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PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
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DE RUEHBM #0535/01 2121348
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 311348Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9782
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BUCHAREST 000535 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EUR/CE ASCHIEBE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON SOCI SCUL KPAO RO
SUBJECT: ROMANIA: SORRY STATE OF EDUCATION A SUMMERTIME STAPLE 
 
REF:  08 BUCHAREST 858 
 
Sensitive but Unclassified; Not for Internet Distribution. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  Education has dominated the headlines of Romanian 
papers since early July as a public clash has played out between 
President Traian Basescu and Minister of Education Ecaterina 
Andronescu (PSD).  The Ministry of Education's (MOE) recent decision 
to close three private universities to new students, while at the 
same time cancelling thousands of diplomas, has thrown Romanian 
higher education into turmoil.  One of the three universities, 
Bucharest-based Spiru Haret University (SHU), is the largest and 
richest private university in Romania, with campuses and 
distance-learning programs scattered throughout the country and 
offered overseas.  Trading punches over education is an easy way to 
score points in a presidential election year, and real or perceived 
scandals will likely continue to dominate the headlines throughout 
the fall.  Underscoring the debate are serious questions as to the 
government's role in higher education and the extent to which 
schools are preparing young Romanians for a competitive labor 
market.  Too often the traditionalist mindsets of educators, 
politicians, and entrenched special interests have conspired to 
stymie reforms to make education more relevant to the needs of 
students and employers.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Responding to President Basescu's recent public lambasting 
of Romanian education as being "not related to the labor market" and 
offering "no guarantee of a quality education," EconOff met with 
outside stakeholders to ask whether or not Romanian education is, in 
fact, preparing students for work in multinational enterprises.  The 
consistent message was that Romanian universities are aware of the 
gap between the education on offer and labor market requirements, 
but find reform difficult.  Tenured--and often politically 
connected--university professors have a tendency to resist any 
encroachment on their turf, especially if this means changing 
curricula or staffing patterns.  As the Fulbright Commission's 
Educational Advisor simply put it, "the teaching methodology is 
outdated," noting that in many cases the same curricula from the 
immediate post-communist period is still in use today. 
Multinational employers likewise complain that few Romanian students 
possess the "whole package" of skills necessary to compete in a 
globalized economy.  While many students graduate with superb 
language or technical abilities, the same students often don't 
possess both competencies and these skills are not always balanced 
by the ability to work effectively on a team.  Programs offered by 
Junior Achievement, the American Chamber of Commerce, and others, 
such as the post-supported START internship program (reftel), help 
in this regard but they are insufficient for developing 
marketplace-relevant skills without being reinforced as a standard 
part of university curricula. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Muddying the picture further is the yawning quality gap 
between public and private universities.  Traditionally the best 
universities in Romania are those run by the state, with top 
students competing for government-subsidized seats at public 
schools.  A limited number of less competitive but still 
academically qualified students have the option of paying tuition to 
enter state universities.  The state sector, however, has failed to 
expand enough to meet the demand for university degrees, leaving the 
marketplace open to private schools operating exclusively on a 
tuition basis.  With all funding coming from students and no quality 
standards to meet beyond maintaining accreditation, private schools 
have every incentive to make earning a degree as painless as 
possible for their paying customers.  While public schools are often 
criticized for offering impractical and overly theoretical training, 
the criticism of private schools is that they enroll unmotivated 
students without requiring them to achieve even basic mastery of the 
subject matter, as long as fees are paid on time. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The MOE is at the forefront of the education debate 
because of its role as quality arbiter in the system.  The "basic 
law" on education recognizes the existence of "organizations which 
are providers of education" but leaves formal accreditation to the 
national authorities.  Educational organizations (which could be 
religious groups or private investors) are initially allowed to 
organize higher-education undergraduate programs and enroll 
students, but are not allowed to issue diplomas or call themselves 
universities.  Only after a lengthy assessment by the Romanian 
Agency for Assuring Quality in Higher Education (ARACIS) are they 
accredited.  ARACIS, however, does not have the final word on 
accreditation decisions; politicians do.  Formal accreditation 
requires the assent of the Cabinet of Ministers followed by an Act 
of Parliament.  Accreditation allows schools to issue diplomas which 
will be recognized by the MOE, an important consideration since the 
MOE must attest to the validity of all Romanian diplomas. 
Institutional accreditation does not automatically confer 
accreditation on all academic programs offered by a school.  Some 
private schools have been known to fudge the issue and use their 
institutional accreditation to issue diplomas even for unaccredited 
 
BUCHAREST 00000535  002 OF 002 
 
 
programs.  Currently 56 state and 32 accredited private universities 
are operating in Romania, with an additional 24 private groups 
currently seeking formal accreditation. 
 
¶5.  (U) The MOE's involvement in ostensibly independent schools 
caused an outcry when Bucharest-based SHU and two smaller private 
schools had their right to enroll students this fall summarily 
pulled by the MOE on July 6th.  MOE officials announced that a 
number of SHU programs were operating without accreditation, 
especially the "distance-learning" programs which have proliferated 
since 2002, the year when the university obtained full 
accreditation.  (Note:  SHU began in 2002 with only four departments 
and today has 30.  It enrolls roughly 312,000 out of the 700,000 
private school students in Romania and pockets at least 100 million 
euro annually from tuition fees.  End note.)  Minister Andronescu 
has backpedalled from her initial announcement that the SHU's 
failings were so extreme that all previously issued diplomas would 
be cancelled, and an investigation as to which, if any, diplomas 
should be cancelled is underway.  Even so, the shadow cast on 
private universities (which the press has taken to calling diploma 
mills) has raised questions about the extent to which SHU and other 
universities are motivated more by profit than educational quality. 
 
 
¶6. (U) According to the MOE, SHU's request to certify 56,000 
graduation diplomas this year--a figure that almost matched the 
60,000 students enrolled in the state system--led to the realization 
that more than 100,000 diplomas had been issued by SHU for programs 
that lacked official accreditation.  Threatened with having their 
degrees invalidated, SHU graduates throughout the political 
establishment put pressure on Andronescu to back off, accusing her 
of holding SHU to the letter of the law as a political move during 
an election year.  President Basescu added fuel to the fire, 
criticizing her management of the education system and adding that 
Romanian universities, both public and private, have become 
"production departments that generate diplomas."  Ultimately cooler 
heads prevailed and SHU's accredited programs will reopen this fall, 
with SHU further agreeing to obtain accreditation for the full suite 
of courses it offers.  At the same time, the fight over whether or 
not private universities should be subject to government regulations 
continues, with SHU filing a lawsuit asserting that the Government 
has no authority to judge the validity of diplomas. 
 
¶7. (U) The other two private universities banned from enrolling 
students are based in the northeastern city of Iasi.  In 2003, 
University "Petre Andrei" (UPA) and University "Apollonia" (UA) 
attempted to merge only one year after each was accredited.  The MOE 
claimed the merger was illegal and suspended the accreditation of 
the two universities.  This caused a split, with some departments in 
UPA electing a new rector, Doru Tompea, while other departments 
joined UA and continued to fight the MOE's decision.  This breakaway 
group elected their own rector, Niculae Niculescu, and asserted that 
they had a right to the UPA name.  Under Romanian law, the MOE 
confirms rectors at all universities, both public and private. 
Stepping into the fray, the Ministry recognized Tompea but has 
refused to accept Niculescu's appointment. 
 
¶8.  (U) Taking the battle to the courts, Niculescu and Tompea have 
fought over who represents UPA, with most decisions going in 
Tompea's favor.  Niculescu has argued that the MOE should have no 
jurisdiction over the appointment of rectors at private 
universities, a position that he lost on appeal to the 
Constitutional Court, which ruled that the MOE's authority over both 
public and private schools is enshrined in the "basic law" on 
education.  Under this law, the Romanian Parliament defined 
university autonomy in such a way that the MOE maintains oversight 
over the appointment of all rectors.  This decision cannot be 
appealed, though Parliament could amend the law at a later date. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Comment.  The SHU and UPA cases illustrate how intimately 
involved the authorities are in the management of private 
universities.  The existence of private schools is unsurprising, 
given employers' demand for university diplomas and the limited 
number of places available at state schools.  Ultimately the 
question for Romania is a basic one of setting quality standards for 
universities, both state-run and private.  As long as vested 
interests resist ranking systems (even student associations are 
implacably opposed, fearing the devaluation of their degrees), the 
MOE--not the market--is left in the middle making quality judgments. 
 This has become harder to do as private universities have grown 
larger, richer, and more politically connected.  Absent competitive 
pressure from public schools to offer students a better quality 
education than what they could get for free, private schools remain 
all too willing to trade cash for diplomas.  End comment. 
 
GUTHRIE-CORN