The university reform is supported with state funds. Minister of Education and Research Anatolie Topală on Friday announced a first allocation from the state budget intended for the modernization of universities and programs of study. This way, 13 national universities will receive funds for modernizing their lecture rooms, laboratories and training centers. A part of the funds are intended for research, IPN reports.

The minister said the goal of the higher education reform is to modernize the universities and to encourage performance in research and fruitful cooperation between students and researchers.

“The Government now allocates 290 million lei for 13 higher education establishments that will implement 20 projects. We will also allocate 23 million lei for researchers. This way the allocation totals 312 million lei,” Anatolie Topală told a news conference.

The institutions that will benefit from funds were chosen by a contest commission. Seven of the selected entities are public higher education establishments.

The 312 million lei announced today represent the first tranche of the planned funds. The second tranche is to be disbursed at the beginning of next year, according to the minister.

Under the reform proposal, the Moldova State University is reorganized by merging with the Academy of Public Administration and with 13 research institutes. The Technical University of Moldova is reorganized by absorbing the State Agrarian University of Moldova and three research institutes. The State Teacher Training University is reorganized by merging with the State University of Tiraspol, the Institute of Education Sciences and the Institute of Continued Education. The Academy of Economic Studies is reorganized by merging with the National Institute of Economic Research.