Education in Romania

[3] Romania has achieved the highest team score in the competition, after China and Russia, and right after the United States and Hungary.

During the communist era, it was influenced by the Soviet education system (especially in the 1950s), and it included political propaganda, as well as hours of compulsory physical work by school children (usually in agriculture).

The new government cited as reasons the poor quality of education, high strain on the state budget, and inflation of diplomas.

[24] During the transition period after the law of 2012 was enacted, transfers of teachers occurred in order to fill in the educational needs of this year.

This possibility gave rise to Intensive English Classes or Informatics Groups, accessible only by special exams in the 5th grade.

Many high schools provide classes with intensive study of a foreign language, such as English, French, German or Spanish; a two-part examination (Grammar/Vocabulary and Speaking) is required for them.

The exam marks were public, with results lists being placed both in schools and on the Internet until 2020, when the student's names were replaced with examination codes.

Between 2003 and 2010, the main type of such education were Schools of Crafts and Trades (Școli de Arte și Meserii), but these have been abolished.

There is also a lower frequency program taking 5 years for those wishing to attend high school after abandoning at an earlier age.

The Romanian secondary education system includes:[39] Each type of high-school is free to offer one or more academic programs (profile).

Vocational programs — Profil vocațional will give a qualification in a non-technical field, such as kindergarten educator, assistant architect, or pedagogue.

High school students graduating from a College, Liceu or Grup Școlar must take the National Baccalaureate Exam (Examenul Național de Bacalaureat — colloquially known as the bac).

Each exam is corrected and graded by two separate correctors (no computers are involved, as this is not a standardized test) agreeing on the mark based on a nationwide guideline.

If passed, unlike the case with most high school completion exams, he or she may not retake it (although this matters less in Romania than in the United States or Germany).

Only starting in 2003 was a very limited rural transportation service introduced (the yellow school minibus with a little bell – microbuzul școlar galben cu clopoțel).

These contests are highly popular, as they bring many advantages to the students taking part in them (like the ability to legally skip school for a longer period of time without punishment, easier evaluation at all other subjects, a different, better treatment from teachers, free trips and holidays, better preparation for the final exams – as these are structured like an exam) with whole classes taking part in the lower phase of such contests.

Other teachers usually also organize such trips and even whole holidays during the summer – camps (tabere) – this being a Romanian school tradition.

[50] Romanian universities have historically been classified among the best in Eastern Europe and have attracted international students, especially in the fields of medicine and technology.

The Ministry of Education established the National Authority for Scientific Research (Autoritatea Națională pentru Cercetare Științifică).

The admission process may include an "admission exam" in one or several high-school subjects that correspond best to the training offered by the university; a "competition of files" (concurs de dosare), that is entry based on the grades at Baccalaureate and/or the grades of the relevant subject(s) from high school; essays, interviews and other performance assessments.

Especially notable has been the effort for having their academic diplomas recognised by other European countries and for developing international programs such as: Tempus, CEEPUS, Socrates/Erasmus, Copernicus, Monet, and eLearn.

Tempus is a program for cooperation in Higher Education started between EU member states and partner countries.

The program allows fruitful exchanges of views to take place and facilitates multinational activities in the scientific, cultural, artistic, economic and social spheres.

Consortia implements Joint European Projects with a clear set of objectives, financed partially by this program, for the maximum duration of three years.

It targets another characteristic, educational mobility, through projects that try to establish consortia for integrated courses of at least three universities in at least three different European countries which lead to a double, multiple or joint recognised diploma.

The Netherlands has accepted starting with May 1, 2008 the articles II.2, IX.2 and XI.5 of the Lisbon Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications concerning Higher Education in the European Region.

),[54] specific for the Dutch research universities (called WO), have been granted based upon Romanian license diplomas (four/five years as nominal study length).

[62] The teaching of religion in schools is a controversial issue in Romania, and it is a political topic regularly debated in the public space.

[64] Another issue is whether children aged 14–17 (who have a limited form of legal capacity under Romanian law) should choose themselves whether to study religion, or whether their parents should make the decision.

Parents typically contribute about 100 LEI per student per year as "class fund" (Romanian: "fondul clasei") which is used to buy chalk, etc.