Evaluare ex ante a impactului introducerii unui sistem centralizat de admitere în universități. Studiu de impact

Abstract

This study is an ex ante evaluation of the impact of introducing a centralized admission system in Romanian universities. It is part of the activities of the project "Quality in higher education: internationalization and databases for the development of Romanian education", implemented by the Executive Unit for Financing Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation (UEFISCDI) in partnership with the Ministry of Education, in the period 2018-2022. Starting from the conceptual and methodological framework on ex ante evaluations, the authors of this study present the problem of admission to higher education based on international comparisons and the analysis of the admission modalities in Romanian universities. The authors propose a centralized admission system, based, on the one hand, on the baccalaureate exam grades (as a selection criterion) and, on the other hand, on an online platform similar to the one used for high school admission (as a technical means). The ex-ante evaluation of this potential higher education admission system is carried out using specific methods, including semi-structured interviews with stakeholders. The impact study presents a set of conclusions on the potential impact of such a scheme and proposes recommendations for its implementation to meet the criteria of fair admission, to gain the widest possible stakeholder support and to be effective.