Students’ Perspective on Romanian Higher Education Quality: A Statistical Approach
Abstract A recent survey (made by Universitas 21), which took into account 50 countries worldwide, has ranked Romania 42nd in the world, in a ranking of the best university systems, managing to exceed only 3 countries from the European Union. By comparing with previous years, the rank has slightly lowered. The present study attempts to conduct an overview on the state of the higher education national system with the purpose of making improvements to it. Firstly, the paper consists of presenting the general data of the context in which the Romanian higher education is situated. The SWOT analysis conducted in various universities from Romania, are summarized, following with the broad shaping of the elements that define the quality of higher education. Secondly, the study aims to conduct a statistical survey among Romanian students for the assessment of general trends in their opinion upon the discussed topic.As the actual beneficiaries of the services offered by the Romanian universities, the students have a significant importance and thus, based on the answers, we prepare from their perspective a SWOT analysis of the Romanian higher education quality.The results establish in an easy and precise manner the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the educational system, after which measures can be taken in order to improve, or better said, to optimize the processes of universities in the country.
SWOT analysis applications: An integrative literature review
A strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis has become a key tool used by businesses for strategic planning. Scholars have conducted SWOT research for over six decades. However, a collective understanding of SWOT analysis remains vague. This study accessed, analyzed, and synthesized the SWOT literature, allowing for new theoretical perspectives and frameworks to emerge. Using an integrative literature review, this study reviewed SWOT studies historically, providing a greater understanding of the SWOT analysis in different sectors and the different approaches used in SWOT studies. Furthermore, it fills the knowledge gap in the strategic planning context and indicates meaningful implications for managers that could help improve their strategic decisions.
Introduction to special section: ``Perspectives on comparative higher education"
In this special section of Higher Education, three leading scholars in the comparative study of education speak to distinctive research questions and methods that stem from three different social science frameworks ‐ postmodernism, feminism, and political economy/political sociology. Bill Tierney, co-editor (with Ken Kempner) of The Social Role of Higher Education: Comparative Perspectives(1996), explores “The Autonomy of Knowledge and the Decline of the Subject: Postmodernism and the Study of Comparative Higher Education.” Nelly Stromquist, author of Women and Education in Latin America: Knowledge, Power, and Change (1992), examines “Gender Studies: A Global Perspective of their Evolution and Challenge to Comparative Higher Education.” And Sheila Slaughter, coauthor (with Larry L. Leslie) of Academic Capitalism: Politics, Policies, and the Entrepreneurial University(1997), analyzes “Problems in Comparative Higher Education: Political Economy, Political Sociology, and Postmodernism.” Each of these contributors draws on considerable literature outside of the field of higher education to pose issues for future research and to identify a range of methods for undertaking such research in studies of higher education. Long time readers of Higher Education may remember a special issue of the journal in 1996 (volume 32, number 4) entitled, “The State of Comparative Research in Higher Education.” How is the current special issue different? Does it simply “update” the state-of-the-art review of 1996, providing a five-year rolling review of current developments? In a word, the answer is no. The contributors in 1996 for the most part work out of organizational sociology and policy sciences conceptual frameworks, which could be seen as the prevailing perspectives characterizing comparative higher education generally and scholarship in Higher Education in particular. The stories that are featured in such studies have to do with the autonomy of higher education institutions relative to national ministries and federal governments, the