The Minister of Education announces a series of major decisions taken for millions of students from all over the country following very important discussions that took place with the trade union federations in Romania, the first being that those college admission competitions should be done by the colleges as well, not only by the national ones.
The Minister of Education also says that at the national Baccalaureate exam, it was agreed that the Romanian language and literature should be separate tests for students, but also that the high schools will operate in compliance with the principle of assuming the sector, and the ministry will establish the criteria for the placement of the units in Romania.
"The legal possibility of organizing the own admission competition at the college level (not only at the level of national colleges), provided that this admission is organized immediately after taking the National Assessment exam, is a genuine additional chance for students to can be admitted to the desired colleges, being at the same time a unique opportunity for those colleges that want and undertake the selection in order to support the performance by initiating a significant number of excellence/specialization classes in the network of state pre-university education units.
Thus, the national evaluation will have the role of monitoring the education system, according to OECD recommendations. Students graduating from the 8th grade will take the National Assessment one week earlier, and the college admission competition will be held on the basis of school programs, after the national assessment exam, on the basis of topics developed "outside the educational unit" for the college entrance exam.
Regarding the national baccalaureate exam, it was agreed that the Romanian language and literature (including grammar) constitute a separate test within the national baccalaureate exam. The structure of the Romanian language test will allow the evaluation of specific skills, eliminating the emphasis on mechanical learning.
The promotion of the national baccalaureate exam will be conditional on obtaining an average of 6, based on the grades obtained in the Romanian language and literature test and in test A, which includes subjects from the common core (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, history, geography and social sciences -humans). The assumption of the high school level is appreciated as an opportune measure, able to support the increase in the quality of the education process and the professionalization of the human resource (an adapted professional profile of the teaching staff).
High school education units will operate in compliance with the principle of assuming the sector. The Ministry of Education establishes the criteria for classifying a high school education unit in one of the three streams: theoretical, vocational or professional, through a methodology approved by order of the minister."
