Browsing by Author "Jitaru, Gabriela"

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Performance - based funding : the Romanian experience of the last five years : (2016–2020)
(Springer, 2022) Păunescu, Mihai; Gheba, Andreea; Jitaru, Gabriela
Performance-based funding has a long experience of debates and implementation in Romania, distinguishing three main stages of refinement in its implementation, starting with 2002. The actual form is similar starting with 2016, an important share of Romanian higher education funding for teaching activities in public universities (26.5%) being distributed according to quality indicators (applied by field of study). Given that the main objective of this mechanism is to reward performance, as well as to assure a more transparent and predictable resource allocation, the aim of this paper is to identify how this allocation mechanism actually worked over the past five years. The performance-based criteria employed in the supplementary funding component cover four main categories: teaching/learning, scientific research/artistic creation, international orientation, regional orientation & social equity. According to the national funding allocation mechanism, each quality indicator is assigned a share of the total funding, with the final distribution being determined by each institutions performance score relative to the others in the same scientific field. The paper unfolds the evolution of this systems implementation in the five years since its adoption (2016–2020) and presents the main results of a preliminary analysis. We also explore the extent to which certain characteristics of universities, such as their size or their dominant field of study, impact the resulting distribution of funds. This paper results may enrich and contribute to the larger national and international debate on performance-based funding and quality assurance in higher education.
The socio-economic challenges in access to Romanian higher education : student perception and funding policy directions
(Springer Nature, 2022) Dervis, Oana Alexandra; Trifan, Elena; Jitaru, Gabriela
Access to education, specifically in relation to socio-economic background, is one of the enduring issues in educational research. The theme is particularly salient for the Romanian case from a policy perspective, given the increase in social polarisation specific to the post-communist transition and its effect on access to higher education. Recent reforms in university funding have started to address this issue, with the inclusion of several mechanisms that allocate financial resources according to university efforts towards social equity. The main objective of our research is to provide an overview of the policies concerning the inclusion of students from low socio-economic backgrounds and assess the degree to which progress has been made towards reaching current national targets regarding access to higher education. We argue that although significant improvements have been made at the level of policy initiative, more precise targeting is needed in order to meet labour market demands, given that most current efforts are directed either at fresh high school graduates or at diminishing the dropout rate. These efforts, even if 100% successful, will not prove sufficient given current demographic trends. Therefore, we consider another potential avenue for increasing student numbers, suggesting that an orientation towards non-traditional students (adult students) might be beneficial. With this in mind, in the second half of the paper, we explore the main characteristics and trends concerning Romanian mature students using the results from the EUROSTUDENT VI and EUROSTUDENT VII studies, with the goal of formulating policy proposals that aim to unlock the potential of this demographic.