Romania has long way to go in higher education: president

Romanian universities are nowhere near winning a place among the top 500 institutions of higher learning in the world, a fact that will raise the alarm over the country's higher education, Romanian President Traian Basescu said on Monday.

"None of the Romanian universities has half of the number of points necessary for being included among the first 500 universities of the world," Basescu said at the opening ceremony of the academic year 2006-2007 at Transilvania University in Brasov in central Romania.

"This means we have a long way to go," the president said.

"The allocation for school infrastructure was this year 17.5 times higher nationwide as compared with last year," said Basescu.

The president said a "highly performing" educational system, together with the health system, was vital for the positive evolution of the society.

In this regard, three factors -- the quality of education, competitiveness and the equality of opportunities -- must be taken into account, he added.

Source: Xinhua