Press Release - ARUT

Romanian Alliance of Technical Universities

Press Release

The members of the Romanian Alliance of Technical Universities (ARUT), represented by rectors and vice-rectors, met on a working meeting at Politehnica University of Timisoara, on October 28. Strategic issues were analysed regarding the state and the perspectives of technical higher education in the context of "National Strategy for Romanian Higher Education 2015 - 2020", as well as actual problems with which the Romanian universities are confronted.

The following conclusions have been drawn:

1. Given that most of the performing sectors from the Romanian economy are associated with engineering sciences, and the fact that Romania has at present the highest proportion of  graduates of socio-economic  sciences  from the European Union, ARUT  considers absolutely vital the adoption of measures to promote and to stimulate the participation of young people in technical higher education (by providing support, facilities for all ”actors” involved, by resizing the way of distributing taxed study places for the three study cycles, to limit taxed places in areas where the labor market is saturated etc)
2. ARUT supports the National Council of Rectors’ proposal for successive annual budget increase of 13% for education and an increase of 35% allocated to research by 2020 so as to achieve in 2020 the threshold of 6% for education and 1% for research from GDP.
3. After more than 10 years after the implementation of the “Bologna process” the members of ARUT consider it necessary to accommodate the technical higher education system to the demands of today’s and tomorrow’s employers in Romania and the European Union. The lack of significant differences between graduates of bachelor, master, and even doctoral studies, on the labor market (in terms of occupations and wages), the high number of specializations in some areas of education, are just some of the issues that have an impact on the quality of the educational system. Soon, ARUT plans to finalize a set of proposals for improving the technical higher education system, and to hand them in to the responsible forums in view of adopting them as regulations.
4. ARUT believes that a necessary condition for ensuring transparency and objectivity, is the participation of international experts in the evaluation of doctoral schools in Romania.
5. ARUT support the classification and ranking of higher education institutions and study programs, and funding according to these classifications and hierarchies, based on an objective, transparent methodology, to whose development representatives of all university associations should be involved. Therefore, given the importance of technical higher education and the impact it has on the socio-economic development of our country, the members of ARUT ask that experts from the Association are to be included in the working committee responsible for developing the Methodology for classification of universities, in a ratio to ensure proper representation of technical higher education.
6. The Management of the ARUT member universities have expressed their willingness to participate in the review process of “Specific standards for external quality assessment of academic undergraduate and master study programs” – ARACIS 2016, as well as of “CNATDCU minimum standards for conferring didactic titles in higher education and professional degrees for research and development”. In this regard, working committees will be constituted and they will present the Alliance’s point of view.
7. ARUT notes that GEO 32/2016, respectively order 4947/2016, designed to provide tax incentives for applied research and development and/or technological development activities, as it is now, makes it virtually impossible for enforcement in universities, and calls for clarification of the way in which the law is to be applied (with reference to the employment/payroll conditions and employment in a specific type of research and development activity, etc.).
8. As a result of the GEO 20/2016 on wage increases, the adoption of the law 85/2016, as well as court decisions granting of retroactive salary rights, universities face financial difficulties being obliged to pay out of their own income the wage differences uncovered in full through budgetary allocation. ARUT calls the responsible factors (Ministry of Education and Scientific Research, Romanian Government) to immediately grant these amounts owed to universities, not covered by payments already made.