EDUCATION FOR BIOECONOMY IN ROMANIA -AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION PROGRAMMES

The aim of the paper is to explore the place and importance of bio-economy and its related topics in the academic curriculum of higher education institutions (HEI), I addition the paper debates their stake in the current society and economy & expected challenges and opportunities. From a methodological point of view we apply an empirical content-based analysis of the academic curriculum from several Romanian universities. This helps us to map bio-economy topics and to present main conclusions regarding the question of how well the Romanian education system is prepared to train specialists in bio-economy. Furthermore, we provide recommendations and suggestions that might be adopted by HEI such as to be prepared to play an important role in achieving the Europe 2020 goals with respect to a long-term smart, sustainable and inclusive development through bio-economy.