Radio România Internațional

Category: Society Today

The new academic year

October 1st, the day of the year when classes start in universities, is a time for novelty and a time for tallying up the past, especially since the University of Bucharest celebrates 150 years of existence. After 1989, higher education has also been provided by private institutions, in addition to the numerous state schools in the country. We spoke about higher education in Romania with Marian Staş, who teaches both at Harvard University and the University of Bucharest. We asked him if the level of quality in private and state-run universities is the same:

“The short answer is ‘no’, for at least two significant reasons. The University of Bucharest was founded 150 years ago, while private universities in Romania were only created 15 or 20 years ago. Secondly, there is a fear among the public that private schools are diploma-making factories, rather than schools where students learn. Also, there are reports that some students from private universities can actually pay to pass their exams and get their diplomas. On the other hand, this also happens in state universities. There are, however, good teachers and students in private schools, as well. If we look at figures, private education accounts for 3 to 5% of the entire education system in Romania, which is very low.”

As for the novelties introduced this year, the government issued an emergency executive order operating changes in the Law of Education. For example, if so far doctoral programmes implied full-time attendance, from now on they only require part-time attendance. Another change refers to the creation of tertiary colleges in universities. These provide courses for high school graduates who have failed their baccalaureate exams. This also allowing those who are university material to train for some other type of post-high school education. In recent year, only 40 to 50% of high school students passed their baccalaureate exam, which is a condition for going to university. Marian Stas explains:

“When in 2011 less than 50% of high school students passed the baccalaureate, that drastically reduced the pool of potential university students. Along the years, universities have prepared to take in more and more students, and suddenly there were too few. Another problem for universities is the quality of high school education. Young people who finish high school and pass the baccalaureate exam not always have the level of training required by universities.”

We asked Marian Stas if, in his opinion, these post-high school colleges will address the problem:

“It is definitely not a bad idea to have university teachers train these children. While it’s a good thing to have people who are willing to do this, this is not the purpose of a university. Universities should be focused on abstraction and intellectual constructs, not teaching practical skills, which should be taught by post-high school education. I’m curious to see the first generation of young people trained by these tertiary colleges and how they will cope with being at university. I am sounding the alarm here, because the framework methodology is insufficiently detailed and leaves room for arbitrary interpretation. Thus, young people who are not sufficiently trained may be facilitated access to universities.”

Young people wishing to enlist for these colleges may do so as of this year, as the government has asked universities to put together lists of degrees and curricula by October 20th. So far, several state and private universities have announced their availability for setting up such colleges. However, you will not find among them the most prestigious schools, such as the University of Bucharest, the University of Cluj, the University of Iasi and the Bucharest Technical University.

1 October 2014
Emergency medical assistance in Romania

Romania is among Europe’s only five countries where emergency medicine is taught as a separate discipline at medical school. In addition, Romania has implemented a national programme to provide emergency wards and ambulances with the appropriate equipment, which has created a good standard in medical practice.

One of the problems highlighted by the participants in the Congress is that few emergency hospitals in this country provide all types of emergency services and patients often have to travel from one hospital to another to receive needed emergency care.

One piece of good news is that, starting this autumn, the Ministry of Health will earmark additional funds to ambulance services through a budget adjustment. The money will be used to hire and promote staff and invest in infrastructure and maintenance of the ambulance fleet.

Moreover, the Ministry of Health has approved 160 new jobs in ambulance services and the employment process is likely to continue. Alexandra Tanase, a volunteer who has been working in the ambulance department for two years has shared with us her experience:

”The situation has improved in time in the sense that the people who coordinate the activity of volunteers have done their best to make our jobs more comfortable so that we can concentrate on our tasks. The ambulance service has three types of vehicles, one for patient transport only, another containing a paramedic and a volunteer and a third type with specialised medical staff. This last type of ambulance responds to serious cases, such as heart attacks, while the second type of ambulance takes easier cases.”

We also asked Alexandra Tanase what is the protocol the ambulance crew follow when deciding where to take patients:

”We have radio communication with a centralised coordinator and, depending on the patient’s condition, we ask for guidance as to what hospital to take our patient. In other cases we take them to the nearest hospital. I once had a patient suffering decompensation, and instead of taking him to the hospital we were supposed to take him, we decided to take him to the nearest hospital, for his own safety. “

Alexandra tells us that while there is a large number of emergency calls, patients will have access to the services they need, even if they sometimes have to wait longer. But what can be improved when it comes to emergency medical response in the opinion of Alexandra Tanase:

“We need better equipment on ambulances, a larger number of ambulance vehicles and more staff on ambulances, an area where we clearly have a problem. I think we should also encourage ordinary people to become more involved, as it is very important how people witnessing an accident, for example, react as soon as the accident occurs. A programme is run at the moment in Romania entitled “There’s a hero in each of us”, making people aware that they can also help by doing the right thing in the early minutes after an accident occurs, because these are crucial minutes in a patient’s life”.

In terms of equipment, the medical emergency service has seen real improvement in recent years. The County Emergency Hospital in the northern town of Suceava, for example, will soon be provided with a new CT scanner funded by the Health Ministry and the County Council. In another example, the old ambulance car fleet from 2007 of the Braila County Ambulance Service has been renewed following the purchase of three new vehicles by the Health Ministry. Officials say the improvement of the emergency care system will continue.

24 September 2014
Art Education in Romanian Schools

15 September is back to school day in pre-university Romania, the end of summer vacation. For the 3.2 million students starting class once again, this year has surprises, some pleasant, some not so pleasant. Second graders got one of the latter, as they found themselves without textbooks. The reason for that is that some publishing houses who bid on having their textbooks on the curriculum have filed complaints with the national authority in charge, claiming irregularities, which resulted in the authority organizing a new bid for textbooks, both printed and digital.

The good news is that new subjects have been introduced. Primary school students can choose an optional course in architecture and man-made environments, while students in music high schools have an option for a course in jazz history. A pleasant surprise is brought to students by Radio Romania Music Channel, which signed a protocol with the Ministry of Education as part of a project called ‘5 Minutes of Classical Music Listening’. This program will become a national school program starting this year. Cristina Comandasu, editor-in-chief at the national music channel, explained the project:

“The initiative appeared in 2010, and our channel has been preparing this since then. It has been around since that year as a biannual event, organized in unconventional spaces where a large audience could gather, but unusual for classical music: hypermarkets, malls, company headquarters. However, our main goal was to make this kind of music available to young Romanians.”

Thanks to the partnership with the Ministry of Education, audio files with the five minutes of music can be sent through the Internet to all schools in the country, and would be available to any class, not just music class. Here is Cristina Comandasu with the details:

“These music pieces become teaching aids in music class, but can be used in others as musical background for other activities, such as in arts. Through a centralized system we are sending to key persons, usually inspectors, these audio files. They, in turn, send them to schools, and this is how we make sure the program is implemented nationally. This is a unique package. The same exact pieces, 31 of them, can also be heard in public spaces. They are works in all music styles, from Baroque to modern, what we refer to as the greatest hits of classical music. We wanted to bring to the fore these perennial value, familiarizing children with them so that they can take the next step towards less accessible things.”

Mihai Iacob, a researcher with the Educational Sciences Institute, said that even more artistic areas can produce works that can be used in a non-conformist ways in regular class:

“The arts can be used in technology education or history, absolutely any class, because it stimulates children. Class becomes more dynamic, it is not limited to a teacher who recites the lesson. After that, by exposing them to art, we allow children access to a larger range of things.”

Art can be used in a variety of areas besides class. Through it, children can build social skills, overcoming emotional barriers, as shown by projects that Mihai Iacob attended in underprivileged communities:

“We collaborated with artists who went to underprivileged communities to work with children there. We had such projects in Azuga, in Contesti village in Teleorman, where we worked with one contemporary and one traditional dance choreographer. This summer we organized an icon painting camp near Brasov. Art is a very potent tool for motivation, for putting to work children’s energy, but it has to be part of a process. Children have to digest the artistic experience.”

Considering all these advantages, is art present enough in schools? Raluca Pop, Manager of the MetruCub Cultural Resources association, gave us an empirical answer:

“It is insufficient, but I would like to point out one thing. I provide interface with organizations and artists who work with schools, and that is why I am able to notice a huge difference between urban and rural. A lot of our innovative activities, especially when working with artists and artist organizations, are polarized in urban areas, leaving a void in the countryside. This happens both for financial reasons, and because NGOs are generally concentrated in cities.”

Irrespective of the place where the experience occurs, it is stronger as the students get more involved. Raluca Pop:

“What I think works at this time, and maybe more should be done, are partnerships between organizations and schools, but they should be outside school. Also, gymnasiums can be used for this purpose better. It is a big difference between the impact that art has on children when it is consumed passively, when they go to a show or visit a museum, and when they are involved directly. The greatest impact appears when the child practices art: they learn an instrument, they are in a dance troupe, or act in a play.”

Right now, the Educational Sciences Institute of Bucharest is running a study to get more exact data on art in schools, as well as for finding out the wishes of students, parents and teachers regarding this aspect.

17 September 2014
Unconventional Terapies for Disabled Children

Helped by their parents in their first years of life, children suffering from various deficiencies or disorders will have to acquire the skills enabling them to be self-reliant and make a living at a certain point. That is why various associations initiate activities and courses to help them. That is the case of “The Raluca Education Centre” based in Cluj, central Romania, which aims to aid youngsters with the Down syndrome. The Centre was established by Adriana Avram and her husband, who decided to help those youngsters and at the same time their own daughter, Raluca. Her mother says that after she finished school, Raluca was left outside society because she could not get any job.

Adriana Avram: “We started carrying out professional activities in the spring of 2013, when we laid out a half professional kitchen whose inauguration was attended by the first winner of the Master Chef Romania contest. Then I saw that those youngsters were very good at cooking; actually they cooked with him. On that occasion, we thought to give up the sandwich brought from home and cook lunch as part of the association. Since then, two young people have been on duty in the kitchen.”

In addition to cooking, the young people from the Raluca Education Centre like painting, making floral designs and festive ornaments. The skills they aim to acquire will be in similar areas. Adriana Avram:

Adriana Avram: “This year, we’ve held a course for flower landscape painters, which gives the trainees a diploma that is recognized. We’re now running courses for commercial workers but the naked truth is that they have slim chances to get a job. That is due to the fact that the potential of people with the Down syndrome is unknown. We have decided to open a protected unit this year, where all people who are members of our center can work. Moreover, we’re thinking to do something in the food sector. I don’t know yet what that “something” is going to be because we have to cope with a lot of prejudices and a great deal of reticence.”

The one place where young people with the Down syndrome were given a warm welcome is a pizza restaurant in Cluj, where one of the young people from the Raluca Education Centre is doing practical training.

Better known abroad than in Romania, dyslexia is a developmental learning disorder that is difficult to identify in a child’s first years of school. Consequently, children with a normal IQ can have reading and writing difficulties. Sometimes, they can have difficulty in acquiring mathematical notions, which translates as miscalculation. For such children and their parents, the company OMV Romania organized the first camp for developing the personality and creativity of dyslexic children in Romania, with the support of the Romanian Association for Dyslexic Children of Targu Mures, a city in central Romania. The camp is part of the company’s social program “Move and Jump”, whose motto is “Move on with reading”, the first programme on dyslexia in Romania.

Actress Angela Ioan, founder of the “Bucharest Association for Dyslexic Children” and mother of a dyslexic girl, explains the structure of the camp:

Angela Ioan: “The camp has two sections. The first section included children up to 10 years of age and a group of older children who also had learning difficulties, but who overcame it to a great extent. My 15-year old daughter was also part of the group, together with a 17-year-old girl and a young woman, who was suffering from dyslexia and is now a psychologist. The second section of the camp includes older children. The exercises and activities carried out in the camp focus on knowledge and self-knowledge and aim to establish relationships between parents and children. A lot of work was put into providing cohesion between parents, between children, and then between children and parents. In the end it was a camp for dyslexic children. Parents had the revelation of seeing that, school problems aside, their children are extraordinary.”

Proof of that quality is that dyslexic children tend to have strong artistic inclinations, which can only be developed by cultivating their self-confidence and trust from parents.

Angela Ioan: “The main topic that emerged from our discussions and activities was trust. We saw that we are lacking in this quality, that we came to the camp with too little trust in our ability to help our children with this, even though we knew in theory that they can be exceptional. Also, some of the children lacked self-confidence, but have realized, by coming into contact with children like them, that their problem had solutions. They gained self-confidence, just as we, the parents, overcame our lack of confidence, leaving this place with positive feelings. “

Therefore, with a lot of trust in the children’s abilities, society can make room for these young people who, like any other young person, only need a bit of encouragement.

10 September 2014
Risks for mothers and children in Romania

The well-being of mothers and children in a given state is not only an indicator of economic growth, but also of the efficiency of social policies. Unfortunately, in Romania this indicator is rather poor, according to an international survey launched by the “Save the Children” Organisation. Conducted on an annual basis for the last 15 years, the survey includes a study on Romania, for which data provided by the National Statistics Institute were contrasted with information from Europe-wide mother and child health research. Adina Clapa, a member of “Save the Children” Romania, gives us details, based on official 2012 data:

Adina Clapa: “The survey covers 178 countries. We realized that, once again, in terms of the best countries to raise your children in, topping the standings are the Nordic states, with Finland ranking first. Romania is once again, for the 15th time, the last in the EU and 65th in the world. Romania has the highest infant mortality rate, nine per thousand, which is almost double the European average of 4.3 per thousand. The absolute figure is nearly 1,812 deaths among children less than one year of age. This is disquieting and shameful. Premature birth is the main cause, followed by breathing or digestive disorders and household accidents. The conclusion is that one-third of these deaths can be prevented.”

Besides poverty, one of the causes of the problems facing women and children in Romania is the level of education and information of mothers to be. Many of them do not see a doctor for regular check-ups and after birth they do not have their babies seen by doctors either. The situation has not improved lately, as shown by another study made by “Save the Children”. Ciprian Porumbaru, a member of the foundation, explains:

Ciprian Porumbaru: “The study was conducted in all the 28 EU Member States, and also in Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. We saw that 28% of the children, including young people up to 18, are threatened by poverty and social exclusion. This happens against the backdrop of a deep gap between rich and poor, as the study has also revealed. On the other hand, the percentage in Romania is significantly higher, almost double, as 52% of the children are in this situation. We actually share the first position with Bulgaria. Another element highlighted by the study, which is very important in Romania’s case, is that although household work is at the highest levels in Europe, still many children live in poverty. Another important conclusion is that in Romania poverty particularly affects children, whose social exclusion risk rate is 13% more than among grown-ups.“

Given that Romanians work harder and more hours than other peoples, why is the poverty risk higher? A possible answer could be the lower salaries they get. Ciprian Gradinaru also attempts an answer:

Ciprian Gradinaru: “The labour intensity indicator measures how many members of a household are employed. In Romania more members of a household need to work for the family to be able to survive. And so we reach the sensitive issue of child exploitation through labour. A large number of children from Romania are active economically, and not only in the rural areas. That is why, even if the labour intensity index is high in Romania, this does not entail a lower poverty level.”

Another NGO, World Vision, has approached the degree of children’s involvement in supporting the household. Here is Daniela Buzducea, advocacy director with World Vision Romania:

Daniela Buzducea: “We were glad to note that Romania’s economic growth last year, which was reported as significant, albeit somewhat surprising, was also reflected in a general increase in living standards. There was a drop from 75 to 66% in the number of families who say they find it difficult to cover their daily needs. What is however worrying and sad is the fact that this increase in living standards is not reflected in children’s case. For example, the number of children who say they go to bed hungry has grown by 2%, as has the number of children who say they have to work and sometimes miss school because of this. This refers to work performed in their own households or for their neighbours for more than 2 hours per day.”

Poverty and the fact that children have to work also explain the high dropout rates. European funds may be a solution, provided they are spent wisely and efficiently. Another solution may be an inter-institutional collaboration between the education system, the social protection system and local authorities, to create a stronger feeling of solidarity and community that could prevent school dropout.

3 September 2014
Organ transplantation in Romania

400 transplants were carried out last year alone, including 275 kidney, 122 liver and a heart transplant. The liver transplant seems to be the most difficult of all transplants. Most of these organs come from brain-dead people, but in some cases the donor can be a family member. Over 400 people are on the waiting list for a liver transplant and last year saw the highest number of donors, which made possible the largest number of transplants.

Irinel Popescu, the head of the Hepatic Transplant and Surgery Centre with the Fundeni Hospital and the man who performed the first hepatic transplant in Romania, explains:

“2013 was a very special year in terms of donors, it was more of a leap rather than a progressive evolution. The number of hepatic transplants went from 75 in 2012 to 122 in 2013, which is absolutely remarkable. We’d like to have the same number of transplants this year as well. We’ve so far performed 41 hepatic transplants here at Fundeni Hospital and hope to equal or even slightly exceed last year’s figures. Another accomplishment is the opening of a second transplant centre at St. Mary’s Hospital, and they have already performed three operations there. At the same time we were pleased to help our colleagues in Chisinau, the Republic of Moldova, with livers coming from live donors or from brain-dead patients. I’d like to introduce to Romania other types of transplant. No lung or small intestine transplants have been performed in Romania so far and I hope these will become possible in the future as well.”

Almost two million Romanians are suffering from hepatitis, which, if not treated, can lead to cirrhosis and hepatic cancer. The first successful hepatic transplants were performed at the Fundeni Hospital in Bucharest in 2000.

“I was suffering from cirrhosis and needed a transplant, but no successful hepatic transplants had been performed in Romania before. But in March 2000 I was operated on by doctor Popescu and now 14 years on from my operation I feel very good, no more health problems.”

“I am 64 years old and feel good without any health problems. I was also suffering from cirrhosis, a terminal illness. I got in touch with the transplant centre in Bucharest. I didn’t know at that time I could get a transplant in Romania and I was considering a trip abroad. However, professor Popescu assured me that Romania offered transplant conditions like any other country. There weren’t many on the waiting list at that time, but there were no donors either. They eventually got a donor, called me and I got the operation.”

After a break of more than two years, heart transplants have resumed in Targu Mures, western Romania, and at the Floreasca Emergency Hospital in Bucharest. Since the first heart transplant in Romania in 1999, the doctors in Targu Mures have managed to perform an average of 10 transplants per year.

At present more than 3,600 people are on the waiting lists for various transplants, while the money allotted for these types of surgery only amounts to a fifth of the needed funds. A new budget adjustment is expected this summer in the healthcare sector, but doctors argue that the personnel involved in organ transplantation are still underpaid. Here is professor Mihai Lucan, PhD, head of the kidney transplant centre in Cluj with more on this issue:

“Romania has made huge steps in this direction although we are geographically positioned in an area where we need to approach the issue in a different manner. Last year we saw huge progress in this field as we had a higher rate of donations from people who were brain-dead, which even exceeded the rate recorded in more developed countries. There is still room for improvement, we can do it better and we can do more. “

The Transplant and Urology Centre in Cluj, western Romania, started pancreas transplantation in 2006 and the doctors here have so far succeeded in transplanting 11 organs. Mihai Lucan explains:

“We didn’t quite start off on the right foot as this is a very sensitive area where a lot of complications are likely to appear. We even had to perform post-operative surgery in almost all of the 11 cases, all of which were successful in the end. This year we have benefited from assistance from our colleagues in Italy and Austria and have obtained spectacular results. We perform double transplant, kidney and pancreas, and we have 30 patients on the waiting list.”

At present Romania has 40 organ harvesting centres and there are about 20 to 25 donors per one million people in Europe every year. There are countries like Spain where there are 40 donors but Romania is far behind with 4 donors per one million people. In order to be among the countries with a high number of transplants we should have 300 donors a year, and that’s very difficult with only one liver transplant centre in Fundeni, three kidney transplant centres in Bucharest, Cluj Napoca and Iasi and two centres specialising in heart transplant in Targu-Mures.

27 August 2014
Chess in School

Starting with the 2014-2015 school year, chess becomes an optional subject in Romanian school curricula. As per the order issued by Education Minister Remus Pricopie, the subject will be called “Education through chess”, and will be taught in primary school. Therefore, schools in Romania will be able to introduce this optional course, covering a period of two years, for 1st to 4th graders. Here is Education Minister Remus Pricopie talking about the benefits of this decision.

“ There will be many benefits, and I can talk about them both as a teacher and as a parent to a child that plays chess. First of all, it enhances one’s ability to focus and teaches them how to be patient. You are supposed to sit 3, 4 even 5 hours in front of a chess board and face your opponent, and you have to be able to manage that. Then, it’s about team spirit. Those who do not play chess may think this is an individual game, but it’s not. The team is extremely important, from preparation to competition, and I believe this is extraordinary for the children who want to play chess. Research has also shown that chess improves school performance in general.”

Vladimir Danilov is General Secretary of the Romanian Chess Federation and trained as a chess player in Iasi, north-eastern Romania, which is an example of best practices with regard to introducing chess in school.

“Chess was introduced in schools in 1986, though not necessarily as a subject on the curriculum. It was then that the first chess class was set up. After 1990, chess has been introduced in all schools and kindergartens, usually in the after-school system. There are some 3 thousand pupils in Iasi who play chess. Some of them have become professional players, and also became winners of Olympiads in other subjects. In 2000, chess became an official subject at the Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu school, in various forms: “Computer Chess”, “Chess and Math”, depending on the specialization of the chess teacher. So there are 600 children in primary school who have chess classes every week, between one and four hours.”

According to a protocol signed recently between the Ministry of National Education and the Romanian Chess Federation, the next stage is to decide which will be the schools where chess gets taught, and who will be the teachers. Here is Minister Remus Pricopie again:

“ The first problem that we must solve is to find the right teachers. As chess has not been part of school curricula for long, obviously we did not have teachers trained to do that. Under this agreement with the Chess Federation, any teacher will be able to teach chess, provided they get a certificate from the Chess Federation. Therefore, the teaching module is covered by the initial training of the teacher, irrespective of the subject the teacher specializes in — mathematics, biology, chemistry, etc. — and the chess component is assured and certified by the National Chess Federation. This is how we can start the project, and, obviously, in the coming years we will focus on training teachers specializing in chess. The second very important thing is the equipment needed for 500 schools, in order to make teaching chess possible. We are talking about a set of 10 chess games, a demonstration table, manuals, and a teacher’s guide. The decision we made together with the Chess Federation is that these 500 sets should benefit schools in the rural areas, because town and city schools usually have sports clubs.”

Stefan is a high-school student and plays professional chess, but he is also very good at mathematics. His achievements confirm the positive effects of chess playing:

“ Chess helps the development of the brain and helps us think in a certain way. It’s helpful not only in school, but also in every-day life. We learn how to make choices and how to be more self-confident.”

Here is now Victor, another high-school student, winner of medals at national chess championships, but also of awards at other school Olympiads.

“What matters most in a math or IT competition is how you manage to control your emotions. I myself got very good results at national math competitions as well.”

Lucian Vasilescu is a physician with a hospital in Bucharest, and when he has the time, he participates in chess tournaments. Here he is, talking about how chess has influenced his school performance, and also his career.

“ I started playing chess when I was in the first grade, and chess has been pure pleasure to me ever since, all throughout grade school, high-school, university, and also now. At a certain point in time I used to play chess at a very high level, as a professional. Obviously, that helped me develop certain skills, such as perseverance, tenacity, the desire to win, but also team work. I’ve been to many competitions, hosted by beautiful places both in the country and across the world. The fact that at the age of 50 I can still play against some of the best players in Romania means a lot to me. So, I can say I am looking forward to retiring, in order to be able to dedicate more time to chess.”

20 August 2014
Alcohol Consumption in Romania

Romania holds a top position in Europe in terms of alcohol abuse. There is no precise profile of an alcohol consumer, but experts claim that the genetic factor plays an important role. People with first-degree relatives with problems in alcohol consumption present a high risk of developing themselves an addiction. According to data provided by the Alliance for the Fight Against Alcoholism and Drug Addiction, Romanians consume around 9 liters of pure alcohol per capita annually. At the same time, the World Health Organization warns of a trend towards an increase in alcohol consumption in teenagers and young people worldwide. However, the Romanian authorities have a solid program of preventing consumption and of recovery for people with alcohol addiction, as Dan Prelipceanu, a psychiatrist and honorary president of the Alliance, believes:

“This is a big, unresolved problem in Romania, and also in Europe. There is a huge lack of interest, and has been for a long time, on the side of society and the authorities towards this alcohol problem, which is extremely significant in terms of social costs. We are talking of tens of billions of Euros that go towards alcohol consumption related expenses. We are talking about direct costs, in terms of medical complications, in all areas of medicine, but also indirect costs such as premature deaths, retirements, years lost without a point, or traumas incurred by minors in alcoholic families, or domestic violence.”

As for the myth that one glass of wine a day is good for your health, experts claim that this protective effect is real only in the case of people who don’t smoke. Statistics show that Romania has around 2 million people who consume alcohol in excess, and that 70% of family violence and around 50% of murders are caused by alcohol. More to the point, seven other people suffer because of an alcoholic. World Health Organization data indicate that alcohol kills more people than AIDS and TB put together. Around 100 Romanians die every year because of alcohol. Dan Prelipceanu:

“This exists in all countries, and in Romania it is much worse. Alcohol is a legal drug, and it is a very good opportunity to develop huge businesses. Such is the culture we live in.”

In order to cater to people with alcohol problems, the Alliance for the Fight Against Alcoholism and Drug Addiction, a professional association founded in 1993, opened three years ago two centers for integrated treatment in Bucharest and Targoviste. This is the first free program for treatment of alcohol addiction developed in Romania, with European financing. In these three years, no less than 1,200 patients got the benefit of the services offered by the Alliance experts, most of them between 25 and 54 years of age. 66% of the beneficiaries of the two centers have secondary or higher education, and 42% of them had a job when they took advantage of the free services offered by the association. Alliance experts, in their 20 years of activity, have been striving to offer treatment for people who have to control their alcohol or drug consumption. Here is Dr. Gabriela Bondoc, medical director for the Alliance:

VF: “In its 20 years of activity, the Alliance offered treatment for various conditions related to substance abuse for 18,300 people. We focused on all possible areas of intervention in terms of alcohol consumption, because we are the biggest organization dealing with alcohol problems. We have been running activities from primary prevention to going to schools, warning of the consequences of alcohol consumption for young people, down to the secondary and tertiary prevention activities. Also, the Alliance brought to Romania specialty books dealing with this alcohol problem, and we have trained over 800 experts in this area.”

Adrian Mihai is 40, and is one of the beneficiaries of the services offered by the Alliance. Although he works in a supermarket arranging alcohol bottles on shelves, he hasn’t touched a drop in eight months. He started drinking when he fulfilled the mandatory military service, then he continued out of habit. He used to not come home for days on end, and his wife kept telling him to go to the doctor to get treatment. He realized he had a health problem when he got to drinking 7 liters of beer daily:

“I used to waste days and nights on end consuming alcohol. Work capacity was reduced. I had arguments with the family and money was thrown out the window. The family pushed me to try to give up alcohol consumption. There were trials, periods of 2 to 3 months. I even went to private centers where a lot of money was spent on my treatment, but with no result. I was lucky to meet this Alliance team, which opened my eyes. I can say I was reborn.”

Adrian Mihu is one of the 1,200 patients who got the benefit of the free treatment offered by the alliance, which starting in December 2013 were left without European financing. This means that patients will have to dole out cash for treatment. Treatment costs 6,720 lei for three months. A recent study shows that last year hospitals spent no less than 25 million lei on treating alcoholics in emergency and admission wards.

13 August 2014
Alcohol Consumption in Romania

Romania holds a top position in Europe in terms of alcohol abuse. There is no precise profile of an alcohol consumer, but experts claim that the genetic factor plays an important role. People with first-degree relatives with problems in alcohol consumption present a high risk of developing themselves an addiction. According to data provided by the Alliance for the Fight Against Alcoholism and Drug Addiction, Romanians consume around 9 liters of pure alcohol per capita annually. At the same time, the World Health Organization warns of a trend towards an increase in alcohol consumption in teenagers and young people worldwide. However, the Romanian authorities have a solid program of preventing consumption and of recovery for people with alcohol addiction, as Dan Prelipceanu, a psychiatrist and honorary president of the Alliance, believes:

“This is a big, unresolved problem in Romania, and also in Europe. There is a huge lack of interest, and has been for a long time, on the side of society and the authorities towards this alcohol problem, which is extremely significant in terms of social costs. We are talking of tens of billions of Euros that go towards alcohol consumption related expenses. We are talking about direct costs, in terms of medical complications, in all areas of medicine, but also indirect costs such as premature deaths, retirements, years lost without a point, or traumas incurred by minors in alcoholic families, or domestic violence.”

As for the myth that one glass of wine a day is good for your health, experts claim that this protective effect is real only in the case of people who don’t smoke. Statistics show that Romania has around 2 million people who consume alcohol in excess, and that 70% of family violence and around 50% of murders are caused by alcohol. More to the point, seven other people suffer because of an alcoholic. World Health Organization data indicate that alcohol kills more people than AIDS and TB put together. Around 100 Romanians die every year because of alcohol. Dan Prelipceanu:

“This exists in all countries, and in Romania it is much worse. Alcohol is a legal drug, and it is a very good opportunity to develop huge businesses. Such is the culture we live in.”

In order to cater to people with alcohol problems, the Alliance for the Fight Against Alcoholism and Drug Addiction, a professional association founded in 1993, opened three years ago two centers for integrated treatment in Bucharest and Targoviste. This is the first free program for treatment of alcohol addiction developed in Romania, with European financing. In these three years, no less than 1,200 patients got the benefit of the services offered by the Alliance experts, most of them between 25 and 54 years of age. 66% of the beneficiaries of the two centers have secondary or higher education, and 42% of them had a job when they took advantage of the free services offered by the association. Alliance experts, in their 20 years of activity, have been striving to offer treatment for people who have to control their alcohol or drug consumption. Here is Dr. Gabriela Bondoc, medical director for the Alliance:

VF: “In its 20 years of activity, the Alliance offered treatment for various conditions related to substance abuse for 18,300 people. We focused on all possible areas of intervention in terms of alcohol consumption, because we are the biggest organization dealing with alcohol problems. We have been running activities from primary prevention to going to schools, warning of the consequences of alcohol consumption for young people, down to the secondary and tertiary prevention activities. Also, the Alliance brought to Romania specialty books dealing with this alcohol problem, and we have trained over 800 experts in this area.”

Adrian Mihai is 40, and is one of the beneficiaries of the services offered by the Alliance. Although he works in a supermarket arranging alcohol bottles on shelves, he hasn’t touched a drop in eight months. He started drinking when he fulfilled the mandatory military service, then he continued out of habit. He used to not come home for days on end, and his wife kept telling him to go to the doctor to get treatment. He realized he had a health problem when he got to drinking 7 liters of beer daily:

“I used to waste days and nights on end consuming alcohol. Work capacity was reduced. I had arguments with the family and money was thrown out the window. The family pushed me to try to give up alcohol consumption. There were trials, periods of 2 to 3 months. I even went to private centers where a lot of money was spent on my treatment, but with no result. I was lucky to meet this Alliance team, which opened my eyes. I can say I was reborn.”

Adrian Mihu is one of the 1,200 patients who got the benefit of the free treatment offered by the alliance, which starting in December 2013 were left without European financing. This means that patients will have to dole out cash for treatment. Treatment costs 6,720 lei for three months. A recent study shows that last year hospitals spent no less than 25 million lei on treating alcoholics in emergency and admission wards.

13 August 2014
Hippotherapy

In 1964, the American psychiatrist Boris Levinson initiated a new trend in the treatment of people with disabilities as the founder of animal-assisted therapy using dolphins, fish, parrots, horses, as well as cats and dogs.

Research has shown, for example, that dogs are very good at anticipating epileptic seizures, talking parrots help ease cardiac pain, while cats help reduce blood pressure and reduce anxiety, depression and even schizophrenia. Dolphins are very good at communicating with autistic children, horses help people restore their psychological balance, and fish swimming in a fish tank are very relaxing to watch. The goal of animal-assisted therapy is to help people with disabilities develop their emotional abilities and achieve social integration.

Certain research has also shown that people who are affectionate to dogs and children are equally affectionate to people. In Romania, this unconventional form of therapy has only recently started to be used, in particular for the rehabilitation of people in detention centres and children with disabilities.

Lilica Fratiman is a paediatrician and head of department at the Constanta County Hospital, as well as the dean of the Andrei Saguna Faculty of Psychology in Constanta. She told us more about a form of animal-assisted therapy which involves horses, known as hippotherapy:

“Hippotherapy is useful in many respects. It helps treat people with social adjustment issues and people with physical health problems, such as neuromotor and psychomotor impairments and children with brain paralysis or Down syndrome. In Romania, hippotherapy was first used in the treatment of children suffering from various forms of autism before being later extended to the treatment of other ailments and diseases. We know very well that the problem with autistic children is that they do not live in our world, but in a world of their own. They are not necessarily ill, but make sense of the world around them in a different way. Horses, with their natural protective instincts and soothing cadence, bring these children closer to our reality, helping them become more anchored in this reality. On horseback, these children are calmed by the horse’s movement and pace. Children can thus learn new movements and new words and this means huge progress in the development of a child with autism. It’s the same with other diseases, be they genetic, degenerative or caused by birth hypoxia.”

Scientific studies conducted have confirmed the positive effects a pet can have on a person who is either lonely or ill, or on children suffering from various diseases. It has been proven that animals can improve a person’s psychological condition and communication skills and can boost self-confidence.

While cat and dog-assisted therapy is relatively more common and also fairly accessible, the same is not true of hippotherapy, which appears to be an exclusive form of therapy.

However, many rehabilitation centres in Romania are promoting hippotherapy. In the beginning, this type of therapy could only be used in good weather, mainly from spring to autumn, but today, these centres have indoor riding areas so children can benefit from this type of therapy all year long.

Horses can also be used to treat severe autism. By contact with the horse’s body, autistic patients discover their own bodies and start distinguishing between their world, which to them used the be the only existing universe, and the outside world. Lilica Fratiman told us how effective this form of therapy is:

“Results vary depending on how complicated the case is and the type of ailment we are treating. I’ve seen people with autism who have changed their behaviour from one day to another. They usually come screaming and refusing any contact with reality and the people around them, but after only 30 minutes of horse riding I see them smile. Concrete results can only be seen after several weeks of therapy, with two or three sessions per week.”

One session of hippotherapy lasts between 30 minutes and one hour, depending on the condition of the patients and their wish to collaborate. Associations working in this field are trying to introduce hippotherapy as adjuvant therapy in psychotherapy and make it part of the national psychotherapy system.

6 August 2014
Controversies around religious education in Romanian schools

Taught in Romanian schools throughout the undergraduate years, religion as a school subject has come under criticism from both some of the parents and part of civil society, on grounds of the freedom of religious belief. There are parents who do not want their children to take religion classes because they belong to a different religion than that being taught in schools, or because they do not hold religious beliefs or simply because they think certain parts of the textbooks may have a negative impact on their children.

Many parents, however, are not sure whether the law allows them to withdraw their children from religious education lessons or how this can be done. The Romanian Secular-Humanist Association has launched a campaign to clarify these aspects. Romanian law allows parents to withdraw children from the religious education classes. But do schools provide an alternative? Can these children take other classes instead, or at least spend that hour in a supervised environment? Here is the executive manager of the association, Monica Belitoiu, with some answers to these questions:

“Many parents were surprised to find out that they may withdraw their children from religious education classes. Those who chose to do so were generally people who belonged to a different religion or who disagreed with how the subject was taught. At the start of every school year, we went to several schools and ran information campaigns about this particular law. Some school principals agree with us, others claim we don’t understand the law. There are also school principals who say they cannot allow children not to attend religion classes when they are scheduled in between other classes simply because there are no spare classrooms where these children can wait for their next class. Some parents have special arrangements with the school, and their children can spend this time either at the school library or in after-school.”

Meanwhile, teachers and representatives of school inspectorates have recognised children’s right not to take religious education classes, although under the education law this is not an optional subject. Mihaela Ghitiu teaches religious education at the Ion Neculce National College in Bucharest:

“Religious education is part of the compulsory subjects. What made people regard it as optional is the fact that children are allowed not to attend the classes if they belong to a different denomination. In such cases, they may attend other classes specific to their religion, where this is possible. The curriculum is specific to each denomination, there is a special curriculum for the Orthodox children, another for Catholics and so on. All these curricula are approved by the Education Ministry. If parents want their children not to study religion at all, they are free to do so, because the education law is in line with the Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of religious beliefs.”

Roman-Catholic or Muslim children in Romania may withdraw from the religious education classes if their school only provides classes for Orthodox children. They are free not to attend, but if they have no place to go they have to remain in the classroom. Religious education teacher Mihaela Ghitiu explains:

“I have a Muslim student in my class and when we discuss a topic that is related to his religion, he is welcome to contribute. He hasn’t withdrawn from the class. But I don’t grade him, of course.”

To avoid such situations, the Romanian Secular-Humanist Association suggests that religious education classes should not longer be scheduled in between other classes, but at the start or at the end of the school day. Children who do not take these classes would be able to come later or leave earlier from school, and the school would no longer be responsible for their supervision. Parent associations support this initiative. Here is Mihaela Guna, the president of the Federation of Parent Associations:

“I think this is the fair thing to do, because some parents don’t withdraw their children from religious education classes only because their children would be unsupervised for an hour. So they let them take the class just to make sure the children stay in school. I believe it would be normal for children who do not wish to attend religious education classes to be able to take an optional course instead.”

Instead of an optional class, the Secular-Humanist Association proposes the replacement of religion as a subject matter with the history of religions, which would teach children about the diversity of religious beliefs and denominations. Mihaela Guna supports this initiative because this would avoid teaching certain religious aspects which small children may find shocking:

“I think it would be much more interesting to teach them the history of religions or other things instead of, for example, the ritual of washing the dead. I think children should learn more about religion in general and less about dogmatism. There are many children who are afraid that if they do not say or do certain things, God will punish them. I think we should look at religion in a different way.”

Teacher Mihaela Ghitiu says some elements related to the history of religions are already being taught during religious education classes:

“Religion proposes values and develops virtues and teaches children how to live in a community. However, it’s impossible to talk about virtues without talking about their opposites, about sins. The Romanian Secular-Humanist Association believes children should not be taught about punishments, about hell or death. But in traditional families, when grandparents died, children were brought to their deathbed to be given their last blessing. It was part of life. Parents can talk to their children about these things, in a delicate way, as these are things that they themselves will have to face in their own families.”

The debate over religious education in Romanian schools has also reached Parliament, where a recent initiative provides for replacing religious class with ethic and civic culture classes.

30 July 2014
Social Enterprises in Rural Romania

At a first glance the phrase ‘social economy’ seems a contradiction. The economy, as we know it, is profit and consumption oriented. And the social dimension, if any, is not necessarily obvious. Nevertheless, social economy is functional in the European Union and not only. Actually, this sector is a pillar of European economy, accounting for roughly 10% of the GDP. More than 11 million workers, about 4.5% of the EU’s active population, have jobs in the social economy and a European Parliament resolution issued in November 2009 encourages the development of social enterprises both as models for economic growth and as inter-community assistance. Elisabeta Varga, a consultant in the NESst foundation, which provides consultancy to various social enterprises, gives us a detailed description of social economy.

“It has developed in response to the concrete needs of communities, and has come up with solutions to social issues, which are not covered by the public and private sectors. The objectives of social economy are the creation of new jobs and getting citizens more involved in community affairs. We can define it more clearly in opposition with the market economy, whose main aim is to make profit. As opposed to it, the social economy is designed to improve standards of living and foster new opportunities for the disadvantaged.”

The concept of social economy is not strange to the Romanians either. It was operational back in the time of the communist dictatorship as manufacture cooperatives. Here is Dumitru Fornea, member of the Economic and Social European Committee.

“Social economy is not a new concept, neither for Europeans in general, or Romanians in particular. Here, though, it took other forms. It started with the concept of ‘cooperation’ through cooperatives. Here, however, cooperatives failed because the communist state took control over this form of voluntary association. In the West, there have been forms that replaced these cooperatives, such as associations of workers in Spain and various types of foundations, which today are very active in Europe, and even in Romania. Social economy wants to capitalize on human resources to a maximum extent, focusing mostly on people, not on profit.”

Marred by the communist period, social economy in Romania had difficulties after 1990. In spite of this, in 2009, the social economy employed 3.3% of all workers in Romania. By 2011 it became an important sector of economic and social life, with mostly NGOs active. In 2009, 69% of active entities in the social economy were created by various associations and foundations, with the rest of 31% being the property of cooperatives. Elisabeta Varga gave us examples of social enterprises in Romania. She said that most of them could be found in the countryside:

“One of them is an association called ‘Village Life’, set up by a group of young people who used to work in various corporations, but later got back to the values of the village they want to promote. Their social enterprise deals with rural tourism. They want to promote this area, and for this they work with various households in the countryside which host tourists, showing them village life and their daily activities. They show them houses and beautiful places, as well as fast disappearing traditions. Another example is that of a foundation in Salaj county, which, along with the local authorities, have set up a social enterprise that wants to create a tourist brand on Barcau Valley. The foundation supports small honey makers in the area.”

Since this is such an important sector for the EU, its institutions provide member states with several financing possibilities, as we found out from Dumitru Fornea:

“In Romania, the European program POSDRU is meant to develop the social economy. They tried to provide support for the social economy between 2007 and 2013, and we hope for this financial support to continue in the next financial year. They tried to help social enterprises, but accessing these funds supposes a certain amount of experience and knowledge. That is why it is important to be an associate if you want to have success and access European funds.”

However, even though people are willing to get involved in a social enterprise, the access to money is not always easy. Here is Elisabeta Varga:

“For small entrepreneurs, for small social enterprises of the kind we mentioned, accessing these funds is very difficult. In fact, these funds are inaccessible to them. Firstly because of the co-financing requirement, which is an amount that many entrepreneurs simply don’t have. Practically, everything stops here when it comes to accessing European funds of this nature.”

Improving access to financing was included in the 2011 ‘Initiative for Social Entrepreneurship’, which is an ample EU plan included in the EU 2020 Strategy. In spite of this, for social entrepreneurs across the country, European funds are still a rarity.

23 July 2014
Social Enterprises in Rural Romania

At a first glance the phrase ‘social economy’ seems a contradiction. The economy, as we know it, is profit and consumption oriented. And the social dimension, if any, is not necessarily obvious. Nevertheless, social economy is functional in the European Union and not only. Actually, this sector is a pillar of European economy, accounting for roughly 10% of the GDP. More than 11 million workers, about 4.5% of the EU’s active population, have jobs in the social economy and a European Parliament resolution issued in November 2009 encourages the development of social enterprises both as models for economic growth and as inter-community assistance. Elisabeta Varga, a consultant in the NESst foundation, which provides consultancy to various social enterprises, gives us a detailed description of social economy.

“It has developed in response to the concrete needs of communities, and has come up with solutions to social issues, which are not covered by the public and private sectors. The objectives of social economy are the creation of new jobs and getting citizens more involved in community affairs. We can define it more clearly in opposition with the market economy, whose main aim is to make profit. As opposed to it, the social economy is designed to improve standards of living and foster new opportunities for the disadvantaged.”

The concept of social economy is not strange to the Romanians either. It was operational back in the time of the communist dictatorship as manufacture cooperatives. Here is Dumitru Fornea, member of the Economic and Social European Committee.

“Social economy is not a new concept, neither for Europeans in general, or Romanians in particular. Here, though, it took other forms. It started with the concept of ‘cooperation’ through cooperatives. Here, however, cooperatives failed because the communist state took control over this form of voluntary association. In the West, there have been forms that replaced these cooperatives, such as associations of workers in Spain and various types of foundations, which today are very active in Europe, and even in Romania. Social economy wants to capitalize on human resources to a maximum extent, focusing mostly on people, not on profit.”

Marred by the communist period, social economy in Romania had difficulties after 1990. In spite of this, in 2009, the social economy employed 3.3% of all workers in Romania. By 2011 it became an important sector of economic and social life, with mostly NGOs active. In 2009, 69% of active entities in the social economy were created by various associations and foundations, with the rest of 31% being the property of cooperatives. Elisabeta Varga gave us examples of social enterprises in Romania. She said that most of them could be found in the countryside:

“One of them is an association called ‘Village Life’, set up by a group of young people who used to work in various corporations, but later got back to the values of the village they want to promote. Their social enterprise deals with rural tourism. They want to promote this area, and for this they work with various households in the countryside which host tourists, showing them village life and their daily activities. They show them houses and beautiful places, as well as fast disappearing traditions. Another example is that of a foundation in Salaj county, which, along with the local authorities, have set up a social enterprise that wants to create a tourist brand on Barcau Valley. The foundation supports small honey makers in the area.”

Since this is such an important sector for the EU, its institutions provide member states with several financing possibilities, as we found out from Dumitru Fornea:

“In Romania, the European program POSDRU is meant to develop the social economy. They tried to provide support for the social economy between 2007 and 2013, and we hope for this financial support to continue in the next financial year. They tried to help social enterprises, but accessing these funds supposes a certain amount of experience and knowledge. That is why it is important to be an associate if you want to have success and access European funds.”

However, even though people are willing to get involved in a social enterprise, the access to money is not always easy. Here is Elisabeta Varga:

“For small entrepreneurs, for small social enterprises of the kind we mentioned, accessing these funds is very difficult. In fact, these funds are inaccessible to them. Firstly because of the co-financing requirement, which is an amount that many entrepreneurs simply don’t have. Practically, everything stops here when it comes to accessing European funds of this nature.”

Improving access to financing was included in the 2011 ‘Initiative for Social Entrepreneurship’, which is an ample EU plan included in the EU 2020 Strategy. In spite of this, for social entrepreneurs across the country, European funds are still a rarity.

23 July 2014
EU for YOU! That’s How the EU Works

Romania joined the EU seven years ago. After a period of weighing the pros and cons of the accession, we have now reached a moment when the country’s EU membership must be consolidated, by making people more aware of what the European citizenship entails. Apart from clearly focusing on justice, economy or domestic affairs, EU membership issues mainly deal with the citizens’ rights and obligations.

“EU for YOU! That’s How the EU Works!” is an educational project that has caught our attention recently. Roxana Morea is a press officer with the European Commission Representation in Bucharest. She told us more about the project.

“The project was run by the European Parliament jointly with the European Commission Representation, in 41 schools, and it presented European information, which was used in history and social science classes. Earlier this year a report on the pilot stage was compiled, and right now a general report on the entire project is in progress, including recommendations on whether it is important or not for the project to continue. In principle, the stakeholders are interested in carrying on the project.”

Last year, the European Parliament’s Information Desk in Romania edited the volume: “EU for YOU! That’s How the EU works!” a supporting teaching material tailored for secondary school pupils, which it then forwarded to the National Education Ministry, for testing. The volume was used for history and social sciences, in 41 schools, targeting 1,360 pupils in Bucharest and the counties of Brasov, Neamt and Suceava, during the first semester of the 2013-2014 school year. In January, specialized institutions assessed the outcome of the project, highlighting that the textbook ” EU for YOU! That’ s How the EU Works!” was an excellent support for the teaching process for optional subjects related to History and Social sciences. The textbook offered comprehensible information for all pupils, regarding the way EU institutions work. As a result, the continuation of the project was recommended, so that the teaching staff could be provided with a fresh set of resources for both content-based and skills-based activities, focusing on the European citizenship.

But why are such projects useful and what is their envisaged outcome? With details on that, here is again Roxana Morea, from the European Commission Representation in Bucharest.

“The EU for YOU projects are part of a large-scale effort of the European institutions to strike up direct dialogues with citizens. One of the EU’s major values is the belief in democracy and the rule of law. The project “EU for YOU” was run in various member states, and in some of them it received financing from the European Social Fund, in others from the resources of the member state Representation or the European Parliament’s Information Desks. All these projects have the dialogue with citizens as their main goal. The eventual aim was an increase in public participation in the debates focusing on citizens’ rights and social inclusion across Europe, the dialogue between European institutions and the citizens of that state.“

We asked Roxana Morea how Romanians perceive their membership to the EU, and how much they know about how the European institutions work.

“Romanians see EU citizenship as a positive thing. They still trust the European institutions and the EU as a whole, and they believe the future of the Union looks good. Unfortunately, in terms of how much they know about European institutions and how they operate, the percentage is rather low. Only 21% of the respondents said they were well informed about the European construction. However, this is not a reason to dismiss the idea that Romanians support the EU and its future.”

The project “EU for YOU! This is how the EU Works!” is to be extended and implemented at national level. Roxana Morea told us what she hopes the project will achieve.

“The aim of these information activities, targeting the European citizens in general and the Romanian ones in particular, is to increase the percentage of those who believe they are well informed. Usually, if students learn about European issues and they understand what is happening, they will later get actively involved in the European construction and will inform the young people around them about what that means.”

Such activities are very important for civil society to understand the role of the European institutions and of the European citizens, such as the right of the latter to participate in direct talks with other citizens. The ultimate goal of the project is to enhance public participation in the debate on citizens’ rights and social inclusion in Europe.

16 July 2014
The 50 Best Romanian Students Abroad

More and more Romanians are going abroad, lured by better jobs and salaries. The Ministry of Education does not have precise figures on that, but unofficial statistics indicate that over 50,000 young people have left to study abroad. The main destinations are the UK, France, Germany, Denmark and Holland. The better education they get there, combining theory and practice, as well as more opportunities to develop communication skills are just some of the reasons they choose to do so.

Five years ago, the League of Romanian Students Abroad was set up to offer information for people who want to study outside Romania, helping, at the same time, people who want to return home, according to Oana Franţ, Vice-President in charge of public relations with the League:

“So far we’ve run two studies, one in 2010 and another in 2011, with a third scheduled for this year. We ran them to check if Romanian students and graduates abroad want to come back home, and why. The study of 2011 showed that 30% of them want to come back, 30% don’t want to, and 40% are undecided. They would like to come back for the sake of family and friends, but mostly for the opportunity of a job that would provide them with the possibility of developing professionally and personally, with real chances of advancing in their careers. They want to be satisfied with their work, and to capitalize on their studies.”

A lot of Romanian students find jobs in the countries they studied in, but a lot prefer to come back home. What they would like most would be the opportunity to put into practice what they learned, and the chance for advancement. To this end, the League of Romanian Students Abroad launched last year a strategy called ‘Smart Diaspora’ in order to help Romanian students trying to return to their country. Here is Oana Franţ once again:

“Smart is a multidimensional strategy for attracting students in the diaspora. It is a public policy proposal, with the intent of capitalizing on the strategic potential of Romanians studying in prestigious universities abroad, helping Romania’s economic development. We have already had good results. We are talking about two projects, one of them is ‘Come on home’, acting as a go-between for students abroad and Romanian companies. The second is ‘Smart Internship’, an internship project with ministries, aimed at some of the best Romanian students abroad. For instance, last year we had 17 people who did internships in public institutions in Romania. It was a pilot project, everything went very well, and we will continue it this year.”

Around 200 Romanian students, from all over the world, competed this year for the ‘Romanian Student Abroad of the Year’ award, now in its fifth edition. 50 finalists were short listed for the 8 categories of the competition.

At 25 years of age, Sonia Coman has art diplomas from great universities, has hundreds of paintings, poems and personal exhibitions, and has a great love for Japan. She won best student abroad for 2013:

“My education is from American schools, such as Harvard, where I got my first degree, then Columbia, where I am doing my doctoral studies right now, but also from Romanian schools, where I laid the foundation, acquiring knowledge that was essential for my progress. I am honored to be in the company of so many valuable Romanian students who won awards or were nominated. I wish to emphasize the role played by the League of Romanian Students Abroad in creating and developing this relationships platform.”

Luca Victor Ilieşiu studies physics at Princeton, where his focus is on cosmology and theoretical research, analyzing models of the primordial universe. He won the title of Romanian Student in North America award for post-graduates:

“I believe this is one of the few organizations which went beyond the question ‘What can Romania do for us’ and went for the first time straight to the question: ‘What can we do for Romania’. I asked myself what my role is, and I took this task to heart. I want to help build the first Romanian center for advanced studies, similar to the one in Princeton, New Jersey, gathering all those who want to study theoretical sciences.”

Cristina Gavrila is one other young person with an interesting story:

“Right after high school, I wanted very much to study abroad. It seemed that there were way more challenges than in Romania. I chose to study marketing and communications at Aarhus University, in the second largest city in Denmark, Ashus. I came back to Romania after three years in Denmark, and one semester as an exchange student in Singapore. I came back, however, because I felt the need for a change, and I felt much more at home in my native country, much more so than in Denmark. I think it was the best decision, because I like life in Bucharest a lot. I am working for an international organization, and I am meeting more and more Romanians, both where I work and in the organizations I am active in, who chose to return home after working abroad.”

The UK and Holland have the most expensive schools, and studying there requires a state provided loan, while Denmark and Sweden have free state provided education.

9 July 2014