Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan held consultations with representatives of the National Council of Rectors (CNR) at the Victoria Palace on Tuesday. At their request, the decision was made to set up a working group at the level of the Ministry of Education and Research, with the participation of the CNR, in view of preparing the state budget for this year.
According to a Government press release, the discussions focused on the construction of the budget and the participation of university education in the effort to reduce public spending provided for by the draft law on administrative measures to increase the financial capacity and streamline the activity of central and local public administration, a project that is in decision-making transparency, agerpres reports.
The Prime Minister argued that the proposals included in the draft law on the reform of central and local public administration under public consultation, which also targets higher education and research, aim to continue reducing structural budget expenditures, in the conditions of a difficult economic context, in which Romania must reduce the budget deficit.
The representatives of the National Council of Rectors, the Government reported, showed their willingness to participate in the effort to reduce budget expenditures and stated that they had already made significant reductions during 2025 by increasing the teaching norm and implicitly reducing a considerable number of teaching positions, by reducing hourly rates and other specific measures.
"They requested that the optimization of expenses be carried out in a flexible manner and adapted to the realities of the system, in accordance with the principles of university autonomy and the legislation in force," the press release reads.
The university rectors participating in the debate presented the financing particularities of higher education institutions and arguments regarding the modification of the legislative proposal in the sense of redistributing the reduction of expenses according to the institutional specifics.
The status of the projects financed from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, currently being implemented at the level of higher education institutions, was also discussed.
At the Prime Minister's proposal, consultations on the financing of the higher education system will continue by setting up a working group at the level of the Ministry of Education and Research, with the participation of representatives of the National Council of Rectors.
"The education system is the backbone for the country's development. We must make savings, but let this important field for Romania develop in the coming years," said Prime Minister Bolojan.
The Head of the Executive added that other aspects related to increasing the quality of education, better correlation with economic realities, the development of applied research projects and the introduction of a traceability system, which would show which professional fields higher education graduates follow in relation to the educational field they graduated in, must also be analyzed, the cited source also indicates
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