The quality and the lack of money represent two of the Romanian
challenges in the area of education, believes Cristian Aedo, Senior
Education Economist for Europe and Central Asia within the World Bank.
He told us in an interview that, in our country, four out of ten
employers questioned (i.e. 40%) think that the skills with which
youngsters exit the education system and enter the labor market
represent a constraint in carrying out the corporate operations.
The World Bank representative also specified that he noticed a
difference between Romanian pupils and those from OECD, "the first being
50 points under the average of the OECD states, at Mathematics, which
is equivalent to one study year": "Thus, we can say that 15 year old
pupils from Romanian schools are, in average, one year behind pupils of
the same age from OECD".
Compared to the Polish pupils, the Romanian pupils are one year
and a half behind, from the competences point of view, he has also
asserted.
B: What educational projects is the World Bank carrying out in our country?...
Cristian Aedo:
In Romania we have a long partnership history, with good results. In
the past, we had four projects on several educational segments, like
pre-academic education, higher education and research, education in the
rural environment. Currently, we are having discussions with the
government to support the authorities in implementing, as priority
areas, the high school education and the transition to university.
The Ministry of Education
has established as a priority to support the pupils in completing their
high school studies and succeeding at the baccalaureate, and to support
the students entering the first academic year with measures for
reducing drop-out and for continuing their studies.
We also have four projects of advisory services in Romania. We
support the government with knowhow in preparing strategies for
increasing the number of persons attending tertiary education, reducing
the early school leaving (in 1st-8th grades), as well as for lifelong
education (what happens after graduation and when the graduate already
entered the labor market, but also when adults need requalification).
These three strategies represent ex-ante conditionalities of the
European Commission for the absorption of structural funds allocated to
the "Education and competences" sector during the period 2014-2020.
The fourth project of advisory services is in the area of enhancing the administrative capacity of the Ministry of Education.
B: How is our country ranked compared to the other European states, in the area of education?
C.A.: Romania has regularly been a participant for several
years in an international assessment coordinated by OECD - Program for
International Student Assessment. There are many European countries that
are participants in this assessment - USA, several countries from Latin
America (Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay), India, China. The
program provides a benchmark, which can be used for assessing the
education level provided here, in Romania, compared to the Western
European countries.
The last two tests were carried out in 2009 and 2012, and the next
shall take place in 2015, as this assessment is carried out every three
years. The program is aimed at the assessment in the field of
mathematics, reading and sciences. It is not a test assessing students
in relation to a curriculum, they are assessed in terms of competences,
and to what extent the education acquired can be applied to everyday
needs. The pupils being assessed are 15 year old. The outcomes show a
difference between Romanian pupils and OECD pupils, the first being 50
points under the average of the OECD countries, at Mathematics, which is
equivalent to one study year. Thus, we can say that 15 year old pupils
from Romanian schools are, in average, one year behind pupils of the
same age from OECD.
Comparing the Romanian pupils with the Polish pupils, one can notice
that the Polish pupils excel in this test, being high above the average
of the OECD countries. Compared to the Polish pupils, the Romanian
pupils are one year and a half behind, from the competences point of
view.
B: What do you think is the cause of this situation?
C.A.: The Romanian challenges are similar to those of many
other countries. One of the topics often discussed with ministers - not
only the minister of Education, but also the minister of Finance and the
minister of Labor - is the discrepancy between the competencies with
which the Romanian pupils exit school and those required on the labor
market. In all the countries we work in, when questioning employers we
can notice this difference between the competences they would need and
those developed by the education system, caused for several reasons. In
Romania, four out of ten employers questioned, i.e. 40%, think that the
skills with which youngsters exit the education system and enter the
labor market represent a constraint in carrying out the corporate
operations. In a similar manner, like in other countries in the world,
this fact especially affects companies competing on the global market.
It is about the challenge to enhance not only the quality of the
competences that the educational system provides, but also their
relevance for the labor market. In other words, it should be increased
not only the level of competences, but also their relevance to the level
of the labor market.
B: How could we reduce this gap?
C.A.: Reducing this gap is the key challenge for your country.
Moreover, there are also problems regarding the differences between the
best pupils and the average, in Romania such difference reaching 100
points that is two years. There are inequities that need to be solved,
and the difference is related to socioeconomic characteristics, like the
incomes level, rural vs urban environment and other similar aspects.
Quality is an issue, when comparing Romania against Europe. Another
important issue is related to resources. In Romania, about 3.4% of GDP
is invested in education, compared to an average of more than 5% in the
EU.
We are aware of the fact that this aspect is a priority for Romania,
but our recommendations are not for a higher amount to be invested in
education, but for a wiser increase of such amount, trying to invest in
those areas with potential, which can achieve the results that Romanian
pupils really need.
Our advice was always for you to increase the education budget.
Another area where we can see a challenge is the equal opportunities.
We notice that there are disparities with regard to school attendance,
and to how many years of education the pupils follow.
B: How is education helping developing the economic environment?
C.A.: In general, education and human capital represent,
according to research, the key determinant of economic growth and
economic development, of a country's competitiveness. Education and
improvement of education allow you break the intergenerational
transmission of poverty. A valid reality in many countries is that
education boosts productivity, earnings and employment conditions,
especially for the bottom 40% of the population. For these reasons,
education is a priority for Romania, and for us also.
As regards Romania, in addition to what we have shown above, there
are two more specific issues: one is the ageing population, and the
other - emigration. There are certain estimates that the size of
population of working age shall decrease by 2050. In order to support
the economic growth and the country's competitiveness, the challenge
consists of increasing the productivity of this shrinking and ageing
population.
B: How is the labor market evolving?
C.A.: We are living in a dynamic world. Many countries show
changes between sectors, from agriculture towards services and other
industries, where the activities required by those working in these
areas are different from those in agriculture. Another trend we can
observe is that of the new technologies. Routine work, which can be
replaced by computers and technology, is becoming less searched for, in
the entire world, while activities involving complex thinking which
cannot be replaced by technology are those increasingly required. With
these changes, the profile of the required competences is also changing.
Within the World Bank, we made an exercise for the USA, to find out
which is the probability for a pupil, who enters first grade now, to
have in about 16 years - after 12 years of school and four years of
college - a job that exists now or demands the skills required nowadays.
The answer is 30%.
We are actually living in a continuous change, and in order to reduce
this gap more dynamism is required in the education institutions. This
means emphasizing the general activities - writing, reading,
calculating, but also certain personal skills - teamwork, communication,
complex thinking, compiling information and less the technical
competences, which means focusing on a single type of occupation. How
the education institutions are preparing youngsters for a different life
than the one we had in the past that is our current preoccupation. We
are preparing people that should be capable of changing their jobs,
while they need competences and knowledge that would allow them to carry
out such transition.
B: What educational projects does the World Bank have worldwide?
C.A.: We are working with many countries all over the world,
in various regions. In the area of education, we have 132 projects
currently under implementation, amounting to 11.6 billion dollars -
credits and loans.
On the loans side, we are working with countries like India, China,
Pakistan, Mexico, Argentina and, in the region that your country is part
of, with Bulgaria, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro. Among other things,
the Bank is also carrying out studies, analyzing higher education
systems and providing advisory services in the education sector. On this
segment, we are also working with other countries in the region, like
Latvia, Russia, Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Belarus, Cyprus etc.
and we have a large project portfolio in progress.
Romanian government has
recently approved a contract for a loan amounting to 200 million Euro
from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) to
finance a secondary education project. The project's objective is to
contribute to an improved transition from the secondary higher education
system to the tertiary education system and to increase the degree of
completion of the first year of higher education. Beneficiaries will be
all the high schools in the public education system with a low school
completion rate or high school final examination passing rate, as well
as universities from the public education system. The project will be
structured around three components and will be implemented in about
seven years, from November 2015 until December 2022.
* Romania - 1st place on nations at the International Mathematics
Olympiad for university students. The Romanian Olympic team ranked 1st
last year among the national teams at the International Mathematics
Olympiad for University Students - SEEMOUS 2014. A total of 99 students
from Bulgaria, Greece, Iran, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Turkmenistan and
Ukraine took part in the competition. Romania also won the "1st absolute
place", with the solution to the competition problems provided by the
student Eduard Valentin Curcă from "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of
Iasi.
* Romania - first place in the EU at the International Mathematics
Olympiad. In July 2014, the Romanian pupils earned six medals - one
gold medal and five silver medals - at the 55th edition of the
International Mathematics Olympiad, which took place in Cape Town (South
Africa). Following these results, Romania ranked 11th in the world and
first in the European Union. All of the six pupils of the Romanian team
won medals.
* OECD countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech
Republic, Chile, South Korea, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Ireland, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg,
Mexico, New Zeeland, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Great
Britain, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, United States of America, Sweden,
Turkey, Hungary.