Characteristics of higher education in Romania during transition

The transition from planned economy to market economy resulted in significant changes at the level of university education in Romania. In a relatively short period there has been an impressive growth in the number of students, the first private universities were founded and now they hold almost half of the academic market in Romania. Our study emphasizes a number of characteristics of higher education development in Romania such as a weak correlation between the number of students with the evolution of demographic phenomena (in this time period there was a significant drop in birth rates, migration has resulted in a reduction of the population), and the evolution of the secondary school. In a medium and long period of time the growth in the number of students, both in public and private education institutions cannot be sustained. In our study we used data series recorded at the National Institute of Statistics. For data processing we used a series of econometric techniques such as regression model, Granger causality analysis etc. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.