Universities In Romania Research Articles

Instructional Videos for Students in Dental Medicine: Rules of Design and Correlations with Their Habits as Internet Consumers.

We investigated the opinions of a sample of 551 students from four medical universities in Romania, in order to identify the students' preferred characteristics in instructional videos, both globally and comparatively on genders and age groups and also according to their general preferences for using internet services. We used univariate (hypothesis testing) and multivariate (two-step clustering) data analysis techniques and revealed three clusters of students, primarily determined by their perceptions of the visual appearance of the instructional videos. The structure of the clusters by gender and age group was relatively similar, but we recorded differences associated with the students' expressed preferences for certain internet services compared to others. The first identified cluster (35.4% of the cases) contains students who prefer instructional videos to contain images used only for aesthetic purposes and to fill the gaps; they use internet services mainly for communication. The second cluster of students (34.8%) prefers videos designed as practical lessons, using explanatory drawings and diagrams drawn at the same time as the explanations; they also use internet services mainly for communication. The last cluster of students (29.8%) prefer videos designed as PowerPoint presentations, with animated pictures, diagrams, and drawings; they are slightly younger than the others and use internet services mainly for information and communication, but also for domestic facilities. The students' preferences for certain features of instructional videos depend not only on gender and age but are also related to their developmental background and general opinions about modern technologies.

Yoga, a mindfulness therapy to prevent PTSD as to encompass athletes' performance.

Yoga is one of the physical and mental activities used in elite sports training for risk prevention and medical rehabilitation in case of injuries caused by overtraining or accidents. This study examined the opinions of Romanian elite athletes and coaches on the feasibility of incorporating yoga practice into training regimens for purposes of injury prevention and medical recovery. This study surveyed a group of 500 athletes, coaches, and medical personnel from three universities in Romania, all of which are part of the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport (PES). An online survey was administered which evaluates athletes' experience of yoga integration in pre/post training and its positive effects on reducing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The data were then analyzed with a structural equation model utilizing SmartPLS software. According to the survey, Romanian athletes use yoga both before and after competitions to improve their focus, balance, muscle, and joint elasticity, foster a winning mindset, control their emotions and PTSD, visualize their competition performance, and see themselves as winners. The survey also found that yoga is seen as useful for cardiac rehabilitation, neuropathic pain, pulmonary disease, orthopedic illness, muscle strain, and managing symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This study contributes to enhancing athletes' mindfulness and health, offering valuable insights to trainers and athletes interested in incorporating yoga into professional sports activity. The results support the notion that yoga integration in training activity promises to positively influence athletes' performance and reduce collateral side effects of competitions. The results are also in line with the objectives of the Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018-2030 (GAPPPA) - with the theme of "being more efficient to prevent than to treat" - which places special emphasis on the demands for certain programs and services, sports coverage, and healthy workplace initiatives. The study further indicates that Romanian elite athletes and coaches support the use of yoga is an effective method for enhancing athletic training and medical therapy for post-traumatic illnesses and stress disorders.

Associations Between Medical Students' Opinions on Usage of Internet Services and Digital Teaching Tools

"Currently, the educational process must integrate new tools, to keep pace with technological progress. Our paper aims to investigate the extent to which the preferences of medical students for the autonomous use of multimedia resources in the learning process are correlated with their opinions towards the Internet and the intensity of using it in their daily activities. Methods: We investigated 395 medical students from 4 medical universities in Romania, 75.9% females, and 88.8% in the 1st and 2nd years of study. Students were asked to express on Likert-scales their agreement with a list of statements about Internet services, as well as whether they like learning using multimedia tools and how intensively they use Internet services. Results: The students agree to a medium to large extent with the favorable statements about Internet services but are also aware of the negative influences that indiscriminate use of such technology can have. The intensity of Internet usage is high, although not exaggerated. With small exceptions, the students who enjoy using multimedia resources during the learning process have also favorable opinions about Internet services, and use them constantly, mainly for information and instant messaging on social networks."

"Politicization of Public Administration in Romania and its Consequences for Governance in Turbulent Times"

The article aims to analyze the level of politicization of civil service in Romania, its goals, and consequences. We adopted a rather narrow perspective on politicization and we concentrated mainly on analyzing the recruitment, promotion, and dismissal of civil servants based on political criteria. The research findings were used to discuss the consequences of politicization on the governance of public institutions during turbulent times. In this regard, we conducted an email-based survey of the civil servants. The majority of the sample was composed of graduates of public administration programs at four major universities in Romania, who work in public institutions. We collected the data between May and November 2023 and we obtained 211 valid questionnaires. We found that appointments based on political criteria lower the work motivation of public employees, and increase the level of incompetence and instability of public institutions. The most affected are public employees in management positions, those who have longer work experience in the public sector, and those who work in public institutions that are part of central administration. Therefore, frequent changes based on political criteria lower the capacity of public institutions to respond to disruptive events by generating a loss of expertise, instability, and discontinuity in policy implementation. However, turbulent times require flexibility and adaptation to unexpected and unpredictable events, and political appointees might be more responsive and cooperative.

The Impact of Digitalization in Academic Marketing – A Comparative Study

Abstract Using as a starting point the continuous transformation that the academic environment bears under the impact of the digitization phenomenon, our paper aims at a scientific investigation on the online presence of the educational offer of two universities. Current methods issued from theoretical and professional models have allowed us to highlight a series of criteria that reflect the quality and performance of online digital promotion of admission services in the case of two representative universities in Romania. Thus, we can say that, by building an operational dashboard, educational digital marketing can benefit from decision support tools, useful both in branding policy and in operationalizing online presence and communication.

Efficacy of Blended Learning Techniques in Medical and Dental Education: Students’ Opinions in Relation to Their Habits as Internet Consumers

The success of blended learning programmes, based on digital tools, depends on several factors that significantly influence students’ performance, of which demographics (gender and age group) are the most common. Other factors play an important role too. Among these, we focused on the students’ general attitude towards the digital environment and the importance they attach to it in their daily activities. We investigated a sample of five hundred fifty-one students from four Medical Universities in Romania, mostly females (76.2%), from years 1 and 2 of study (63.7%) and aged between 18 and 20 years (53.9%), and we recorded their general opinion about the effectiveness of four types of teaching tools and the intensity of using Internet services in their daily activities. We conducted univariate (hypothesis testing) and multivariate (two-step clustering) analyses of the recorded responses, and we found that the students’ general behaviour as the users of Internet services significantly influences their choices for certain teaching tools over others. Students who prefer classic oral presentations and PowerPoint presentations are predominantly females, aged between 18 and 20, who use Internet services mainly for communication. Students who prefer educational videos are also mainly females, evenly distributed by age groups; they enjoy using multimedia resources during learning and use Internet services for communication, information or entertainment. Students who prefer the use of online documentary sources are evenly distributed by gender and are over 20 years of age; they also enjoy using multimedia resources during learning and use Internet services mainly for communication and information. The obtained results show that, to optimally combine the teaching tools used in blended learning, it is useful to assess in advance the attitude towards the digital environment of the students to whom it is addressed.

Online Education During the Covid-19 Pandemic: Differences by Education Levels and Years of Study

Abstract The present article identifies, at the level of university education, the difficulties encountered by students from the humanities profile, within two universities in Romania, by levels and years of study, during the online courses. 143 students, aged between 18 and 50, from undergraduate, master’s and doctoral studies participated in the study. The results of the study revealed difficulties in the online education of students such as: disorganization in the personal schedule, interests in other activities during the courses, low motivation and interest, insufficiently developed digital skills, the existence of a less performing computer, the service.

Stakeholders’ Perceptions of the Vocational Competences Acquired by Students Enrolled in Accounting Master’s Programmes in Romania

The objective of this research was to analyse the differences in stakeholders’ perceptions of the vocational competences acquired by students enrolled in master’s programmes for preparing future accounting professionals in Romania. We collected rich information on twelve master’s programmes at the four biggest universities in Romania. We proposed two indicators for the comparative analysis: the integration index (INTINDEX) and convergence index (CONVINDEX). We expected very specialised programmes focused on several competences necessary for certain professional certifications to have a lower integration level than general programmes aimed at making students familiar with various professional services they may further provide for the labour market. A low level of convergence was expected for the disciplines providing vocational rather than technical competences. The qualitative analysis of the syllabi pertaining to the disciplines studied helped us establish the existence of provisions concerning vocational competences. Two surveys were conducted (among students and educators). We applied Howcroft’s model (2017) to identify the differences in the stakeholders’ perceptions. For a deeper understanding of different perceptions, we conducted interviews with students, educators and employers. Our results may have a series of positive implications for the academic environment, the business environment and professional bodies. This study brings forward evidence that may be used by students when making decisions such as pursuing a career in accounting, or may be used to improve the educational process to train the youth who meet employers’ needs and continue their professional training within professional bodies.

Did the COVID-19 pandemic lead to an increase in academic misconduct in higher education?

The shift to online instruction in higher education related to the COVID-19 pandemic has raised worldwide concerns about an increase in academic misconduct (cheating and plagiarism). However, data to document any increase is sparse. For this study, we collected survey data from 484 students in 11 universities in the USA, and 410 students in five universities in Romania. The data support the conclusions that (1) cheating on exams increased with the shift to online instruction, but plagiarism and cheating on assignments may not have increased, (2) significant differences between the two countries suggest that intervention planning should avoid assuming that results from one context may generalize to another, and (3) influencing student beliefs about rates of AM among their peers may be a fruitful new route for reducing academic misconduct.

A comparative analysis of campus greening practices at universities in Romania and Bulgaria: Sharing the same challenges?

Studies exploring campus greening in Romania and Bulgaria are limited. Overall, sustainability-related topics and actions are more theory-, rather than practice-oriented in both countries, being particularly addressed by universities dealing with Earth (e.g., geography, ecology) and technical sciences (e.g., environmental engineering). Using literature review and an on-line questionnaire survey, the paper aims to analyse in a comparative manner how campus greening initiatives are integrated into the universities of Romania and Bulgaria, which are the main gaps and needs in terms of campus greening initiatives as well as the similarities vs. differences in implementing campus greening initiatives in both countries, with a view to outline the national specificity. The main findings suggest that universities in both countries have made a significant progress to address sustainability aspects in theory, and practice. However, a delay may be noticed in terms of framing a whole institution approach to the sustainability concept, with more singular and disparate initiatives being identified. Although the level of awareness in terms of the need for and importance of carrying out greening activities in their universities is relatively high for the respondents in both countries, more initiatives have been identified by the respondents in Romania than by the ones in Bulgaria. The main measures and initiatives associated with greening actions at university level are related to green infrastructure and waste management, which mainly contributed to increasing the aesthetic aspect of campuses and to cost reduction. There is a general top-down approach in undertaking green campus initiatives, with less or little involvement on the side of teachers and students (especially in Bulgaria), and more importance being attributed to the management body. The results of the survey can have practical implications and can be used by the universities in both countries to better understand the campus greening concept and to use examples and suggestions provided by the involved stakeholders as best practices to further integrate or promote campus greening practices in universities.

CHANGES IN POST-PANDEMIC TRAVELLING BEHAVIOUR. WHAT ARE THE EFFECTS OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON STUDENTS' TRAVELLING INTERESTS?

The novel Coronavirus has led to devastating tragedies, creating a worldwide crisis upon economy and society. Starting from people suffering from illness, deaths, unemployment up until poverty, the COVID-19 pandemic can be considered one of the darkest periods of the world’s history. More broadly, the virus has transformed our everyday lifestyles, inter-human interactions, dynamics of life and last but not least, perceptions upon travelling. The tourism sector has been tremendously affected by the expansion of the virus, with hundreds of countries closing borders, introduction of numerous travel restrictions and suspended flights. Restrictions, regulations and the fear of not getting infected with the new virus have created chaos and considerably changed the way individuals currently perceive travelling. Our study takes a demand-side perspective in order to determine changes in travelling behaviours of individuals, by focusing on students, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study acts as a pilot test and aims at offering guidance for the tourism sector in elaborating and adapting to changing demands on the market. For this purpose, we have collected primary data by distributing a survey among students studying at Universities in Romania. Results have been analysed and compared with relevant literature research. Findings reveal the importance of rate of infection, possible occurring restrictions and costs as being critical when choosing travel destinations during pandemic. Conclusions demonstrate that there is a high need for strong collaboration and cooperation between governments and tourism agencies and businesses. We propose tourism organisations to direct their promotions upon relaxing and safe destinations, at a domestic level in a first phase, followed by international alternatives. We consider that competition can take a backseat during these tough periods and make room for collaborative behaviours and partnerships for the industry to survive.

Burnout and Maladjustment Among Employed Students.

Stress and burnout are present in every aspect of an individual’s life, and the growing number of employed students raises certain concerns about their engagement in academic tasks and finishing their studies. Our study aims to analyze the differences between student burnout in different contexts, work- and academic-related burnout, and examine the predictive role of burnout in academic maladjustment, including test anxiety as a mediator and occupational status as a moderator. The sample consisted of 151 students from different universities in Romania. Consistent with previous studies, the results showed that academic burnout is higher than work-related burnout. High levels of test anxiety explain high levels of academic burnout, which in turn explains low levels of academic adjustment. The results highlight the mediating role of anxiety in the relationship between academic burnout and academic maladjustment with occupational status as a moderator. Future research should focus on the type of students’ job, the mediating relationship between self-efficacy and academic burnout, and the relationship between burnout and personality traits.

ROMANIA: UNIVERSITY GRADUATES BETWEEN EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT

Over the years, European countries, including Romania, have tried to reduce unemployment and increase the number of university graduates. The quality and attractiveness of higher education play an important role because a solid university education can be the path to a successful career and a secure financial life. In the last decade, was intensified efforts to convince Romanian people to pursue a specialization at least to the bachelor’s level. Except 2005, the number of university graduate women is higher than men, which shows their confidence in university education programs. The counties of Bucharest, Iași, Cluj-Napoca, Timiș and Constanța between 1996-2018 have the highest number of university graduates, and these counties also host the best universities in Romania. The quality of higher education must be in line with the personal aspirations of students and national targets. The attractiveness of Romanian university programs is demonstrated by the growing number of foreign students, especially from Arab countries and Africa. But a university education is just one piece of the puzzle, it is also vital to integrate graduates into the work field. Unemployment is one of the vulnerabilities that significantly affects young people. In 24 years, the number of unemployed aged between 30-39 years with a university degree was 98.796, a proportion of 36% – 64% in favour of women (63.078). Women still face great difficulty in finding a job even though they have a university degree. The lowest percentage of unemployed with a university degree in the number of university graduates were registered in 1995 (1.15%) and the highest in 2010 (6.06%). The lowest number of unemployed with university degree among the regions was registered in the North-West (68.989).

A Comparative Analysis of the Use of the Concept of Sustainability in the Romanian Top Universities’ Strategic Plans

As the effects of climate change on today’s society make the headlines across the globe, urging all stakeholders to join forces to act and to create a sustainable world, universities have started engaging in the process of building a sustainable future for the generations to come. The sustainable university has thus emerged, a pro-active and collaborative university that performs in several domains. Since the university’s strategic plan is an instance of official and public communication on the future institutional development, its investigation reveals the university’s position towards sustainability. This study highlights the explicit use of the concept of sustainability in the strategic plans for 2020–2024 of the twelve Romanian top universities and points to the sustainable domains associated with it. Moreover, to determine the direction towards which the Romanian top universities are heading, in terms of sustainability, the article draws a comparison with previous research conducted on the strategic plans for 2016–2020. The main conclusion reached is that although there is an increasing tendency to use the concept in the latest strategic plans, building sustainable universities in Romania is still a goal to be achieved in the future.

Launching Nova Geodesia Journal

Geodesy is the science of measuring and representing the earth, whose beginnings are ancient and are found in antiquity. Like other disciplines, it has known a continuous evolution, along with the evolution of human society and the development of knowledge. More than in other sciences, the evolution of geodesy has been dramatically influenced by advances in science and technology. Thus, at present, modern technology has been reached that allows in-depth studies with the help of state-of-the-art technologies, such as radio telescopes, ground surveys, satellites, etc. In Romania, geodetic education and research have a rich history and tradition, but going through numerous and profound restructuring, intensified in the modern era. These were imposed both by the development of science and technology in the field and by economic and social restructuring at the national level. The turmoil and evolutions from the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century slowly led to the consolidation of the Romanian geodesy and its directions in academic education and research. Ineluctable, things are evolving, and the above issues are being considered by teaching staff and researchers at the universities, research institutes and state and private companies and units with concerns and interests in geodesy. An enthusiastic group of representatives (coming especially from the most recognized universities in Romania, with study programs of land measurements and cadastre) set out to found the new journal Nova Geodesia. After an exhaustive analyzing of the situation of the field in Romania in the current European and international context, they considered that such a journal is timely and necessary in order to support the research in the domain in Romania, but also in the south-eastern part of Europe (facing similar problems) and around the world, truly considering research and creative innovation as the ‘engine of progress’ of humanity. Nova Geodesia has set out to be an open access journal, set up to develop a reliable platform and provide unrestricted access to the scientific literature for the rapid dissemination of recent updates in geodesy and related topics related to cartography, urban administration and the environment, project design and constructions such as dams, bridges, plants, boundary marking, landscape and ecology, environmental management, geography, planetology, hydrography. Through its new approach, the journal adheres to the mission of developing a reliable bridge of communication between people interested in the topics of science and technology mentioned, bringing authentic and unique scientific contributions.

Strategy for Well-Being in Universities: A Romanian Higher Education Approach

Student services represent one of the most important areas that has developed in every higher education institution and continues to evolve based on the students’ feedback and contextual issues. All quality assurance systems for higher education include standards to evaluate institutional capacity to provide these services. Well-being is one type of student service that universities have high interest in developing. In the current pandemic situation, significant changes towards digitalization have occurred, but at the same time, new types of student services based on counselling proved to be the most needed. Academic leadership is facing a lot of pressure to increase research visibility and deal with limited resources; therefore, a decision on well-being development is not easy. The purpose of this study is to reveal the well-being concept and practice as applied in different universities in Romania in order to build a possible institutional strategy (an introductory model). Apart from a literature review, conceptual clarifications, and best practices, the methodology includes a gap analysis and a survey based on a questionnaire to determine the students’ perceptions on the development of well-being services. The findings show the highest interest of respondents in contributing to the well-being service development. The conclusions indicate concrete steps for the establishment of a well-being strategy.

Entrepreneurial University: Catalyst for Regional Sustainable Development

The purpose of this paper was to identify collaboration opportunities between one of the most important universities in Romania and companies with production activity within the development region in which this university operates. In order to attain this goal, a survey was conducted to identify the needs of consultancy, expertise, and services for companies that operate in the Centru Development Region of Romania (RO12) and to evaluate the extent to which they are interested in cooperation with Transilvania University of Brasov. In this respect, 3506 companies were included in a panel and their managers were invited to take part in the survey. Finally, a sample of 457 companies was obtained. According to the survey results, the most used consulting services by these companies were the economic and financial ones, but the percentage of companies that have benefited from these services is low. The percentage of interviewed companies that have benefited so far from the consultancy offered by Transilvania University of Brasov is much lower (3.9%). Starting from the research results we proposed an entrepreneurial pilot model for online data analysis, based on the Tableau Public v. 2019.3 software, meant to help companies to do better promotion in order to develop their markets.

TEACHERS’ EDUCATION IN ROMANIA CASE STUDY: BUCHAREST UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC STUDIES IN ROMANIA

Teacher education is a controversial issue in Romania today. It is an important subject in the debates in academia, in practitioners’ groups, and in mass-media. Teacher education is viewed as being related to the quality of education, and is considered to be one of the most influential factors affecting educational quality by representatives of different interest groups and other decision makers. This is why alternatives and best practices in the field of teacher education are re-examined and re-valued. This paper will describe teacher education at the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, with emphasis on the education of teachers of economics and business. The Bucharest University of Economic Studies is one of the most important universities in Romania and the most important economic university. It was established in 1913 by Royal Decree and in its over 100 years of existence has provided higher and in-depth knowledge in the field of economics sciences, while preparing generations of economists. In addition to its mission of preparing professionals for economic activity and public administration functions, the Bucharest University of Economic Studies prepares economics and business teachers who contribute to the economic education of the Romanian population. The paper presents the activities and the programs designed by the Department of Teacher Education at the university, formerly the Pedagogical Seminar. The Pedagogical Seminar began to function soon after the founding of the university, and today the Department of Teacher Education educates teachers of both economics and business. The analysis of data collected with respect to the learning outcomes of pre- service and in-service teachers of economics and business is used to drive conclusions related to the quality of the programs and to identify positive experiences that can be shared in similar academic communities.

The meaning of fashion: A qualitative study with students in Romania

This article discusses the results of a focus-group-based qualitative study that was conducted with the students of two universities in Romania, with the aim to reveal their discourses regarding the meaning of fashion. The findings suggest that students define fashion through a complex semantic triangle of three inter-related concepts: fashion – style – being well-dressed. In this tripartite model, fashion receives mostly negative connotations compared with style, which is defined as a micro-level, personal take on fashion, i.e. it has agency, whereas fashion is defined as being at the macro-level and is accused of enforcing normativity and homogeneity. The meaning of being well-dressed refers mostly to dress codes and to the wearing of clothes that symbolize and signal social status, rather than to fashionable clothes. With such findings, it is possible to claim that the interviewees are ‘soft challengers’ of fashion: they are revolting against the normativity of fashion and seek to emphasize their agency when they put together an outfit. However, as much as possible, they try to respect the normative expectations of situational dress codes. When the three concepts were considered separately by the interviewees, each revealed several sub-dimensions/themes.

Engineers Changing the World: Education for Sustainability in Romanian Technical Universities—An Empirical Web-Based Content Analysis

Without a doubt, we are living in interesting times, characterized by both continuous economic development and improved standard of living, but also uncertainty, increased pollution, and environmental degradation, which means that, now, more than ever, global and consistent action is needed in order to create a more sustainable future. In this context, education in general and higher education in particular, face both, a significant challenge and a substantial role due to their formative function both in terms of mindset and practical tools. The main objective of our research was to explore the way technical universities in Romania have integrated into their curricula courses that aim at shaping sustainability competencies in engineering students. The study was carried out based on an exploratory empirical content analysis of the technical universities’ curricula, in order to identify the courses, including sustainable development (SD)-related topics. The analysis covered 255 bachelor programs and 394 master programs with a total of 25,920 courses, both mandatory and optional. The results revealed that there are differences in approaching sustainability education between the universities and also faculties within the universities included in the sample, revealing a rather siloed approach.