Increasing the attractiveness of Moldovan universities is a priority for the Ministry of Education and Research as half of the lyceum graduates choose to continue their studies aboard, said Minister Dan Perciun. According to him, the state makes effort to increase the attractiveness of universities in Moldova, improving university infrastructure and diversifying the educational offer. The authorities aim to raise the number of lyceum graduates who choose to continue their studies in Moldova to 75%, IPN reports.
Owing to a World Bank-funded project, a number of higher educational institutions in Moldova until 2025 will be modernized by equipping lecture rooms, laboratories and research centers. The minister said that by improving university infrastructure, the authorities aim to persuade the lyceum graduates to study further in Moldova.
“We set the goal of increasing the number of those who choose to study in the Republic of Moldova and this depends on the prestige of our universities, on the quality of studies, on reputation, on the conditions of study. We must deal with all these aspects. During several years, the Ministry of Education, in partnership with the World Bank, has implemented a project to modernize the universities. A sum of €25 million was provided for modernizing the conditions of study. The money is being used and should raise the conditions in universities to the European level,” Dan Perciun stated in the program “Public Space” on Radio Moldova station.
The minister also said that to increase the attractiveness of Moldovan universities, the educational offer was diversified. Owing to the program “Professions of the Future”, new, innovatory specialties were launched and these ensure connection between the gained knowledge and the labor market.
“Within the program “Professions of the Future”, at such specialties as game design and animation, we have 162 students studying at the USM and only 28 of them study on a budget-funded place. This means that major interest is shown in such new, attractive licenses. At the UTM, we have 81 students at such specialties and only 24 of them study on a budget-funded place. So, the graduates are ready to pay for studies in the Republic of Moldova at these specialties as they are in step with the world we live in. Surely, it is hard to compete with European universities, especially because some of these offer scholarships to our students. But the objective should be to make sure that at least 75% of those who graduate from lyceum choose to study in the Republic of Moldova. Or, given the demographic developments, we will witness a difficult situation when the number of students will decline dramatically and reorganization decisions will be needed so as to keep pace with the demographic changes,” said the minister.
Recently, five Moldovan universities were accredited at European level. This enables to recognize and compatibilize the diplomas issued by these in EU member states. These universities are: the Moldova State University, the Academy of Economic Studies of Moldova, the Balti State University “Alecu Russo”, the Cahul State University “Bogdan Petriceicu Hașdeu”, and the Academy of Music, Theater and Plastic Arts.
