Romania in the European Educational Landscape: Skills, Opportunities, and Challenges

Abstract Education and economic performance are key factors in the formation of individual and social development and directly influence the well-being and long-term prosperity of the country. In the context of the European Union, the member states have disparities on the main educational and economic indicators. While Romania made an important progress in the last decades regarding the alignment of workforce with education and economic performance at European standards, it’s still facing major challenges. An ineffective management of human resources led to an imbalance between the active and inactive population. This shows a crucial need of adapting the higher education system to labor market’s demand by raising the education quality, flexibility of university programs, introducing internships, and supporting the graduates transition to jobs appropriate to their training. These measures aim to reduce unemployment rate and reinforce the connection between education and economic performance. This paper uses hierarchical cluster analysis to determine Romania’s position in the European educational field and highlight the similarities with the other member states. We found that Romania has a similar position in the EU as Bulgaria and Cyprus, among other countries, offering potential for growth in educational investment and the integration of graduates into the workforce. Also, this cluster analysis generally indicates notable differences among the educational systems in the European Union. It highlights Romania’s potential for improvement in areas such as attracting international students and spending on tertiary education.