Hi Charles Really interesting posts on Romania and Cluj - both here and elsewhere. Really whetting my appetite for the place. Perhaps I'll do some exploring soon. Huw

Hi again, I thought I would add a few comments on this having had eight years experience of Romania where I have had a good understanding of the development of the Romanian graduate and postgraduate educational systems. Post 1989 it used to be the case that there were only the four main State Universities. To gain a place you ahd to pass an entrance exams. Standards were exceptionally high. Since that time their has been an explosion in University education with significant expansion through the private sector and the 'upgrading' of Colleges to University status. This is similar to what happened in the UK with the old Polytechnics becoming Universities. Just as happened in the UK in my opinion quality of education has suffered...but is still superior to that of the UK. As part of the process of European harmonisation promoting the mobility of labour there are a number of international agreements which promote the harmonisation of qualifications and training....see for example the Bologna Agreement which has already had the effect of reducing Romanian graduate education from four years to three years and ensuring that Masters courses are of two years duration rather than one. The overriding factor for me that preserves what Neil rightly calls the Communist legacy is the attitude of parents and the strength of the family. Parents believe that education will give their children a better future and of course children believe this too. It is usual to have a Degree and a Masters and many Romanians are sufficiently talented to study internationally. Doctorates are also part of the normal educational agenda for a significant number. So what is critical is this belief that education will give young people a better future. This belief has to be turned into reality hence the importance of foreign investment and European salaries to keep these talented people in their own country and build its future. What is also interesting about Cluj is the growing number of foreign students studying here. Why are Indians an dothers coming here to study medicine...an even IT? Going back to one of Neil's earlier questions about the course of the fact that Romanians are second only to Indians working in the field of IT in the UK....if you looked at the numbers as a petrcentage of the population or of graduates...Romanians would not be second...they would be in a different League all on their own! Kind regards Charles