Raport România 2007

nister of Education and Research who can decide, in case of non-compliance with the quality assurance standards, to retire the right of the institution to organise this kind of programmes. HEIs are encouraged by law to promote interdisciplinary doctoral university studies. (Scorecard and Eurydice ) 1 Access to the next cycle 9. Describe the arrangements for access between the first and second cycles and second and third cycles. The new structure of Romanian higher education ensures the full access of students from the first cycle (bachelor) to the second (master) and from the second cycle to the third. As the first generation of graduates of the first Bologna cycle will come in place in 2008, the access from one cycle to another is still ensured according to the former conditions. So, at the present, there are three kinds of bachelor programs but only two of them (Bachelor study programs and long term university studies - which will be entirely replaced by the Bachelor programs in 2008), both of ISCED 5A level, give full access to a Master degree. Short term university studies, the third type of undergraduate program (3 years of study, ISCED 5B) is still in place, having just 3 year students, but it does not organise anymore admission exams, being replaced gradually by Bachelor programs. The students graduating short term university studies obtain a graduate certificate which does not give access to a Master degree. For this, they need an additional year of study and a Bachelor graduation exam. The Master degree gives full access to Doctorate. There are some types of postgraduate diplomas, which are not organised according to the Bologna second cycle, which give access to Doctorate. Still, if in 2004, the access to the Doctorate was possible with a Bachelor degree (which had 4 or 5 years of study), now it is compulsory to have a Master degree in order to be enrolled in a Doctorate program. 1 Access as defined in the Lisbon Recognition Convention. Access: the right of qualified candidates to apply and be considered for admission to higher education. 8  (Scorecard and Eurydice ) Implementation of national qualifications framework 10. Describe the stage of implementation of the national qualifications framework to align with the overarching Framework for Qualifications of the EHEA2. By the Government Decision no. 1357/2005 the National Agency for Partnership between Universities and Socio-Economic Environment became National Agency for Qualifications in Higher Education and Partnership between Universities and Socio- Economic Environment (ACPART), public institution subordinated to the Ministry of Education and Research. The main missions of ACPART as national authority for the qualifications in higher education are: The definition, implementation and updating of the National Framework for Qualifications in Higher Education including the development, recognition and certification of the qualifications on the basis of the competences acquired by the beneficiaries of the higher education system; The analysis of the compatibility of the curricula of the fundamental areas of higher education with national qualifications framework benchmarks. The national qualifications framework in higher education (NQFHE) will have three levels of qualification, each level having attached a set of descriptors. These will be general descriptions of each level in terms of knowledge, competences and abilities. ACPART, supported by working groups established on fields of study, will elaborate the definition for the correspondent qualifications. In the same way, will be identified the categories of titles/qualifications awarded by higher education institutions. Periodic consultations will be organised at national level with the different categories of organisms interested in defining the university qualifications on fields of study. The working group Consultative Council for Qualifications in Higher Education (CCQHE), composed by experts in the qualifications field, representatives of different fields of study and university management, as well as social partners (sectorial committees, syndicates, professional associations etc.) and some specialized commissions created at the level of ACPART will meet regularly in order to validate the results in elaborating the NQFHE. ACPART has in progress several projects for the development of a qualifications framework in higher education in Romania: Europortic, Phare Project – for the selection of university consortia, Competis, Calex, Socrates Minerva Project. Current situation: A. ACPART is about to finalise the development of a coherent strategy presenting also an operative plan of actions regarding the qualifications issue (2006-2009). B. The elaboration and publication of the Glossary of key terms in order to propose a common terminology for the qualifications framework policy makers and users; C. The development of the National Qualifications Register for Higher 2 A Framework for Qualifications of the EHEA: http://www.bologna-bergen2005.no/ 9  Education which is fundamental to the process of recognition and validation of the degrees issued by the higher education institutions from Romania. 11. What measures are being taken to increase the employability of graduates with bachelor qualifications? The universities are in process of reforming their study programmes in order to ensure a student-based education. Each university has set up a Career Counselling Centre, to support students to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by the implementation of Bologna process. The students will be supported in the decision making process regarding their educational pathway by these university centres for counselling and professional guidance. The structure of Romanian higher education on 3 main cycles is based on reorganisation of study programmes content by identifying and defining general knowledge and competences, as well as specific professional abilities in order to answer to the needs of the labour market. Quality assurance (Scorecard and Eurydice) National implementation of the Standards and Guidelines for QA in the EHEA3 12. To what extent is your national system of QA already in line with the Standards and Guidelines for QA in the EHEA? The quality assurance and the accreditation proceedings are priorities of the Romanian higher education system. For this purpose, the following aspects have been referred to: the evaluation and accreditation committees: they have already been functioning for several years and they have helped the maintaining of professional standards; what is to be noted is that they are responsible for the private universities system, too; the periodic accreditation system: it ensures the long term quality, but it also verifies how the higher education institutions manage to develop and to correlate their educational provision with the market requirements; initiatives for new evaluation systems (external evaluation on a peer assessment basis); they represent an additional step forward; the first external audits are to take place soon. In Romania, the issue of quality assurance has received a new, stronger, impetus, in 2005 by establishing a quality assurance legal framework in accordance with the European recommendations in the field. Consequently, there have been adopted the Order of Minister no. 3928/April 2005 – implementation of the internal quality assurance mechanisms in universities (following the recommendations of the EU, as well as the commitments endorsed within the Bologna process), 3 http://www.enqa.net/files/BergenReport210205.pdf 10  Government Decision no. 1257/2005 regarding the approval of the Regulation for organizing and functioning of the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ARACIS). The Emergency Government Ordinance no. 75/2005 on quality assurance in education regulates the quality assurance of education and its provisions are applied to all providers of education. The Law 87/10 April 2006 approved the Emergency Government Ordinance no. 75/2005 on quality assurance in education. This law has a trans-sectoral approach of quality assurance by covering all the providers of educational services in Romania. The Law on quality assurance in education includes: - The methodology for quality assurance in education; - Quality assurance at institutional level; - External assessment of quality education; - Institutional arrangements involved in quality assurance. The law on quality assurance in education aims, inter alia, to increase quality education, to provide reliable and coherent information on the quality of educational services, to protect the interest of the beneficiaries, to develop a quality culture among the providers of education services, to carry out trans-institutional assessment of university programmes with a view to ensure differentiated funding based on the quality of the programmes, to offer a complementary support for educational policies and strategies. Quality assessment is carried out through a series of transparent actions of designing, planning and implementing educational programmes which comply with quality standards. Quality education is ensured through the following means: effective planning and achievement of quality learning outcomes, monitoring of outcomes, self-evaluation, external evaluation of outcomes and Continuous improvement of learning outcomes. The mechanisms for quality assurance and assessment in education are mainly focused on the learning outcomes and their application is based on the qualifications awarded. The national framework of qualifications must be compatible with the European one so as to facilitate recognition of degrees and mobility of workers. (Scorecard and Eurydice) Stage of development of external quality assurance system 13. Describe the quality assurance system operating in your country. External evaluation of quality will be carried out in Romania by two bodies: Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Pre-University Education. 11 The Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education is an autonomous public institution with competencies in accreditation and external quality assessment. As regards quality assurance and evaluation, the Agency establishes and revises periodically the national standards and performance indicators for higher education. All documents elaborated by ARACIS are based on the European standards and procedures agreed by the ministers of education in Bergen. It collaborates with other institutions to develop and promote policies and strategies for quality education, provides transparently its own procedures and mechanisms for external quality evaluation, has the right to use international experts and provides its own register of evaluators. In order to inform the stakeholders, the Agency: Makes public the reports of external evaluations, Evaluates on the Ministry of Education and Research request the quality of higher education institutions and programmes, Publishes a Memorandum on its activity every year, and Provides every four years an analysis of the quality of the entire higher education system. The Agency will be functioning based on its own funds coming from contracts with the Ministry of Education and Research, HEIs from Romania and abroad, or other institutions or bodies, accreditation and external evaluation fees, external non- reimbursable funds, donations, sponsorship, other sources. Romanian HEIs may ask for external evaluation of the quality of their educational services to be carried out by any agency recorded in the future European register of quality assurance agencies in higher education. The law will be implemented from 2006 – 2007 academic year and will apply to the whole education system. The Minister Order 3928/April 2005 on the quality educational services in higher education institutions aimes at ensuring the continuous improvements in terms of quality of the educational services, both for students and other beneficiaries of initial and continuous training. It provides the establishment and the development of internal quality control mechanisms by each HEI and their own internal quality assurance system by the end of the academic year 2004 – 2005 and to apply it from 2005 – 2006, different according to cycle and study programme. According to the Law, each HEI has already established a Committee for quality assurance and evaluation. The committee must have among its members representatives of the main stakeholders and of student bodies. HEIs have also to elaborate institutional Guidelines for quality assurance. Annually they have to elaborate Institutional Reports on internal assessment of quality assurance which are forwarded to the Ministry of Education and Research. These reports are published on the universities’ web sites. ARACIS elaborates each 3 years system analysis of the quality in higher education in Romania. (Scorecard and Eurydice) Level of student participation 14. Describe the level of student participation in your national quality assurance system. 12  Students are represented in quality assurance organisms both at national level (National Agency) as consultative members in the National Council (2 students from a total of 15 members) and institutional level in the university quality assurance commission. (Scorecard and Eurydice) Level of international participation 15. Describe the level of international participation in your national quality assurance system. ARACIS will establish according to the law a portfolio of experts, Romanian and European. The board of ARACIS is composed from Romanian experts, mainly universities’ representatives and students’ representatives. For the external assessment of ARACIS European experts will be called. As first European objective, ARACIS aims at accomplishing all conditions for its affiliation to the European Register of Agencies for quality assurance in higher education, contributing to the achievement of European higher education area in 2010. ARACIS is in process of becoming a ENQA full member. Recognition of degrees and study periods (Scorecard and Eurydice ) Stage of implementation of Diploma Supplement 16. Describe the stage of implementation of the Diploma Supplement in your country. Since 2005, the Diploma Supplement is delivered free of charge by all Romanian HEIs for all university studies leading to the „Diploma de Licen ” (Bachelor Degree) and to a Masters’ Degree. The Diploma Supplement is provided in Romanian and in a foreign language (mainly English), in order to ensure a transparent description of Romanian higher education system and to facilitate the international comparability of the titles, degrees and certificates that can be awarded in the Romanian higher education system. The Diploma Supplement model is based on the Diploma Supplement pattern issued by the European Commission, Council of the Europe and CEPES-UNESCO experts. The Diploma Supplement comprises eight compulsory sections: Section 1: Information identifying the holder of the qualification, Section 2: Information identifying the qualification, Section 3: Information on the level of the qualification, Section 4: Information on the contents and results gained, Section 5: Information on the function of the qualification, Section 6: Additional information, Section 7: Certification of the Supplement, Section 8: Information on the national education system-in English only. The deliverance of the Diploma Supplement is automatically and compulsory and is generalised for all HEIs, covering 100% of the graduates. 13  (Scorecard) National implementation of the principles of the Lisbon Recognition Convention 17. Describe the stage of implementation of the main principles and later supplementary documents4 of the Lisbon Recognition Convention. The Lisbon Recognition Convention has been ratified in Romania by the Law n