Romania

Membership in EQAR

Romania has been a Governmental Member of EQAR since March 2008.

General information on higher education

Higher education is offered by higher education institutions, public or private that have provisional authorisation or accreditation.

The Romanian higher education system follows the three cycles of the Bologna Process:

• 1st cycle, BA (bachelor’s degree) – 3 years.

Some degrees may be longer i.e. the BA in engeneering is 4 years and EU regulated professions include BA of 5 or 6 years for Medical, Pharmaceutical, Dental, Veterinary or Architectural studies;

• 2nd cycle, M.A.(master’s degree) – 2 years;

• 3rd cycle, PhD studies – 3 years.

As of 1st April 2021, Romanian higher education institutions may organize, jointly with other accredited higher education institutions from the European Higher Education Area, joint degrees, provided the higher education institutions are recognized as such by the state of origin.

National external quality assurance requirements

Programme evaluation/accreditations
are valid for five years and must be renewed regularly. Programmes first need to receive a provisional authorisation that is granted by the Ministry and, two years after the graduation of the first cohort, programmes may apply for an accreditation.
Evaluation of Master Study Domains
The evaluation procedure started in 2018. The results of the evaluation are valid for five years.
Institutional evaluations/accreditation
are valid for five years. During the evaluation procedure, about 20 per cent of the study programmes offered by the institution are also evaluated. Before initiating an institutional accreditation higher education institutions need to apply for provisional authorisation.

Cross-border quality assurance

In Romania higher education institutions may choose a suitable EQAR-registered agency.

Romanian higher education institutions can choose for their programme accreditation and periodic external evaluations the national QA agency, ARACIS or any other EQAR listed agency.

Eligibility requirements for foreign agencies: Registration on EQAR is sufficient. Before initiating the review process, the QA agency has to consult the Romanian quality assurance agency (ARACIS) on the methodology and the terms of reference for the review (Ord. 6154 of 21 Dec 2016).
Conditions for the agencies’ work (e.g. criteria to be used): national criteria (see Methodology for External Evaluation, approved 25/11.01.2018)
Recognition of reviews carried out by foreign agencies: The field specific departments from ARACIS will check whether the review report followed the national methodology and legislation. The ARACIS Council will then validate the external review report, if the review process was carried out according to the national legislation (See Art. 4 of Ord 6154 of 21 December 2016).

European Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes

In Romania the European Approach is available to higher education institutions.

Yes, following the Emergency Ordinance no. 22/2021 on amending and supplementing the National Education Law no. 1/2011.

Further information

Registered agencies operating in Romania