Florin Drăgan, Rector of UPT: "Nationally, the number of students aspiring to become engineers has decreased by almost 15% in the last ten years, despite significant demand in the job market."

Florin Drăgan, Rector of UPT: "Nationally, the number of students aspiring to become engineers has decreased by almost 15% in the last ten years, despite significant demand in the job market."

• A report on the state of higher education in Romania, conducted by the Ministry of Education, indicates that there were 75,331 students enrolled in engineering faculties last year. In 2014, there were 11,000 more students.
• Although technical universities have generally maintained enrollment figures, general universities offering engineering specializations had to reduce the number of seats to increase enrollment in fields considered easier.
• Florin Drăgan, Rector of Politehnica University Timișoara, believes that there is a need for better promotion of subjects such as Mathematics or Physics in high schools. Additionally, to make these subjects attractive, teachers must adopt interactive teaching methods.

Florin Drăgan, Rector of Politehnica University Timișoara, raises an alarm about the declining number of students opting for engineering at the national level, despite high demand in the job market. This decrease comes at a critical time as Romania is currently implementing numerous construction and digitization projects through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, and the demand for engineers will increase in all areas of interest. In this context, a shortage of technical specialists may lead to a more challenging and prolonged implementation of projects scheduled to be completed by 2027.

"Unfortunately, there are many causes for this decline in engineering students. We can talk about a migration of young people to foreign universities, a decrease in the school-age population, and a reduction in the number of engineering seats in general universities. As a technical university, we have maintained the number of seats at the same level for the past ten years. However, some general universities with engineering faculties have redirected these seats to easier faculties to avoid losing funding from the Ministry of Education. Moreover, after the pandemic, university dropout rates increased. Engineering studies are considered more challenging, regardless of the benefits young people gain after completing them. We can talk about higher salaries but also a job placement rate of over 90% in the field," says Florin Drăgan, Rector of Politehnica University Timișoara.

The Ministry of Education's report analyzes the total number of students from 2014 to 2023 enrolled in universities across Romania. The report shows an increase in the number of students studying information technology and communications (IT&C) specializations, but this growth does not compensate for the decline in engineering. For example, in 2023, there were 31,160 students enrolled in IT&C specializations at the undergraduate level, while ten years ago, there were 27,000 students.

"It's an increase, but the number of graduates compared to market demand is very small and does not compensate for the decline in engineering. In practice, we lost 11,000 engineers and gained only 4,000 IT specialists. Unfortunately, at the pre-university level, interest among students in subjects like Physics and, partially, Mathematics has decreased. Even among those choosing engineering, we observe a lack of basic concepts and knowledge that they should already have upon arrival at university. Therefore, more work needs to be done at the pre-university level on teaching methods, better promotion of these two subjects, and raising awareness among students about the benefits of becoming engineering graduates. A small step in promoting the field was taken through the new education law, allocating additional funds for scholarships for students studying STEM programs," states Florin Drăgan.

Many multinational companies in Romania are now carrying out not only in production but also research

The increasing demand for engineers in the job market has arisen in recent years because many companies that previously focused solely on production in Romania now have research departments. Moreover, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan includes numerous digitization and infrastructure projects, increasing the need for engineers even more in the near future.

"As long as multinational companies in the industry focused strictly on production in Romania, the shortage of engineers was not very visible. In recent years, numerous companies in the western region of the country have partially relocated their research divisions from other countries or opened research centers in Romania. This process is still ongoing for some of them, so they still need specialists. Essentially, from that moment on, the issue of highly qualified labor became so visible. It is, in fact, a problem encountered at the European level, and rapid and concrete measures are needed. There is also a partial comfort-driven trend among the younger generation because they desire an easier university path, at the expense of strong qualifications for the job market," concluded Florin Drăgan, Rector of Politehnica University Timișoara.