ASPECTS CONCERNING THE INTEGRATION OF THE ROMANIAN MILITARY HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE EUROPEAN SPACE OF EDUCATION

As a result of the socio-economic transformations experienced by our country, the Romanian military higher education must be organized and restructured so that it should adjust to the present and future requirements of the contemporary society and to integrate within the framework of the European space of education.

The process of educational integration must be carried out on several coordinates, all these having in view the human, technical, economic and, last but not least, educational components.

This integration process aims at consolidating the Romanian military academy as a reference higher education institution at national level, producing and conveying advanced knowledge, as well as integrating itself within the framework of the European space of higher education and scientific research, validated through international certification.

The previously mentioned socio-economic transformations have generated sine die internal changes at the level of the academic life and its quality. Concurrently with the internal transformations, a series of modifications have taken place at European level, all of them exerting a strong effect on the Romanian higher education. By signing the Declaration of Bologna in 1999, Romania has turned into a member of the Bologna Process which has as a central objective the academic quality assurance.

At the academic level, there has taken place a great diversification of the educational institutes consisting of changes in the institutional profile of the traditional universities, the growth of the complexity and dimension of the educational institutes in terms of the number of the studies programmes as well as students, the promotion of the good practices in the Romanian and European universities in order to increase the academic performance, the integration of the Romanian higher education in the European space and the confrontation with globalization. All these transformations have been determined also by the pressure of the competitive forces on a higher education ”market” that is more and more extending.

”Henri Coand?” Air Force Academy is a distinct institution of military higher education both in the national higher education system and in the military education. The integration of ”Henri Coand?” Air Force Academy in the national higher education system is expressed by the finalities of education and scientific research.

This paper presents a series of aspects concerning the integration of our institution of military education both within the framework of the Romanian higher education system and European higher education.