70% of University teachers consider the Romanian high education system as having the same standard as the Western European one, while only 59% of students share this opinion. This is one of the conclusions of The Romanian High Education System - Opinions of teachers and students study, launched on Tuesday, July 10, 2007, by Soros Foundation Romania. The study represents an analysis of perceptions regarding the Romanian collegiate system, through answers given by over 1,000 teachers and by over 1,100 students at questions linked to their own activity, but also to the organization and functioning of the collegiate system, the autonomy of universities, academic corruption and the educational process.
Around 40% of teachers believe that universities do not have a real autonomy and that the Education Ministry is still having a too big control over universities.
The survey also shows that four out of ten university teachers have at least one other job besides the university where they are employed. Almost half of them work in the research field or teach at other universities. A third are active on the work force market either as employees or company owners.
As for the students, almost a quarter of them have a job and almost half (43%) would like to settle in another country. The vast majority of students come from the urban areas and just 11% are born in the rural areas.
The profile of the student who trust more than others the chances education gives people is a very strongly shaped one: this student comes from a better educated and a wealthier family, he has more pocket money, he studies in an older university with over 10,000 students and he is not in his freshman year.
81% of the interviewed teachers believe the students come to university very poorly educated by high-schools, while half of the teachers believe their students are in small or in a very small percentage willing to study.
Only 48% of students and 28% of teachers regard the private education system at least as good as the state education.
22% of the Romanian students claim that, at least once, someone from the faculty asked for gifts, money or other favors. 13% of students say they answered the requests at least once.
Approximately the same number of interviewed teachers(23%) say they have been offered money, gifts or favors from students. 7% of the ones saying they were offered bribes admit they accepted it(around 2% of the teachers).
The quantitative research was conducted during May 2007 and has consisted on two representative surveys: one for teachers and one for students from public and private high-education system.
The surveys were conducted by The Gallup Organization Romania. The designs of the methodological instruments, as well as the survey results' analysis were conducted by the project team: Mircea ComÅŸa, Claudiu D. TufiÅŸ, Bogdan Voicu and Ovidiu Voicu.
The study is available in full on the Soros Foundation Romania webpage. Starting with January 2008 the data bases will also be available free of charge.
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