ROMANIA. Legal issues 1993: QA/ authorization & accreditation granted by a National Council, reporting to Parliament (Law) 1995: autonomy of universities guaranteed by Law 1998: Convention of Lisbon ratified / recognition of HE qualifications 2004: special Law on HE (Bologna Process: 3 cycles, ECTS, DS, QA) 2005: Law on Quality in Education Bologna Declaration signed in 1999

Reform initiated at institutional level ECTS: introduced in 1996 by 4 university (accumulation & transfer, all students and all specializations) credit transfer experienced in Erasmus (from 1998) generalized by all state universities & recommended by the Ministry (2000), compulsory by law (2004) Mobility of students: 1000/yr (1998) to >3000/yr (2005) Mobility of staff: >300/yr (2005) D.S. : 2004-introduced by some universities in 2004 from 2006: delivery is free & compulsory by law

Reform activated at national level by the National Council of Rectors 2004: special Law on HE (Strategy of reform is a European one, i.e. Bologna Process) 3 cycles: Bc. (Licence),M., Dr. (3+2+3) (medicine, pharmacy, architecture: integrated M.) (Bc. in engineering, law: 4 years) ECTS, DS recognized as compulsory by law and detailed by Orders of the Minister of Education 2005: special Law on Quality in Education (authorization & accreditation, but also excellence, competition, ranking)

Measuring with credits Relative definition: credits are relative proportions of workload requested by courses* Absolute definition: 1 year = h = 60 credits European Screening/ TUNING Project RangeMean Weeks/year Hours/week Hours/year Hours/credit *useful for management of study plans, new curricula

A Romanian Experience of Reforming HE System Vision: opening to European co-operation Commitment (1996): 4 universities formed a Consortium and declared their commitment to launch the Reform, beginning with …ECTS Favorable conditions: Socrates/Erasmus Program, one of the 4 involved rectors became Minister of Education (1998), a loan of World Bank for development of infrastructure of HE Realistic solutions: ECTS introduced from the beginning as an accumulation system, clear rules & definitions Innovations for obtaining support: ECTS replaced the existing rules on student activity, “year repetition” abandoned (students said yes), over passing the normal duration of studies is taxed (institutions said yes)

Regulating an institutional credit system Introduction* explains with measuring workload is useful for curricula design and for students Reference*: ECTS. EU Guide Clear definitions*: normal workload, credit allocation, award, accumulation, transfer Agreed conventions* on allocation (60 c/y), awarding (all credits for passed exams), publicity (of detailed study plans), transferability (L.A., ToR) Measures for implementing: credit allocation in study plans, no repetition of passed examinations, more flexible curricula, course descriptions Audit and monitoring: ECTS coordinators/counsellors *also in a national credit system description

See for the institutional rules on ECTS as an accumulation system at the National School of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest, ROMANIA Cornel RADU From the EU Team of ECTS Counsellors Bologna Process Promoters