Critical Analysis of Higher Education Structure, Financial Policies, Revenue Sources and Expenditures. Study Case: Romania

• Author: Carmen Sirbu
• Pages: 85-94

Entrepreneurial Higher Education and Economic Progress

85

Critical Analysis of Higher Education Structure, Financial Policies,

Revenue Sources and Expenditures. Study Case: Romania

Carmen Sirbu1

Abstract: World is changing, higher education system is changing. Development of Romanian education

system in the context of globalization is essential in many areas: education, research, management.

Globalization and emerging knowledge-based society manifests th rough us the force fields tha t transform

universities both in structure and in their functionality. The financial resources of universities are finite and

their entrepreneurial capacity will be very important for their future. To appreciate the financial role played

by various actors within the higher education system, it is crucial to understand the organizational structure of

the system.

Keywords: higher education system; Romanian education system; globalization

1. Introduction

World is changing, higher education system is changing. Development of Romanian education system

in the context of globalization is essential in many areas: education, research, management.

Globalization and emerging knowledge-based society manifests through us the force fields that

transform universities both in structure and in their functionality. The financial resources of

universities are finite and their entrepreneurial capacity will be very important for their future. To

appreciate the financial role played by various actors within the higher education system, it is crucial

to understand the organizational structure of the system.

2. Higher Education Structure

In Romania, the higher education system shaped under European law. In 1999, the ministers of

education of 29 countries, Romania included, initiated the Bologna Process, thus forming the

European Higher Education Area which aimed to further standardize European education by

establishing a common system of comparable degrees and credits and promote European cooperation

and quality. The Bologna Declaration was not meant to make all European university programs

identical, rather it was meant to harmonize them and allow for greater mobility between different

systems of higher education. The system was based on undergraduate and graduate structures and

1 Associate Professor, PhD, “Danubius” University of Galati, Romania, Address: 3 Galati Boulevard, 800 654 Galati,

Romania, Tel.: +40.372.361.102, fax: +40.372.361.290, Corresponding author: carmensirbu@univ-danubius.ro.