EN

ROMANIAspotlight on VET

2019

Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union

spotlight on VET

Vocational education and training (VET) is provided at upper secondary and post-secondary levels.

The first two years of upper secondary education are compulsory for all learners. Enrolment in upper secondary education and training, including VET (grade 9), requires grades from national exams in mathematics and the Romanian language, a lower secondary diploma, and a final mark transcript for all subjects. Some VET schools also have entry exams. To enrol in tertiary education, upper secondary graduates need to pass baccalaureate exams.

Initial VET is under the responsibility of the Ministry of National Education. The National Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training Development coordinates the creation of training standards for qualifications validated by sectoral committees (coordinated by the National Authority for Qualifications) and approved by the ministry. Social partners participate in the committees and support VET implementation. Continuing VET development is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Labour and Social Justice.

Initial VETAt upper secondary level there are:• three-year school-based programmes

(ISCED-P 352), providing graduates with a professional qualification at EQF level 3 (such as cook). Programmes are offered by ‘professional schools’, cooperating with employers who provide compulsory in-company training for learners as part of work-based learning (WBL). WBL is also offered in schools, at an average of 50% per programme. Learners who interrupted their studies after completing lower secondary education may enrol in programmes up to age 26, free of charge. Since 2017/18, a dual form of VET has also been available, provided at the request of companies that participate in training provision. The share of learners in dual VET is 1.5% of the total VET population at upper secondary level. The programmes open access to the labour market. Graduates can also enrol in the third year of EQF level 4 technological programmes;

• four-year technological programmes (ISCED-P 354) offering graduates an upper secondary school leaving diploma and the EQF level 4 ‘technician’ qualification in services, natural resources, environmental

protection and technical study fields (such as technician in gastronomy). The programmes are provided by technological high schools and sometimes by colleges. The WBL share is 25%. After completing compulsory education, learners may opt out and enrol in a short VET programme (ISCED-P 352) offering a professional qualification only;

• short programmes (ISCED-P 352), providing learners who completed two years of a technological programme (completed grade 10) with a professional qualification at EQF level 3 (such as cook) via 720 hours of work-based learning. The programmes are coordinated by VET schools and are provided mainly by employers. Young and adult early leavers from education and training can also access these programmes after completing a ‘second chance’ programme;

• four-year vocational programmes (ISCED-P 354, EQF level 4), providing graduates with a professional qualification in the military, theology, sports, arts and pedagogy as well as with an upper secondary school leaving diploma. These programmes are provided by colleges and the share of WBL is up to 15%.

Post-secondary VET provides one- to three year higher VET programmes (ISCED-P 453), leading to a professional qualification at EQF level 5 (such as optician); these are organised by technological schools or colleges/universities at the request of companies or based on learner interest. They provide secondary school graduates with an opportunity to advance in their qualifications (such as nursing and pharmacy technician).

Continuing VETAdult vocational training is offered by authorised private and public providers taking into account the needs of employers and basic skills needs of adults.

One- to three-year continuing ‘apprenticeship at workplace’ programmes have been managed by the public employment service since 2005. They offer adults (16+) without prior VET experience the chance to acquire a professional qualification at EQF levels 1 to 4, leading to a nationally recognised qualification certificate of the same value as in initial VET. Theory and practical training (WBL at least 70%) is provided mainly by companies, in cooperation with authorised professional training providers.

VET in Romania

VET in Romania’s education and training system

NB: ISCED-P 2011.Source: Cedefop and ReferNet Romania.

Possible progression routes

End of grade 10 marks the end of compulsory education at EQF level 2

Dual VET is possible

Work-based learning, either at the workplace or a VET institutionWBL

General education programmes

VET programmes

Programmes combining VET and general education

Also available to adults

O�cially recognised vocational qualifications

Qualifications allowing access to the next education level

Giving access to tertiary education

SECONDARY LEVEL

POST-SECONDARY LEVEL

TERTIARY LEVEL ADULT LEARNING

YEARS in E&TAGE

511

612

713

814

915

1016

1117

1218

18+ 12+

Training for the employed

Training for the unemployed

and othervulnerable groups

Apprenticeship at workplace for adults (16+),WBL >70%

ISCED 844, 854

ISCED 747, 757

ISCED 645, 655

ISCED 244

ISCED 453

PhD and post-doctoralprogrammes, 3-4 years

Generalprogrammes,

4 years

Master programmes, 1-3 years

Bachelor programmes, 3-4 years

Lower secondary programmes

Post-secondary VET programmes, WBL varies, 1-3 years

ISCED 344

EQF 8

EQF 7

EQF 6

EQF 4 EQF 4

ISCED 354

EQF 4

Technologicalprogrammes,

WBL 25%,4 years

EQF 5

EQF 1-4EQF 1-4EQF 1-4

EQF 3

School-based VETprogrammes

WBL 50%, 3 yearsISCED 352

Vocationalprogrammes,

WBL up to 15%,4 years

ISCED 354

VET in Romania's education and training system

EQF 3Short VET programmes, WBL 100%, 720 hours ISCED 352

(•)

(•)

NB: ISCED-P 2011. Source: Cedefop and ReferNet Romania.

ROMANIA

Distinctive features of VET

Distinctive features of initial VET are its inclusiveness, with pathways among different levels of learning and between vocational and more academic tracks, and its focus on easing progression and avoiding dead ends. Reflecting the double role of VET in promoting economic as well as social development, initial VET’s main goals are to ensure:• learners’ personal and professional

development;• equal access opportunities to VET;• high-quality provision, organisation and

development.Initial VET qualifications are based on training

standards which describe the training process in units of learning outcomes and include, for each unit, an assessment standard. The standards were revised in 2016, to help increase VET labour market relevance by ensuring a better match between qualifications and the reality of working life after graduation.

Creating sector committees, which represent the various sectors of the economy, made the involvement of social partners in designing and assessing vocational qualifications more systemic. To ease education planning, social partners also participate in partnerships at regional level (regional consortia) and local level (local committees for social partnership development in VET).

During the past decade, Romania has developed a system for validating non-formally or informally acquired skills and competences. In line with guidelines adopted by the National Authority for Qualifications, procedural arrangements have been put in place to create a network of providers acting as validation/assessment centres. These centres are active in more than half of the counties.

Challenges and policy responsesInvestments to support the institutional development of education and training are still few. The main challenges are unequal access to education and training and the high rate of early leaving from it; this particularly affects

children in rural areas, from poor communities, and Roma. The 2015-20 Strategy to reduce early school leaving was developed to address these challenges, and a mechanism will be established for early warning and intervention that will help detect young learners at risk of leaving school.

Another challenge is to reduce youth unemployment by supporting skills acquisition and securing smooth and sustainable transitions from education and training to the labour market. The National Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training Development introduced the dual form as part of initial VET, leading to a level 3 EQF qualification; it will be extended to levels 4 and 5 EQF. The VET Strategy 2016-20 aims for better links between VET provision and labour market demand. In this respect the centre will launch in 2019 an ESF-funded project that will develop:• a mechanism for quality assuring work-

based learning and certification of learning outcomes;

• a mechanism to adjust the education and training offer to labour market demand;

• a monitoring system for initial VET graduates;• a mechanism for identifying, rewarding and

promoting excellence in initial VET.

Continuing VET also addresses the unemployment challenge, with variable duration training programmes linked to labour market needs; depending on the EQF qualification level addressed, these can be from 180 hours for level 1 to 1 080 for level 4.

Participation in lifelong learning is the lowest in the EU and has slightly fallen since 2013. The attractiveness of CVET, and the participation of adults in it, are also of concern. The 2015-20 Strategy for lifelong learning is currently addressing these challenges with a number of actions to increase participation in training, improve recognition of prior learning (including non-formal and informal), increase the quality and relevance of training through a new act on quality assurance in adult learning, and coordinate stakeholder actions. In November 2018, the labour ministry developed a list of elementary occupations giving unskilled adults access to participation in programmes leading to qualifications at EQF level 1, such as six-month apprenticeship programmes.

ROMANIA

Education and training in figures

Source: Cedefop calculations, based on Eurostat, UOE data collection on education systems, date of extraction 11.12.2018.

Source: Eurostat, EU labour force survey, date of extraction 11.12.2018.

Upper vocational secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education (levels 3 and 4) Upper general secondary and post-secondary non-tertiary education (levels 3 and 4) Less than primary, primary and lower secondary education (levels 0-2)

Source: Eurostat, EU labour force survey, date of extraction 11.12.2018.

Source: Eurostat, EU labour force survey, date of extraction 11.12.2018.

Upper secondary students (ISCED 2011

level 3) enrolled in vocational and general

programmes % of all students

in upper secondary education, 2016

Lifelong learning% of population aged

25 to 64 participating in education and training

over the four weeks prior to the survey, 2017

Early leavers from education and training

% of the population aged 18 to 24 with at

most lower secondary education and who were

not in further education or training during the last

four weeks prior to the survey, 2017

Employment rates of young graduates

% of 20 to 34 year-olds no longer in education

and training, 2017

0

0

0

20

12

60

8

40

4

20

40

16

80

60

20

100

80

100

27.1

72.9

CZ

30.0

70.0

HR SK

31.1

68.9

RO

43.7

56.2

BG

48.7

51.3

EU-28

50.7

49.3

EUROPE 2020=10

VOCATIONAL

2017

GENERAL

2020 NATIONAL TARGET

IS

96.8

94.4

83.2

HU

84.5

78.9

53.8

BG

83.0

75.7

42.9

SK

79.8

73.9

38.9

EU-28

79.5

73.0

56.4

RO

78.1

71.9

60.4

HR

74.6

67.4

36.5

EL

60.4

61.1

53.0

4.0

83.3

16.7

CY

78.6

21.4

HU

10.06.010.0 11.0

11.3 15.0

30.4

SE

HR

0

5

10

15

25

20

30

35

10.9

EU-28

SK

6.2

HU

EU-28

3.4

SK

HU

2.3

BG

BG

2.3

HR

RO

RO

ES

1.1

E&T 2020=15

10.63.1 9.3 12.5 12.7 18.1 18.3

EN

spotlight on VETROMANIA

Further information Cedefop (2019). Vocational education and training in Romania: short description.

http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/publications-and-resources/publications/4171

Skills Panorama (2018). Skills anticipation in Romania. Analytical highlights series. http://skillspanorama.cedefop.europa.eu/en/analytical_highligths/skills-anticipation-romania

European Commission (2018). Education and training monitor 2018 – country analysis: Romania. https://ec.europa.eu/education/resources-and-tools/document-library/education-and-training-monitor-2018-romania-report_en

www.refernet.ro ReferNet Romaniawww.edu.ro Ministry of National Education

www.tvet.roNational Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training Development

www.mmuncii.ro Ministry of Labour and Social Justice

www.incsmps.roNational Scientific Research Institute for Labour and Social Protection

http://site.anc.edu.ro National Authority for Qualificationswww.anofm.ro National Agency for Employment

This Spotlight is based on input from the National Centre for Technical and Vocational Education and Training Development (ReferNet Romania).

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Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union

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