Abstract:

Based on the estimation that the multi - contextual horizon of quality assessment of higher education is, ultimately, a subjective one, even if it also has objective data, subjectivity that must be understood in terms of the perceptions that employers have on education, in general, and about the academic quality of university study programs, in particular, we have also considered, of course, an objective contextual framework, which I defined in this paper in terms related to demographics in general, to the demographics of higher education in particular, and the public funding of universities. I also combined external with internal references, objective data with subjective variations of the perceptions of different groups of people interested or directly involved in higher education, without having combined the analysis of the academic quality status with some analysis of the status of a society in which higher education works. The article captures the essence of a barometer which intended to quantify the need for professional and transversal qualifications and skills on the current labor market in the context of higher education reform in Romania.

The barometer’s objectives aimed to:
1. measure the academic quality of activities in higher education system, in the area of social and human sciences, specifically from seven specializations at the University of Craiova (History, International Relations and European Studies, Sociology, Pastoral Theology, Romanian Language, Communication and Public Relations and Social Assistance), respectively the degrees of correlation between the purposes or objectives of the system and the obtained results;
2. analyze the system of the seven specializations in the area of social and human sciences, the references to various institutions working generally in this area or the relationships between these institutions;
3. analyze the perceptions and representations of employers in the area present in the South-West Oltenia region of Romania, on the activities and results in the system, but also the processes and results of the system;
4. compare data and information about our system and other systems, especially European ones, of higher education;
5. identify the successes and performances, but also the problems or critical states, all with the purpose to open discussions about the future dynamics of the organization of the seven specializations, in a framework that is and wants to be as modern as possible.

Used indicators:
1. The status of the academic education quality of the seven specializations in the Bologna process context;
2. The quality of the University of Craiova as higher education institution, measured through: the relationship between the number of students and the number of teachers and the participation in long duration and doctoral higher education study programs;
3. The status of the quality of the employers’ perception perspective: the quality of the learning process; the level of university training quality for each of the seven specializations; the employers’ perception on the contribution brought by graduating a specialization to the training of skills and competences that students/graduates need at the place of work; the correspondence degree between the quality and utility of studied disciplines and the employers’ demands on the direction of professional development of students in the university environment and the quality of education in the context of implementing the Bologna system

Keywords:

Romanian higher education institution, need for professional and transversal qualifications and skills, labor market.