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1. Governance

2. Cross-sectorial cooperation

Governance

Main actors

At the national level, the general administration of the education system is ensured by the Ministry of Education part of the central public administration. The public pre-tertiary education is part of the local decentralized public services and is subordinated to the Ministry of Education through the County School Inspectorates. As for the tertiary education is as well coordinated by the Ministry of Education following the university autonomy’s principles – the Universities and the other higher education institutions are autonomous and can implement their own development policies, in line with the general national provisions. 

The Ministry of Education organises and leads the national education system, the scientific research, technological development and innovation. The ministry has subordinated units and coordinates the activities of other organizations.

The Romanian Ministry of Education having the following, responsibilities, ensuring the general coordination of the Romanian educational system:

• Elaborates, applies, implements and evaluates the national public policies in the field of education
• Monitors the external activities of other stakeholders
• Coordinates and controls the national educational system
• Has the final decision on the national organization and functioning mechanisms of the schooling network
• Coordinates the elaboration process of the national curricula, approves the curricula, monitors its implementation, evaluates the implementation and ensures the quality criteria
• Evaluates, approves and procures the manuals for the pupils
• Approves the internal organization procedures of the coordinated unites
• Elaborates studies and prognosis in the field
• Ensures the framework for pupils’ recruitment and training
• Ensures the proper teaching conditions for the pupils with learning difficulties/ special learning needs.
• Analysis the way social protection measures are delivered within the educational system and approaches the Government and the local authorities if special or additional measures are required.
• Coordinates, monitors and controls the initial training of teachers and supervises their continuous training procedures
• Elaborates the national policies in human resources
• Ensures the evaluation of the national educational system based on the existent national standards
• Sets the procedures and mechanisms for diploma, studies and other certificates’ recognition
• Sets the structure of the schooling year
• Elaborates methodologies and working mechanisms to ensure a common and coherent framework for the national policies’ implementation.
• Develops and ensures the functionality of the e-learning platforms and Virtual School Library initiative
• Elaborates special norms for the construction of new buildings and on new equipment for schools
• Prepares and presents to the Parliament and to the public the annual report on national education situation in Romania.
• Coordinates the data collection and the proper interpretation of data when it comes to the indicators regarding education.

County School Inspectorates acting as regional level as specialized bodies with the following attributions:

• To supervise the development and functionality of the Pre-tertiary educational network in accordance with the national educational policy;
• To ensure implementation and observance of the legislation in organizing, management and deployment of the educational process;
• To ensure quality of the education and observance of the national standards through the school inspection;
• To report on the existent situation of the Romanian education system at the local and regional level
• To ensure together with the local public administration authorities schooling of the pupils during compulsory education;
• To coordinate teachers’ recruitment, according to the provisions of the Teaching Staff Statute (Law 128/1997);
• To organise and guide the in-service teacher training as well as scientific research and other complementary activities in Pre-tertiary education;
• To coordinate together with the local public administration authorities the use and development and preservation of the didactic material basis of the schools;
• To coordinate schools’ admission and graduation exams as well as the educational competitions;
• To control the activities and the Pre-tertiary educational services provided by the economic agents, foundations, associations, religious cults and other bodies within the county; to ascertain observance of the legislation and to take the legal measures as required;
• To coordinate the activity of the libraries in the Pre-tertiary education units subordinated;
• To coordinate and control the Teaching Staff Centre – resource center for in-service teacher training.

General distribution of responsibilities

The Ministry has both subordinated units and the and institutions it coordinates. The main subordinated institutions are the following:

• The Unit for Financing the Pre-University Education (Unitatea pentru Finanțarea Învățământului Preuniversitar)
• The National Agency for Community Programmes in the Field of Education and Vocational Training (Agenţia Naţională pentru Programe Comunitare în Domeniul Educaţiei şi Formării Profesionale) (ANPCDEFP)
• The Agency for Study Credits and Scholarships (Agenţia de Credite şi Burse de Studii) (ACBS)
•  The National Center for Evaluation and Examination (Centrul Naţional de Evaluare şi Examinare) (CNEE) including since November 2019 the functions of the National Institute for Educational Sciences (Institutul de Ştiinţe ale Educaţiei) (ISE)
• The National Center for The Vocational and Technical Education System (Centrul Naţional de Dezvoltare a Învăţământului Profesional şi Tehnic) (CNDIPT)
• The Romanian Language Institute (Institutul Limbii Române) (ILR)
• The County School Inspectorates (Inspectorate şcolare judeţene şi Inspectoratul Şcolar al Municipiului Bucureşti)
• The Romanian National Commission for UNESCO (Comisia Naţională a României pentru UNESCO)
• European Center for Higher Education
• The Federation of School and University Sports (Federaţia Sportului Şcolar şi Universitar) (FSSU)
• Center for Continuing Education in German Language (Centrul pentru Formare Continuă în Limba Germană)
• The Romanian National Secretariat of the Black Sea University Network (Secretariatul Naţional Român al Reţelei Universităţilor de la Marea Neagră)
• National Children's Palace in Bucharest (Palatul Naţional al Copiilor din Bucureşti)
• Central University Library (Biblioteca Centrală Universitară din Bucureşti)
• Central University Library ‘Mihai Eminescu’ in Iasi (Biblioteca Centrală Universitară 'Mihai Eminescu' din Iaşi)
• Central University Library ‘Lucian Blaga’ in Cluj-Napoca (Biblioteca Centrală Universitară 'Lucian Blaga' din Cluj-Napoca)
• Central University Library ‘Eugen Todoran’ in Timisoara (Biblioteca Centrală Universitară 'Eugen Todoran' din Timişoara)
• Students’ Culture Centre/House of Suceava

The Units having the activities coordinated by the Ministry of Education are the following:

• National Qualifications Authority (NCA) (Autoritatea Naţională pentru Calificări) (ANC)
• Autonomous 'Didactic and Pedagogical' (Regia Autonomă 'Editura Didactică şi Pedagogică')
• Administration Agency of the National Informatics Network for Education and Research (ARNIEC) (Agenţia de Administrare a Reţelei Naţionale de Informatică pentru Educaţie şi Cercetare) (ARNIEC)

Cross-sectorial cooperation

There are two mechanisms of cross-sectorial cooperation between Ministries, Departments, and Agencies involved in defining top-level policies and measures youth education and training.

1. Ad-hoc meetings
2. Ad-hoc inter-ministerial committees organized on different topics according to the bill in preparation.

This cooperation mechanism is specific to most of the policies in the field of youth and is used by the governmental bodies in charge with youth education and training, mainly the Ministry of Education.

The Ministry of Education cooperates with:

• The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and with the Ministry of Health  on implementing the Framework Cooperation Protocol for an integrated approach to community services to prevent social exclusion and combat poverty  establishes that the social assistant, the community health nurse / health mediator, the school counsellor / school mediator and the employment counsellor should intervene together for supporting the poor in each community.
• The Ministry of Justice  to support the core values of the rule of law and democracy, including through the promotion of legal education in schools
• The Presidential Administration on implementing the multi-annual integrated plan on health and education for health

As both the mechanisms are used ad-hoc public information on their results are not always released.

The non-state actors with essential contribution to the development of the educational policies in Romania are:

Trade Unions:

1. Federația Sindicatelor Libere din Învățământ 
2. FSE Spiru Haret 

NGOs: 

1. Coaliția pentru Educație – The Coalition for Education
2. Teach for Romania
3. ARDOR
4. Romanian Association for Literacy
5. The Institute for Evaluation Development in Education
6. Roma Education Fund in Romania
7. Impreuna Agency
8. Save the Children

UNCIEF Romania is also contributing to the development of the educational policies in Romania, modeling and piloting projects to reform the education system and constantly providing recommendations to the Ministry of Education.