Table 1 - uploaded by Cezar Mihai Hâj
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Number of students and number of academic staff members in public and private universities, NIS 2012
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From an educational policy perspective, student centred learning (SCL) is a rather new concept. It has emerged in recent years in national and institutional policy documents, often as part of rather declarative and formal approaches. Such policies are frequently lacking a clearly articulated definition of the concept and its effective operationaliz...
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... be able to implement innovative teaching methods, well-prepared and motivated teaching staff is needed, and an adequate number of academic staff members is necessary. According to the data provided by the National Institute of Statistics (NIS), at the beginning of the academic year 2010-2011 the total number of students and the number of academic staff members in Romanian higher edu- cation were as follows (Table 1): ...
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Debriefing of pedagogical competence through both theory and practice which became a requirement for prospective teachers were through micro teaching and teaching practice program. But, some reports from the partner schools stated that the participants of teaching practice program have not well prepared on implementing the learning in the classroom...
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... A decade ago, in Romania, most academics still used traditional teaching practices (Matei et al., 2015). Several calls were made for a more robust and accountable implementation of SCL in Romanian universities (Ciolan et al., 2015;Matei et al., 2015). ...
... A decade ago, in Romania, most academics still used traditional teaching practices (Matei et al., 2015). Several calls were made for a more robust and accountable implementation of SCL in Romanian universities (Ciolan et al., 2015;Matei et al., 2015). Consequently, in the last ten years, to sustain SCL enhancement, a few Romanian universities have built specialized academic development structures (e.g., Teacher Training and Continuing Education Service-University of Bucharest, Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning-Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, or Center of Academic Development-West University of Timisoara) or have included academic development in the activity of already existing departments like Teacher Training Departments (e.g., "Alexandru Ioan Cuza"-University of Iaşi). ...
Implementing the Bologna Process in European universities has faced many challenges, especially in Eastern countries where the academic modus operandi was mainly teacher-centered. Thus, substantial resources have been invested in building academic development units to promote sustainable and effective student-centered learning. This paper presents the work of the Center of Academic Development (CAD) of the West University of Timisoara (WUT), Romania. The activities implemented by the CAD to stimulate effective student-centered teaching and learning and their institutional impact are further detailed. CAD started its activity in July 2016 by employing a need analysis to identify topics of interest, academic availability , and requirements for future pedagogical training activities. Next, the CAD team successfully implemented several projects funded by national entities of around 2 million euros, training around 1364 academics from five Romanian universities. Also, the CAD team developed the Reflexive-Collaborative instructional model, which later was promoted by the Rector of WUT as the university Teaching and Learning Brand and adopted as the main theoretical framework of the CAD training initiatives. Implications for academic developers, researchers, experts, and policy-makers are discussed.
... Aceasta a menţionat că în cazul său, Studenţii au avut opţiunea de a-și organiza grupele în funcţie de ceea ce aveau în comun și au avut libertatea de a schimba grupurile după un semestru sau de a continua să folosească aceleași grupe, în funcţie de implicarea lor. (Comunicare scrisă, Expert 2) Deoarece predarea trebuie să fie centrată pe elevi, învăţarea trebuie să aibă loc într-un mediu interactiv și inspirator (Matei, Hăj, & Alexe, 2015), iar aceștia să fie implicaţi activ în predare și învăţare. Elevii/studenţii apreciază modul de învăţare prin experienţe practice și alte interacţiuni diferite (Peculea & Peculea, 2017). ...
... Predarea interactivă și inovatoare necesită profesori motivaţi și bine pregătiţi, dispuși să colaboreze (Voinea, 2019). Prin urmare, cu o formare adecvată, profesorii vor putea trece de la o predare centrată pe profesor la una centrată pe elev (Matei et al., 2015). Astfel de profesori vor fi deschiși să înveţe și să aplice metode de predare inovatoare și interactive. ...
... După cum afirmă Tudor (2016), învăţarea prin cooperare îi ajută pe elevi să devină mai puţin egocentrici și mai altruiști. Chiar dacă învăţământul românesc este unul competitiv (Roman, 2012), se pot dezvolta relaţii de colaborare între profesori și elevi (Matei et al., 2015), dacă este dorită o astfel de colaborare. Un rezultat al acestor recomandări a constat în organizarea de către profesorul cercetător a meselor de părtășie cu studenţii, în locuinţa acestuia, la fiecare început și final de semestru. ...
... The Romanian laws also integrated the Bologna approach of the Student Centered Learning (SCL), by tackling the quality and methods of teaching, focused more on the participation of the student as an equal partner in its education process. Matei et al. (2015) notes that the concept is not operationalized. The barriers start emerging from a lack of understanding of the concept, therefore 41% of the HE institutions still do not apply any measure for implementing SCL, while the learning outcomes used in the description of the study programs are rather formal. ...
This article looks at the idea and practice of “customer focus” in higher education. As a global trend with origins in the business and corporate world, customer focus has come to increasingly shape public services worldwide. Influenced by business thinking, terminology, and practices, governmental organizations across policy areas have used customer focus to reform public services in order to bring them closer to the demands and expectations of their users. The paper particularly analyzes changes in customer focus understanding and its implications for the European higher education policies. The aim of the article is to contribute to a better conceptualization and policy understanding of this growing approach to higher education reform.
... The Romanian laws also integrated the Bologna approach of the Student Centered Learning (SCL), by tackling the quality and methods of teaching, focused more on the participation of the student as an equal partner in its education process. Matei et al. (2015) notes that the concept is not operationalized. The barriers start emerging from a lack of understanding of the concept, therefore 41% of the HE institutions still do not apply any measure for implementing SCL, while the learning outcomes used in the description of the study programs are rather formal. ...
This book explores the increased necessity of organizations to encourage human talent in the globalized economy, with particular emphasis on the impact in Eastern Europe. Featuring contributions presented at the 7th Annual Griffiths School of Management International Conference on Business and Ethics (GSMAC) organized by Emanuel University of Oradea, this book presents in-depth analysis of the economic, social and religious implications of the transition from low cost of labor to increased human talent in Eastern Europe and offers multiple theoretical and practical solutions.
In 2004, Klaus Schwab, president and founder of the World Economic Forum, stated that the old era of capitalism and socialism is being replaced by a new era of “talentalism”. The true competitive advantage of organizations and nations is increasingly becoming human talent, defined as the ability to “have new ideas that have value”. Nations and organizations are exploring ways to reform their education systems and organizational structures in order to train, foster and encourage human talent. In Eastern Europe since the fall of communism in 1989, the competitive advantage of the region has been low cost of labor. However, since the integration within the European Union, millions of Eastern Europeans have left their home countries rendering the “low-wage competitive advantage” almost obsolete. In addition, the migration of able-working individuals has left behind mainly children and pensioners, placing a disproportionately heavy burden upon public and government services. It is within this context that the contents of this book explore the impact of the increased need of high human talent on Eastern European countries.
Featuring contributions around topics such as poverty, healthcare management, cross-border cooperation, education systems, and religious influence on economic development, this book will be of interest of scholars, researchers, students and policy-makers interested in the business development and economic growth of Eastern Europe.
... Interesting to note, a study undertook on Romanian higher education institutions has pinpointed the lack of a thorough implementation of the ECTS or of the learning outcomes concepts and the lack of available data regarding the correlation of ECTS with students workloads or learning outcomes. In addition, the authors paid attention to the absence of national studies which to confirm the efficiency and comparability of ECTS in Romanian higher education institutions [4]. ...
In the boundaries of the European Union, education has a social dimension especially in an environment where skills and competences are acquired and refined through higher education. The paper aims to review the major challenges facing the sector of higher education at European Union level and to examine and summarize the key national responses/measures foreseen to address common national bottlenecks with respect to tertiary education: access, retention, and employability of students. The findings attempt to fill the knowing gap by systematically analyze the country statistical data and the key initiatives in developing human capital that help to transform the current higher education capacity towards more knowledge-based and innovative structure.
... As part of both strategic initiatives as well as student-centre teaching approach, developing and offering academic writing courses at university level in Romania, there is a commitment that has to be based on acknowledged and assumed development directions and values (Matei, Hâj & Alexe, 2014). ...
Improving and maintaining researchers' academic writing competencies is the central goal of research focused higher education institutions in their endeavour to achieve scientific visibility and excellence in research. This article proposes an in-depth needs analysis validation that would be used as an instrument to fundament, improve and adapt academic writing programs. The project aims to develop academic writing skills based on enhanced interventions focused on identified needs of master and Ph.D. students (N = 33). The need analysis was conducted using an adapted version of the Duszak and Lewkowicz (2008) questionnaire. Results are suggesting that the number of already published articles does not function as an objective predictor for the development of academic writing competencies, both categories (social and hard sciences) aiming in comparable percentage to increase their skills. Investigating students' needs regarding academic writing process is an important tool to adapt the specific teaching approach and to enhance the learning experience and outcomes.
A didactic grant competition for academics is organized annually at the West University of Timişoara (WUT), offering a grant to the winners of a public student-centered activity project competition. The teaching grant winners later take part in a program to develop their pedagogical skills in student-centered teaching based on the WUT's reflexive-collaborative (i.e., RCL) instructional model. Next, during one academic semester, grant winners must implement the RCL instructional model in one specific subject matter. Based on a quantitative quasi-experimental design, this study examined the impact of a pedagogical program offered to the beneficiaries of the 2020 grant competition at both teachers' and student levels. At the teachers' level, we measured their conceptions of teaching, teaching approaches, and psychological resources. At the students' level, we investigated their evaluation of their teachers' teaching behavior and their learning approaches. Analyses such as Two-way mixed ANOVA, Quade's ANCOVA, and Mann-Whitney U were conducted to investigate the gathered data. Academics in the EG reported statistically significant improvements in their conceptions of promoting active learning. According to their students, teachers in the experimental group employed more student-centered assessment methods and teaching behaviors that encouraged active learning. Our results also showed that academics in the control group reported higher resilience levels at the end of the academic semester, and according to their students, their more traditional teaching approaches seemed more effective in stimulating their students' understanding of fundamental concepts. The results could have been more significant regarding the students' learning approaches. Because of the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, we encountered several obstacles in the impact assessment process (e.g., high values at the pretest, the impossibility of matching students' answers). Although our findings have some limitations, the present article has noteworthy implications for stakeholders involved in in-service teacher training programs, in particular, conducted in higher education institutions. Practical implications of the findings for both academic developers and future research are discussed.
Student centered learning implies the pedagogical approach based on constructivism and theories related to it, and it is characterized by the methods used to make a student actively contribute the learning process. It is recognized in the mindset and culture of the faculty, and focused on the needs and opinions of students. This paper presents the main elements of this approach in the context of higher education system. It starts with the perspective that placing the student at the center, the "heart" of the educational process, is a response to numerous social challenges and the reform process. The first part of the paper highlights a dichotomy resulting from the need to reconceptualize the traditional educational system in order to respond the needs of the knowledge society. It further points out the particularities and the differences between the teaching paradigm and the learning paradigm and elaborates the (im)possibility of combining them. The second part of the paper is dedicated to the analysis of the possibilities for implementing student-centered approach in higher education institutions and making it an integrative part of their climate and learning culture.
Student Centred Learning is a very popular principle in European educational policies and Higher Education organizational regulation, but is there really a question risen on which are the students’ interest or educational desires? According to recent studies , students often expect to understand issues related to real life problems, they expect teachers who help them learn and have a positive impact on their way of thinking and feeling about themselves and the world. Also, in the European economical context, students expect from their university social and professional opportunities and guidance in finding a job and building a career . The problem is that taking a closer look to formal regulations, and there are plenty of them (quality assurance regulations, internal evaluation regulations, international assessments), we might notice a gap between normative objectives and students expectations. In this paper I will focus on regulations and students expectations regarding teachers’ assessment in the Romanian Higher Education System. After analyzing the regulatory system coherence regarding teachers’ assessment and studies about students’ expectations, I applied a survey to 50 students from almost 15 Romanian universities in order to find out which are their educational needs and desires and how important the items required by the regulations are, from this point of view.
