RELATIONAL CAPITAL OF ROMANIAN UNIVERSITIES

Following the desideratum of increasing the competitiveness of European universities, the Romanian education system faces great challenges, especially considering the prior obsolete organizational structure which has to undergo crucial reforms. The current paper approaches these specific features of the Romanian academic system and the challenges faced when developing strategies in order to improve the intellectual capital of Romanian universities- especially business universities-focusing on the relational capital. These issues will be addressed mainly in terms of relational academic marketing, which is directly related to the parties involved: students, alumni, civil society, business environment etc. The paper brings into light theoretical concepts from the research area of intellectual capital which were transposed in the area of academic management as well as the findings of the pilot study conducted within the Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest. This pilot research is one of the first attempts of assessing the relational capital within the Academy of Economic Studies of Bucharest and in the future it can be carried out at a larger scale.