E-LEARNING MARKET IN ROMANIA

Abstract

The paper focuses on e-learning market in Romania. The e-learning market in Romania is underdeveloped compared to what is happening in this field in other European countries. Nowadays, any company or organization needs an employee training program, be it pharmaceutical, banking, sales or multinational companies. As a result, firms that want to provide training to acquire the skills needed to perform a particular job show two main trends: on the one hand, they turn to foreign companies, whose specialization is training and team building, and on the other hand, there are people in the company themselves who have the task of providing that training. The paper also presents trends and perspectives in e-learning and the first online platform that prepares young people for the current labor market- laboratoruldecariere.ro. Digital Economy and Society Index is another important issue. The DESI, calculated annually, monitors member states performance on the following levels: digital connectivity, digital competences, online activity, business digitalization and digital public services. It helps EU countries identify areas requiring investment and priority measures. In Romania, the level of digitization of the economy, as well as the digital competences of the population, are relatively low and makes progress in most DESI dimensions difficult. The conclusion is that employers and companies providing online training think that the market is rising and in the coming years, even if it does not replace traditional training, e-learning will be the main refuge of employers. The e-learning market is certainly growing, and European-funded projects that have been developed lately have managed to boost it both in the public and private sectors. E-learning will not completely replace the classroom courses, but it will expand them. It will also create training opportunities for people who do not have access to training for various reasons (the most important being time and money). Online training methods have advantages linked to costs, ease of program implementation to a larger audience from companies, making available more content types. The e-learning system offers one of the best variants to produce tangible results. This is perhaps also the main reason why this industry is experiencing a significant increase worldwide. Researchers estimate that e-learning is a growing industry with huge potential that will find its place in the next few years in all pre-university and university education institutions, state or private, but also in all major corporations.