Higher education is organized in universities, academies of studies, 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 educational activities based on programs of study authorized to operate provisionally/accredited under the law, initial and continuing training at university level, programs that operate on the principle of quality and correlation of the educational offer with the labor market.
The national system of higher education includes all accredited higher education institutions. A higher education institution authorized to operate provisionally, in accordance with the legal procedures in force, becomes part of the national higher education system only after accreditation. For more information you can also visit the website of the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education - www.aracis.ro .
Higher education institutions can be public, private, or confessional. These institutions have legal personality, are nonprofit, and are apolitical. Higher education institutions are legal entities under public law or, as the case may be, legal entities under 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, public or private.
By an annual government decision, the following are validated:
The nomenclature of fields and university study specializations/programs per union
the structure of state and private accredited higher education institutions or authorized to operate provisionally, with:
- fields of undergraduate university studies and accredited or provisionally authorized specializations/programs,
- geographical locations of operation,
- number of transferable study credits for each university study program,
- form of education and language of instruction,
- maximum number of students that can be enrolled
The mission of higher education is to generate and transfer knowledge to society both through initial and continuous training at university level, for the purpose of personal development, professional insertion of the individual and meeting the competence needs of the socio-economic environment, as well as through scientific research, development, innovation and technology transfer, through individual and collective creation, in the fields of sciences, engineering sciences, arts, letters, by ensuring performance and physical and sports development, as well as valorizing and disseminating their results. All these are achieved with respect for 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 respecting the rights and freedoms of students and academic staff;
i) the principle of independence from ideologies, religions, and political doctrines;
j) the principle of national and international mobility freedom for students, teaching staff and researchers;
k) the principle of consulting social partners in decision making;
l) the principle of centering education on the student.
The structure of the academic year (according to Law no. 1/2011 – art. 136)
The academic year usually starts on the first working day of October, includes two semesters, and ends on September 30 of the following calendar year.
A semester usually lasts 14 weeks of didactic activities, usually followed by a minimum of 3 weeks of exams.
The structure of the academic year is approved by the university senate.
Assigning transferable study credits for a semester takes into account a period of at least 17 weeks.
The university senate of each higher education institution approves annually, at least 3 months before the beginning of the academic year, the regulation regarding the professional activity of students, as well as the calendar of educational activities specific to academic study semesters.
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