Matching Curricula with Labour Market Needs for Higher Education: State of Art, Obstacles and Facilitating Factors

Abstract

Improving the matching in between educational curricula and labour market demands is one of the Recommendations formulated for Romania in 2013 by the European Commission with respect to the reform of higher education system. Why do we need an increasing education-job match? Theoretical background points to increasing career perspectives, increasing productivity, motivation or earnings for individuals and increasing competitiveness and output for the economy. Nonetheless, when we aim to meet the demands of an economy developed in low added value sectors, we implicitly whiteness a ceiling in the development of human capital on the medium and long run. Do crises or legal requirements lead to an increasing education job-match? Which are the graduates’ competences that have to be improved? How the role of career counselling and guidance services could be improved? What is the state of the partnership universities-trade unions-employers in order to improve the quality of skills and their match with labour market demands? These are the questions to which the paper aims to provide answers derived from a quantitative-qualitative methodology run on 140 representatives of labour market stakeholders under the project POSDRU 86/1.2/S/52422 – Management of matching educational system with labour market demands.