academic employment and promotion. The macro-management of the higher education system would be carried out through a network of autonomous and semi-autonomous advisory bodies to the Ministry of Education (Consultative Group 1994, 46). Existing bodies include the National Rectors' Conference, the National Council for the Attestation of Academic Titles, Diplomas and Certificates and the newly established (1994) councils on Accreditation and Evaluation, Higher Education Financing and Academic Research. The Rectors' Conference would continue to have coordinating and advisory functions, and its membership would be expanded with the addition of rectors from accredited private universities. The National Council for Attestation of Academic Titles will be given responsibility for implementing the new scheme for academic employment. The National Council for Higher Education Financing will allocate capital and operating grants to universities that have submitted themselves to accreditation and evaluation. In addition, the Council will provide support to needy but talented students. A National Council for Academic Research was established in late 1994 to revitalize research and graduate training in the universities. A Higher Education Council will soon be created to co-ordinate the work of the various councils as well as undertake strategic planning for the Ministry of Education. The legal basis for these changes which re-define the role of the state in the higher education system is provided in an education framework ("organic") law that is in the final stages of deliberation by Parliament. Because institutions would have increased autonomy but become more
150 accountable, management will need to be improved (Damian and Jurca 1993; Vadineau 1993). That will necessitate strengthening management capacity in every higher education institution. Importance is given in the government's reform strategy to the present confusion of academic and administrative functions in existing structures of governance. It advises separation of these functions, different organizational structures for supervising the implementation of academic programs and for administering services, as well as professionalization of both management streams. About 20 o f the public universities are participating in a pilot project launched in 1994 by the Ministry of Education which supports preparation of institutional reform plans. The institutions are required to present plans for changing the organization, staffing and administration of programs in light of the government's strategy for reform of the higher education system. This has stimulated many innovative proposals. The University of Bucharest's reform plan, for example, involves: development of short-cycle programs; introduction of the credit system; expanding opportunities to acquire specialization in more than one academic domain; new inter-disciplinary programs in such fields as ecology and public administration at the Master's level; a new incentive scheme for remunerating academic staff; and new academic and administrative structures including committees on academic evaluation in each teaching faculty as well as an administrative council to manage the operation of the University, chaired by a president (as opposed to the Rector).
Summary Radical and innovative measures to revitalize the higher education system have been debated, a coherent strategy for reform has been developed and important steps are now being taken by government and Parliament to implement it. To accommodate changing labor market demands, measures have been enacted to differentiate the forms of higher education (including promotion of collegiate and short cycle studies), and create an accreditation and quality assurance system to facilitate the growth of private higher education and development of new high quality programs. To diversify the financing of public higher education, the universities were allowed to admit fee paying students on a trial basis in 1992 and legislation has been introduced to permit cost recovery, means testing of student support and to give institutions more autonomy in raising and utilizing resources. To increase efficiency, flexibility and diversity, the number of hours of compulsory instruction has been reduced, the structure of academic employment is being reformed to allow for both teaching and research/teaching careers, and salaries will be related more closely to performance as well as to demand. To strengthen the management of higher education at the system and institutional levels, autonomous national councils have been or are being established to carry out accreditation, provide public funding to universities and their students and also to support research and full time graduate training. The reforms have generated a great deal of enthusiasm as well as controversy within the academic community. Implementation of accreditation and quality assurance legislation, for example, has aroused the concerns of both the new public
151 and the private universities and their supporters in Parliament. Increasing cost-recovery in the public universities is considered unjust by many students. There is resistance among some staff to any major innovations in how Romanian universities have organized and governed themselves. Others resist implementation of new programs and changes in the length and content of existing programs, or changing the structure of academic employment. Despite sometimes strong opposition on specific measures, there is consensus on the urgency of the higher education crisis and need for comprehensive reform. However, the reforms proposed will seriously strain the fragile management capacity of the Ministry of Education and the higher education institutions.
Notes 1The Romanian Government established an ad hoc inter-ministerial Working Party on Higher Education, Research and Technology in 1993 to prepare a strategy for reform of higher education and research in the context of the national reform plan for the economy. Studies on the financing and management of the higher education and research systems were commissioned with funding from the Japan Grant Facility administered by the World Bank. This report is drawn from the work carried out under the supervision of the Working Party, which is now a consultative body responsible to the Minister of State for Reform.
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