Higher education is organized in universities, academies of studies, institutes, schools of higher studies, hereinafter referred to as higher education institutions or universities, which have obtained provisional operating authorization or accreditation.
Higher education institutions are educational provider organizations that carry out educational activities based on study programs authorized to operate provisionally/accredited according to the law, for initial and continuing university-level training, programs that operate on the principle of quality and correlation of the educational offer with the labor market.
The national higher education system includes all accredited higher education institutions. A higher education institution authorized to operate provisionally, according to the applicable legal procedures, becomes part of the national higher education system only after accreditation. For more information, you can also access the website of the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education - www.aracis.ro .
Higher education institutions can be public, private or confessional. These institutions have legal personality, are non-profit and are apolitical. Higher education institutions are legal entities under public law or, as the case may be, legal entities under private law and of public utility.
University autonomy is guaranteed by the Constitution. Academic freedom is guaranteed by law. Public accountability is also regulated for any higher education institution, public or private.
By an annual government decision, the following are validated:
The nomenclature of fields and university study specializations/programs per union
the structure of the accredited or provisionally authorized public and private higher education institutions, with:
- undergraduate fields of study and accredited or provisionally authorized specializations/study programs,
- geographical locations,
- number of transferable study credits for each university study program,
- form of education and language of instruction,
- maximum number of students that can be educated
The mission of higher education is to generate and transfer knowledge to society both through initial and continuing university-level training, in order to achieve personal development, professional integration of the individual and to meet the competence needs of the socioeconomic environment, as well as through scientific research, development, innovation, and technology transfer, through individual and collective creation, in the fields of science, engineering sciences, arts, letters, by ensuring performance and physical and sports development, as well as the valorization and dissemination of their results. All these are carried out in compliance with the following principles:
a) the principle of university autonomy;
b) the principle of academic freedom;
c) the principle of public accountability;
d) the principle of quality assurance;
e) the principle of equity;
f) the principle of managerial and financial efficiency;
g) the principle of transparency;
h) the principle of respecting students’ and academic staff’s rights and freedoms;
i) the principle of independence from ideologies, religions and political doctrines;
j) the principle of freedom of national and international mobility for students, teaching staff and researchers;
k) the principle of consulting social partners in decision-making;
l) the principle of student-centered education.
The structure of the academic year (according to Law no. 1/2011 – art. 136)
The academic year usually begins on the first working day of October, includes two semesters, and ends on September 30th of the following calendar year.
A semester usually lasts 14 weeks of teaching activities followed, as a rule, by a minimum of 3 weeks of exams.
The structure of the academic year is approved by the university senate.
When assigning transferable study credits for a semester, a period of at least 17 weeks is considered.
The university senate of each higher education institution annually approves, at least 3 months before the start of the academic year, the regulation regarding students’ academic activity, as well as the calendar of the educational activities specific to the academic semesters of study.
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