Higher education is organized in universities, study academies, institutes, schools of higher studies, hereinafter referred to as higher education institutions or universities, which have obtained provisional authorization to operate or accreditation.

Higher education institutions are education providers that carry out teaching activities based on study programs authorized to operate provisionally/accredited according to the law, initial and continuous university-level training programs, programs that operate on the principle of quality and the 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 legal procedures in force, 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 state, private, or confessional. These institutions have legal personality, are nonprofit, and are apolitical. Higher education institutions are legal entities of public law or, as the case may be, legal entities of private law and of public utility.

University autonomy is guaranteed by the Constitution. Academic freedom is guaranteed by law. Also, public responsibility is regulated for any higher education institution, be it state or private.

By an annual government decision, the following are validated:

• The nomenclature of domains and university study specializations/programs per union
• The structure of state and private higher education institutions accredited or authorized to operate provisionally, with:
  • Bachelor university study fields and specializations/accredited study programs or authorized to operate provisionally,
  • Geographical locations of operation,
  • The number of transferable study credits for each university study program,
  • Form of study and teaching language,
  • The maximum number of students that can be schooled

The mission of higher education is to generate and transfer knowledge to society both through initial and continuous university-level training, for the purpose of personal development, professional insertion of the individual, and satisfying the need for competence in the socioeconomic environment, as well as through scientific research, development, innovation and technological transfer, through individual and collective creation, in the field of sciences, engineering sciences, arts, letters, by ensuring performance and physical and sports development, and the exploitation and dissemination of their results. All these are carried out respecting the following principles:

a) the principle of university autonomy;

b) the principle of academic freedom;

c) the principle of public responsibility;

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 respect for the rights and freedoms of students and academic staff;

i) the principle of independence from ideologies, religions and political doctrines;

j) the principle of freedom of national and international mobility of students, teachers and researchers;

k) the principle of consulting social partners in decision making;

l) the principle of student-centered education.

Structure of the university year (according to Law No. 1/2011 – art. 136)

• The university 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 has a duration of 14 weeks of teaching activities, followed, usually, by a minimum of 3 weeks of exams.
• The structure of the university year is approved by the university senate.
• In assigning transferable study credits from 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 university year, the regulation regarding the professional activity of students, as well as the calendar of educational activities specific to the academic study semesters.