The British-Romanian University is a private institution, a member of the Romanian
National Education System. Its main objective is to form a Romanian professional
elite in professions highly demanded by the Romanian economy. In this respect,
we started the Business Administration Department. In our view, the Romanian
economy is short of good entrepreneurial managers, capable of taking responsibilities
in creating, starting and managing their own business. A too short capitalist history
and a too conservative higher education system are the key factors in this shortage of
good entrepreneurs. Other Romanian universities produce mainly middle managers. In the
socialist economy model, "corporate" managers were in fact middle managers, since the
whole country was a corporation. Thinking, creating strategies, working in a team,
taking responsibilities and business risks, having visions for the future were not
at all their concern. The socialist managers were very good in accomplishing just
what they were told to do. We strongly believe that this managerial type is unadapted
to the present economic environment, and this is an explanation for the poor performance
of many Romanian companies. So, the first task of our university is to train a different kind of managers.
Our university is a formative social environment, based on work and academic discipline.
The students are encouraged to participate in classes. We believe that distance learning,
Internet-based and other non- or remote-participative systems have a poor formative value.
The presence of our students in classrooms is automatically recorded, based on their personal
identity electronic card. Their participation in classes will be reflected automatically in
their grades, to ensure the minimum condition of the formative process: "in order to benefit
from a formative education system, you have to participate first".
Our university encourages students to work in teams and to develop communication abilities
by frequent practical exercises. In our view, the need for this approach is even more important
in Romania, where the tradition in education at all levels is based on individualism and competition.
Our university is committed to a high quality standard of education. The teaching process is
constantly audio- and video monitored, and the evaluation is constantly checked with statistic
instruments. Periodical reports written by education experts are also used to assess the quality
of the teaching process and to encourage improvements. Professors are selected by professional
criteria only, and their contract is renewed every semester. Another innovation in quality assurance
is the academic contract, a detailed, practical and complete written statement, clarifying all major
and minor aspects of the teaching process. Attractive salaries play a role in motivating the teaching staff.
One of our strategic objectives will be to prove that corruption is not unavoidable in a Romanian
university. Our duty will be to protect our students in the most delicate period of their
formation against this dangerous and vicious factor, which could distort their views and
ideals for life. Unfortunately, corruption has reached unprecedented levels in Romanian
universities, encouraged by the lowest salaries professors are “rewarded” with. The evaluation
process in our university was entirely designed to resist to the known methods of vicious evaluation,
arbitrary evaluation, and fraud.
In our university, there are two disciplines with a constant presence in all years of study:
English language and sports. Our curricula allot to these two disciplines the maximum number
of hours the Romanian standards allow. In both the present and the future economic environment,
the English language will play the main role in communication, especially in business. As for
the sports, our modern fitness training facilities will provide a strong motivation factor for
the students.
Our university has a pragmatic, hands-on and wide-spectrum approach, to the expense of a high
theoretical level and a narrow specialization, which are common in other Romanian universities.
Here, most disciplines overlap and there are disciplines integrating more other disciplines.
Since our students will have to face international competition in their future profession,
our university will invite professors from the UK and will participate in mobility programs
for students with universities from the UK. All these will help to accommodate the students
to the international environment, also facilitating improvements of their language skills.
Students are encouraged to distribute their study effort equally over the semester, as opposed
to the usual pre-examination “assault”. Students are trained in time management and planning
techniques. Also, the final grade in all disciplines is intended to reflect the final paper
result as well as the effort along the whole semester.
To put it simply, in the Romanian traditional educational model, memorizing precedes understanding,
whereas in the Western (British, American) model, understanding is the entrance key to memorize
notions. The Romanian model inhibits creativity, but it is invaluable when it comes to increasing
the capacity for intellectual effort. In the best interest of our students we thought that both
models should be tolerated and applied. This can be achieved naturally, since professors tend
to apply one or the other, depending on their position on the modern-traditional dimension.
In our attempt to better motivate the students and to make them conscious and responsible for
their own education, our professors are asked to show the relevance of each small or major
step in their teaching. In our view, before explaining a new notion it would be beneficial
for the student to know why is that notion needed, how, where and when is it used in practice,
and relevant examples.
(Principles extracted from the Charta of the British-Romanian University)
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