Liana Badea

ECONOMIC CRISIS AND EDUCATION. CASE STUDY: THE ROMANIAN EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

Over the years scholars, politicians, economists and others have recognized that no country could achieve economic growth and development without an efficient educational system. Functional education plays a central role in preparing individuals to become the labour force and in the same time to respect the environment in order to use efficiently the resources. It is said that from immemorial times, education was the one who offered solutions to various problems, but also generated a lot of controversies in the evolution of the world. Thus, in the case of a crisis, the education must be studied from at least two points of view. When speaking about crisis, first we must pose a question whether education is only a victim of the crisis or it may be a cause or a part of the solution needed to exit from the crisis. Starting from such a question, this paper aims to emphasize the existing connection between economic crisis and the contemporary education. The paper starts by using a retrospective and contrastive analysis, based on methodological pillars such as: filiations of ideas, genesis, and statistics. Using quantitative and also qualitative methods, the paper focuses on the way of functioning of the Romanian educational system and offers suggestions how to improve it.

Business Ethics and Education – an Intelligent Solution for a Sustainable Development?

Nowadays, ethics seems to be a very important issue when speaking about the way of doing business. Many economists ask if it is necessary to study the way ethics are transmitted to the next generations of businessmen and if business ethics comes from education. Finally, does it have anything to do with the sustainable development. It is a known fact that there are numerous dimensions of education – sustainable development linkages. Rapid expansion of education has not necessarily been accompanied by rapid economic growth in many developing countries. There is a series of variables to be taken into account when talking about the connection between education and sustainable development. First, it is very important to realize that the educational system influences the way a country develops. Second, the development of a country also influences the educational system. That is why it is necessary to analyze a bidirectional connection, where identifying the difference between a simple educational system and a functional one is of vital importance. Starting from such aspects, this paper aims to emphasize the connection existing between the three concepts: education-business ethics-sustainable development. Using qualitative methods and also statistics, this paper offers an analysis of the way ethics and education influence the development of economy.

The rural sustainable development through renewable energy. The case of Romania

The study aims to analyze the importance of renewable energy and to assess the progress made by Romania comparing to European Union and to targets set by Community institutions. We consider that both economic issues such as job creation or reduction of import dependency, but also ecological issues including reducing greenhouse gas emissions are important in discussions about renewable energy in rural areas in Romania. By using linear regression it has been identified a strong correlation in Romania, for period 2004–2014, between share of renewable resources in gross final energy consumption and import dependency. Taking into account that energetic independence is a problem of great importance for each country, the paper aims to identify unused renewable energy potential in rural areas and also opportunities for developing renewable energy sector based on the resources that can be exploited with high efficiency, action that will generate economic and social positive effects. Our results reveal that Romania has a high development potential of rural areas using renewable energy because Romania has a high volume of renewable resources (sun, wind, water). Under these circumstances it is necessary to adopt the policies in order to support projects referring to these types of energy.

A pilot study on education for sustainable development in the Romanian economic higher education

This paper aims to emphasize how economics courses offered at higher education institutions can influence sustainable development, in general, and Romania’s sustainable development, in particular.,The conclusions are based on a pilot questionnaire conducted by the authors on the level of Romanian students enrolled in public and private economic faculties. The results were based on a sample of 1,250 respondents – students, master and PhD – from the economic faculties of some prestigious Romanian universities. To identify differences between some groups, t-test analysis and ANOVA were conducted.,Education is an important pillar for ensuring sustainable development because through education, people understand and learn how to become more responsible toward the environment. Studies conducted in the twenty-first century are showing a direct link between the investment in education and economic, social and human development. The present study revealed that the economic higher education system in Romania has started with small steps to adapt to the environmental requirements. Unfortunately, the efforts still required to be made are significant, since it is observed that all undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD require a change of attitude and mentality. Romanian public universities are more involved than private universities in the implementation of programs, projects, debates and courses on sustainable development and students’ reactions are positive.,This paper provides useful insights, allowing a better understanding of the role of universities in fostering sustainable development. This research is useful to find solutions for developing education for sustainable development in Romania and it can be a starting point for ESD programs and policies.

The competition policy in the globalisation era

A market economy cannot exist without competition, which represents a guarantee for a free game of the market forces and for building an economic environment able to cope with competitive pressures of the global market. Thus, the legislative framework in the competition field is essential for strengthening the private sector as an engine of growth and development and for prohibiting any restrictive practices by undertakings, which may be shaped as agreements or abuse of dominant position. Starting from such aspects, this paper aims to emphasise the role of the competition in a globalised world.