The Efficiency of the Educational and Professional Training System in Romania

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This Publication has to be referred as:

Nicolae, S. (2009). The Efficiency of the Educational and Professional

Training System in Romania (2009). 0077-0079, Annals of DAAAM for 2009 & Proceedings of the 20th International DAAAM Symposium, ISBN978-3-901509-70-4, ISSN 1726-9679, pp 039, Editor B[ranko] Katalinic,Published by DAAAM International, Vienna, Austria 2009



Annals of DAAAM for 2009 & Proceedings of the 20th International DAAAM Symposium, Volume 20, No. 1, ISSN 1726-9679

ISBN 978-3-901509-70-4, Editor B. Katalinic, Published by DAAAM International, Vienna, Austria, EU, 2009

Make Harmony Between Technology and Nature, and Your Mind will Fly Free as a Bird

Annals of DAAAM International

THE EFFICIENCY OF THE EDUCATIONAL AND PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

SYSTEM IN ROMANIA

NICOLAE, S[imona]

Abstract: In a world constrained by its own way towards

knowledge-based society, education and continuous

professional training are the only means to improve the

adaptability of human resources to a continuous changing

labour market and, also, to an economy that, even if it hasn’t

“boundaries”, raises important challenges. The enrolment rate

of school age population, the abandon rate, the results obtained

at the national and international evaluation, employment and

unemployment rate for the young people aged 15 – 24 years

and, also, the continuous professional training strategies arethe main indicators that emphasize if the human resources in

Romania is efficiently capitalized or, contrary, is wasted.

Key words: human resources, base education, continuous

professional training, lifelong learning

1. INTRODUCTION

The paper has three parts:

The first part will approach the main efficiency indicatorsof the Romanian educational system with respect to the base

education: the enrolment rate of school age population, theabandon rate and the results obtained by the school age population at the national and international evaluation. All

these indicators will be calculated for the age group populationthat not involves acquiring the specific competences required

on the labour market.The second part of the paper is referring to the efficiency of

the professional training courses comprised in the high schooleducation, vocational education and tertiary (higher) educationas main suppliers of the initial professional training.

The third part will present the national framework and theinvolvement of the Romanian firms in the fields of continuous

professional training.All three parts come to continue the author researches in

this domain and, also, wants to become an alarm signal for all

those who are responsible for the quality of human resources inRomania.

2. BASE EDUCATION IN ROMANIA

Evaluating the base education in Romania we’ll stop at four indicators for measuring the efficiency of the educationalservices provided by this part of educational system:

The enrolment rate of school age population

Data provided by the National Institute of Statistics and

Economic Studies (NISES) shows that despite the upward trendoverall, the enrolment rate by ages differs greatly. Thus,

starting with the school year 2003-2004 the enrolment rate for the population aged 7-10 years, have been fallen continuous

reaching 96% in the school year 2007-2008. (RSY, 2008) Thedecreased interest to study at this age has serious consequencesin the long term as long as in this period is forming the ability

of social relationship of the future adult and the basic skills tohandle his life: writing, reading, counted. The growing cost of living (even in a free education) and the decrease of education

importance in the social life are considered major causes of this

development. The only age group that marked a rise in theenrolment rate was the population aged 15-18 years. The level

of awareness of the importance of education and the difficultiesencountered in insertion into the labour market are the mainreasons underlying the decision of children in this age to

continue their studies.

The Abandon Rate

During 2000-2007, the abandon rate, both over the primaryand secondary education, and at each of the two cycles, has a

continuous upward trend. Therefore, during this period, theindicator has increased from 3 times in class I-VIII, almost 3

times in the primary education (class I-IV) and 4 times in thesecondary education (class V-VIII).

The school abandon is just one component of the losses

(repeat, migration, etc.) recorded by the Romanian educationsystem. Thus, during the 2000-2007 the school losses recordedfor each cohort of school children entering a level of education

until the graduation of this level represented approximately 10-15%, which represent over 25% during primary and secondary

education. All these school children become unusable humanresources both, in the short term and long term.

International evaluation PISA – OECD

In OECD-PISA evaluation in 2006, Romania was ranked

47 out of the 57 participating countries, with an average of 418

points. The average score of the European countries was 500 points. Also, it is found that the school children in Romania

have scores lower than those obtained in 2001 (when Romaniawas ranked 34 of the 43 participating countries) in all areas of

the evaluation. The concern of the Ministry of Education tomonitor the progress of preparing the Romanian school childrenis creditable, but as long as the education does not become a

priority area based on a coherent development strategy, humanresources will be dissipated and under no circumstances willnot be able to transmit their value to the goods and services in

whose production are involved. But reaching this target is under the political decision and only the future will decide if we’ll

have an efficient educational system or not. National Evaluation

The results from national evaluation describe the samedownward trend in the development of quality human resources

generated by the Romanian educational system. The rate of participation in the Capacity Exam/ National Tests (for ClassVIII graduate) consistently decreases between the school year

2000-2001 and 2005-2006. In 2006-2007 the rate of promotionin these evaluation assessments has increased slightly, from59.6% to 62.7% but it is still extremely small. (EDU, 2008)

3. INITIAL PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

According to the European Centre for Development of Vocational Training by 2015 approximately 30% of jobs will

require higher education and nearly 50% at least secondary

education (CEDEFOP, 2008). Thus, the efficiency of the initial professional training is being highlighted by 2 indicators:

Employment rate of young people aged 15-24 years by

level of education

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Although the employed population has increased, the number of young people aged 15-24 years who are employed havedecreased. Thus, the employment rate fell from 35.7% in 2000

to 22.7% in 2007. The most significant decrease in the same period, it is notable for vocational education (-12.3 percentage

points) and secondary education (-14.4 percentage points).

For the higher education graduates we notice the existenceof the same downward trend. During the period 2000-2007 the

employment rate has a decrease of 8.2 percentage points thatreveals the same ineffective supply offered by Romanian

universities. This situation requires a reconsideration of thestudy programs in accordance with the labour market needs.

Unemployment rate of young people aged 15-24 years by

level of education

Although it can be noticed a decrease in the rate of youthunemployment in 2007 compared with the previous year, theinsertion of young people in the labour market remain an

important challenge for Romania, the more so as, there is adifference of 3 percentage points between the average EUcountries and Romania. Moreover, the share of unemployed

with higher education in total unemployed has increased from21.10% in 2003 to 29.4% in 2007, as, in the third quarter of

2008 to reach 44.42 %. (RSY, 2008) This data show clearly a

disconnection between the supply of training at university leveland labour market needs

4. CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

We'll stop at two aspects of continuous professionaltraining, both of them aiming the supply of this kind of training:

National framework for Continuous Professional

Training:

According to the main target of European EmploymentStrategy, the average rate of participation in lifelong learning

should be at least 12.5% of the working age adult population(age group 24-64 years). In this respect, the National Strategyfor continuous professional training on short and medium term

(2005-2010), aims to develop a structured system of continuingtraining, transparent and flexible, with an adequate level of funding and a strong involvement of social partners.

According to the studies initiated by the Ministry of Labour,Social Solidarity and Family, the main competencies associated

with changes in the work are: working with computer andinformation technology, solving problems, human resources

management and communication, knowledge of languages.(Pîrciog & al., 2006). But, the analysis of competencies and professional skills of employees show that there is a low level

of awareness of these skills in particular for the staff with highschool and post high school education. This does not apply to

staff with higher education.Achieving the objectives contained in the National Strategy

is still hit by a mentality which, in approximately twenty yearssince Romania has gone to the market economy, has been under the influence of different constraints that has stopped it to

evolve in a positive direction: on the one hand, the inertiagenerated by the old economic system has promoted inefficientattitudes and behaviours too long after 1990 and, as a

consequence, the freedom gained "without instructions for use"often has led to irrational behaviour. (Nicolae, 2004); on the

other hand, since 2000, human resources have began to learnfrom their mistakes and, to a certain extent, things have started

to move in a good direction. But very slowly! In the absence of a real national strategy which it should be not only a text on a

piece of paper and which should truly emphasize the humanresource, life experience and post-fact conclusions could not bean enough powerful motor to effectively change the mentality.

The Involvement of Romanian firms in supporting the

continuing professional training of their employees. Compared to the total number of firms that have represented

the reference population of statistical research, the number of

those who have offered continuous training to their employeesrose to 40.3%, registering an important leap from 1999 whenonly 11.0% of companies had implemented such programs for

their employees.Regarding the allocation of financial resources and

programming, the public sector outruns substantially the privatesector. The lowest weights for both indicators have recordedfirms in the local private ownership (17.3% and 24.0%

respectively).By forms of ownership, the emphasis was on the planned

period of training, experience or training at work place in the private sector, where there was a participation rate of 37%,

while the public sector focus has been on training byconferences, seminars, cultural fairs which benefited from a

participation rate of only 5.8%. (NISES, 2006).This shows a greater awareness of the importance of

providing continuous professional training on the part of the

private sector (despite its lower participation in financial terms)given by the immediate and direct correlation between quality /efficiency of labour and the profitability of the firm’s activity.

In the public sector, low rates of participation in continuous professional training can be explained by factors such as: the

lack of immediate correlation between the quality / efficiency of

labour and the profitability of the institution, the allocation of financial resources only on paper without the real intention tospend them on training activities, employing staff on criteria

other than those related to performance etc.

5. CONCLUSION

The paper has intended to present the state of quality of thehuman resources in Romania. Why have I choose this subject?

Because I consider that education and training in all its formsgive freedom to human resources, increase opportunities for

obtaining success in life and the last but not least, is a prerequisite for progress and power of any economy.

In the absence of abundant material resources, the efforts

directed towards efficient and competent human resourcesmanagement should not take into account the costs and theachievement of immediate effects, at least not now!

The article is addressed to all those who have the power tochange something in Romania and to transform this country into

a powerful competitor in the global economy. Also, it isnecessary that this analysis to be continued in order to

emphasize the weak points of the Romanian national strategy ineducation.

6. REFERENCES

Nicolae, S. (2004). The Professional Training in Romania.

Working Society versus Learning Society, Editura

Printech, ISBN 973-718-021-6, Bucharest, RomaniaPârciog, S.; Ciucă, V.; Blaga, E.; Abraham, D.; Burcea, M.;

Câr ţână, C.; Matei, A.; Mocanu, C.; Sănduleasa, B.; Stoica,C. & Zamfir, A. (2006). Evolution of occupations onRomanian labour market in 2010 perspective , Available from http://www.mmuncii.ro/pub/imagemanager/images/file/Rapoarte-Studii/230407studie.pdf, accessed: 2009.02.08

*** (2008) http://www.cedefop.europa.eu, European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, (CEDEFOP),

accessed 2009.03.01

*** (2005) National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies(NISES), Characteristics of Professional Training in the

Romanian Firms in 2005, ISSN 1843-4649*** (2008) National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies

(NISES), Romanian Statistical Yearbook (RSY), 2008*** (2008) http://www.edu.ro/index.php/articles/10913,

Ministry of Education, Research, Innovation, accessed

2009.04.01

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Documents

The Efficiency of the Educational and Professional Training System in Romania