POLITEHNICA UNIVERSITY OF TIMISOARA AND THE BOLOGNA DECLARATION ROMANIA Marian GRECONICI Constantin BLAJ TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019

TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019 Introduction Politehnica University of Timisoara is one of the oldest technical university in Romania and in the same time one of the most important universities in Romania and in the South-Est European region. The Bologna Declaration is a result of a series of ministerial meetings and agreements between European countries to ensure compatibility in the standards and quality of higher-educational qualifications. In the present paper, the authors analysis the influence, and the effects of the Bologna Declaration over the educational process in the university. The benefits of the Bologna Declaration as well as the drawbacks that arise are pointed out during this paper. TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019

TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019 POLITEHNICA UNIVERSITY OF TIMISOARA AMONG THE ROMANIAN UNIVERSITIES TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019

TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019 POLITEHNICA UNIVERSITY OF TIMISOARA AMONG THE ROMANIAN UNIVERSITIES In 2011, UPT becomes the only institution in Western Romania classified as an institution of Higher Education and Advanced. In 2016, UPT was ranked as the second Romanian university and as the 55-th position from Central and Eastern universities in research and innovation fields by Scopus (SCIMAGOIR). TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019

TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019 POLITEHNICA UNIVERSITY OF TIMISOARA AMONG THE ROMANIAN UNIVERSITIES 1920 – UPT is founded by the Royal decree 4822/11.11.1920; 1935 – UPT is given the right to grant PhDs in engineering; 1948 – UPT had already four faculties: Faculty of Mechanics; Faculty of Electrotehnics; Faculty of Civil Engineering; Faculty of Chemistry; UPT nowadays: 10 faculties: Architecture and City Planning; Automation and Computer Science; Chemistry and Environmental Engineering; Civil Engineering; Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering; Electrical and Power Engineering; Management in Production and Transportation; Engineering in Hunedoara; Mechanical Engineering; Communication Sciences; 25 departments and 25 research centres; 13000 students, 700 teaching staff, 600 administrative and additional staff; 57 study programs at bachelor level; 63 at master level; 13 PhD domains Over 123.000 graduates, with a high employability of graduates. TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019

TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019 POLITEHNICA UNIVERSITY OF TIMISOARA AMONG THE ROMANIAN UNIVERSITIES 97 buildings (255.994 m2); 16 hostels - accommodation for 6200 students ; 2 restaurants; 2 hotels/guest house; 1 student medical centre; 3 sport centres. TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019

TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019 POLITEHNICA UNIVERSITY OF TIMISOARA AMONG THE ROMANIAN UNIVERSITIES Until 1989, when so-called communist regime fell, UPT was part of a strong centralized structure with a few technical universities in large cities: Bucharest, Timisoara, Cluj Napoca, Iasi, Craiova, Brasov, Constanta; The university technical system was organized for 5 years of study and a final project; The profound changes in the society after 1989, affect in a profound manner the completely teaching system, especially the technical university domain. The existence of a solid polytechnic school in Timisoara, made Timisoara one of the main target-cities from Romania for the foreign capital; this makes the engineering studies in Timisoara again of interest; A shock in Romanian university teaching system was produced by the appearance mostly without material and human teaching conditions, but in a huge number, of the private universities; nowadays, in Romania from 112 universities overseen by the Ministry of Education and Research, only 54 are public universities. The succession and alternation of the governments (25 Ministry od Education in 29 years!) with different vision and changing projects, lead to incoherence, each new denying the old; TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019

TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019 BOLOGNA DECLARATION AND ROMANIAN TECHNICAL UNIVERSITIES The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements between European countries to ensure comparability in the standards and quality of higher-education qualifications; The process has created the European Higher Education Area under the Lisbon Recognition Convention. It is named after the University of Bologna, Where the Bologna Declaration was signed by education ministers from 29 European countries in 1999; Serbia has joined in 2003. The Bologna Process states the minimum knowledge requirements for graduates and their competences. Following the Bologna Process, the signed countries should: Adopt a system of easily readable and comparable degrees; Adopt a system with three main cycles, undergraduate, graduate and doctoral; Establish a system of credits:European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System, ECTS Promote mobility by overcoming legal recognition and administrative obstacles; Promote European cooperation in quality assurance; Promote an European dimension in higher education. TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019

TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019 BOLOGNA DECLARATION AND ROMANIAN TECHNICAL UNIVERSITIES According to the Bologna Declaration, the three cycles are defined as follows: First cycle – typically 180-240 ECTS credits ( a minimum of 60 credits per academic year), usually awarding a bachelor’s degree; Second cycle – typically 90-120 ECTS credits (a minimum of 60 credits per academic year), usually awarding a master’s degree; Third cycle – with no concrete ECTS range, since the discipline vary in length and comprehensiveness. Doctoral degrees usually requires two to four years of specialization, primarily individual research under a mentor. In Romania was adopted the system with three cycles (bachelor, master, doctoral), each cycle using the ECTS. In Romanian technical Universities: The first cycle extended on 4 years with 8 semesters and 240 ECTS credits; The second cycle, master cycle, extended on 2 years with 4 semesters and 120 ECTS; The doctoral cycle, the PhD cycle, extended on 3 years. TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019

TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019 BOLOGNA DECLARATION AND ROMANIAN TECHNICAL UNIVERSITIES Bachelor (undergraduate) Cycle Compatibility of curricula from different countries using ECTS credits, makes possible a benefic mobility of students; Ex. Erasmus Programs; The quality and efficiency of the new curricula depends on the way that the change has been made; A major drawback is the way in witch the universities get the finance namely so called “financing per capita”. That’s the moment when started the decline of didactic process, first with less exigency, later on with a lower quality of the teaching process. Master (graduated) Cycle The master cycle is meant to perform a narrow and high specialization, mandatory for those who want to extend their qualification with a Ph.D. study; According to imposed regulation, a specialization at master level is valid only if a minimum of 25 students are following it; The companies are not involved sufficiently in the Doctoral Cycle The Ph.D. candidate, guided by a spiritual mentor, must accomplished completely an original work of a chosen subject of study. TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019

TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019 THE IMPACT OF THE BOLOGNA PROCESS ON THE TEACHING AT U.P.T. As in all countries of the Bologna Process signer group, also in our country there are options for and options against the changing produced by the implementation of the Bologna Declaration; The Bologna Declaration and the evolution of the Bologna process happen in a period when the worldwide university learning is in crisis; Unfortunately, the young people find less motivation in education and learning, they are not attracted to continue their studies at university level and, therefor, the whole university system is suffering a noticeable regress; Once the irreversible general globalization started, and the Bologna Process acts in this direction, appears that an engineer with a large specialization is no more demanded by the modern society. TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019

TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019 CONCLUSIONS A briefly presentation of the Politehnica University Timisoara, one of the oldest technical universities in Romania, was made; Has been analyzed the influence of the Bologna Declaration on the teaching process in the Politehnica University Timisoara and in general on the technical universities in Romania; Some advantages and some drawbacks of the Bologna Declaration was pointed out; There was presented the actual state of the technical university teaching process; The intention of the authors was not to give, or propose, some complete or general solutions, considering that as a duty of the competent leading organizations; The intention of the authors was to give a “screening investigation” as sincere and correct as possible in order to find the correct treatment for improving the education, the most important component for creating a good, or at least better, future to the mankind. TREND Conference, Kopaonik, 11-14.02.2019

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