Higher Education in Romania. Trends, Analysis and Statistics

Abstract

In the last 25 years, Romanian higher education has been characterised by a number of transformations as a result of the need to modernise and to adapt to the business environment requirements, to the economic evolution, to the influence exerted by demographic factors or to the globalisation process. During 1995 – 2002, Romanian private higher education experienced a spectacular growth, followed by a sharp fall, which is manifest at present too, due to the lack of qualified staff and of material resources adequate for an appropriate educational process. State universities had a relatively constant evolution in the analysed period, with slight fluctuations, which were mainly caused by demographic factors and the economic crisis. The present paper carried out an analysis of the national higher education system from the perspective of the tertiary education services market concentration degree (ISCED levels 6, 7 and 8), at an administrative and proprietary form level. The results of the study showed a high concentration degree of educational institutions at a local level. The market of higher education services, offered by state universities, is characterised by moderate values of the Gini Struck Index and by an average concentration degree. The results of the research can be useful for the university management systems and for government officials in order to adopt some measures which could lead to a flexibility of the Romanian higher education system, adapting it to the business environment and to society requirements.