The Managerial Programme features the managerial experience acquired at Spiru Haret University, where I have held various management positions, including Rector, for 2010-2014.  This experience is added to the involvement, as a founding member of this academic institution and of ‘România de Mâine’ Foundation, into all the endeavors aiming at its establishment and development.

In my position of Rector, the responsibility associated with the office claimed to pursue, protect and strengthen the previous achievements. Similarly, I had to provide, via a realistic, rational, quality-centered management, the growth of the institution in three fundamental areas of activity, namely education, research and relation with the society.

Our mandate is known to have debuted under ominous conditions, derived from both the effects of the Government Resolution in August 2009 and from the climate built around the University, willingly maintained by the opponents of our academic institution.  We all had to put ourselves out in order to balance the situation, as the University was on the verge of collapsing due to their denigration.  We rallied together and started a difficult process of reorganization, whose results are being unbiasedly assessed.

The managerial policies being recommended are the expression of the deep knowledge of the realities at the University, both positive and negative, and of our will to avoid the deficiencies that are still present, in order to be entitled to aim for a higher position of the institution and, evidently, for a safer future.

 

1. Vision, values, mission, objectives and strategic option

The institutional development is a process that does not involve receding from the past and achieving a fresh start.  It is firstly an assumption, evaluation and development of everything that was more valuable in the immediate or farther past. This is the reason why we still support the previously formulated vision, values, mission and goals of the University, which we bring certain additions triggered by the course of the national and international events in the recent years.  To this purpose, we believe that the managerial actions are destined to improve the education and research processes, to increase the quality of the entire activity of the institution, to advance the internationalization process and to boost the visibility and the image of Spiru Haret University in the country and abroad.

           Compliant with the European and Romanian scientific and cultural tradition, Spiru Haret University further assumes its vocation of academic institution, education and research, thus embodying the essential values of the human dignity, freedom of thinking and action, individual responsibility and academic integrity.

           The vision of the University targets the assimilation, development and conveyance of the human knowledge, mainly scientific, to the present and future generations.

           The University aims to the full and harmonious expansion of a system of values, able to contribute to the personal fulfillment, the development of the entrepreneurial spirit, the participation in the active life of the community and society, to being successful on the labor market.

           Spiru Haret University thenceforth assumes the mission of education and research.

           As an institution of academic education, the University general mission is to generate and convey knowledge to the society, plus a string of elements in the higher education tradition (participation in the public debate of ideas; generation of a social and cultural movement at the national level; its change into a cultural and science hub) that reflect the own mission of the University.

           The essential objectives of the institutional development process of Spiru Haret University consist in:

• Promotion of the institution to higher positions;
• Consolidation of the national and international prestige;
• Development of the educational programmes to a high level of international academic reputation;
• A strong improvement of research, to turn into an alternative to income increase of the University;
• Intensive progress of the University involvement in the academic, social, cultural and artistic development of the community.

The strategic option, represented by the orientation towards the future and centered on the student, will be present when the following criteria have been prioritized:

• Cultivating respect for the generally human moral and civic and for the natural, social and cultural, national and international environment;
• Development of a formative education, which provides the future graduates with the skill to improve their training in their area of expertise and their general knowledge;
• Nurturing the beneficiaries of the University offer in the spirit of dignity, tolerance and compliance with the human fundamental rights and freedoms;
• Efficient management of the undergraduate, master and PhD study programmes, for which the youth manifest special interest and that match the current and future needs of the durable development of Romania;
• A constant promotion of interdisciplinarity in the development of the education and research process;
• Achieving a dynamic higher education, able to objectively integrate in the academic curriculum and the course descriptions the latest and the most significant findings worldwide in the knowledge and culture;
• Capitalizing the permanent values of the Romanian education and contributions to the development of education, science and culture.

2. Promoting a new quality in education

The education process is a priority area of the University management.  The dynamics of the changes in the country and abroad, exclusively reflected in this sector, requires a rethinking of the entire educational path and its adjustment to the requirements of the new course in the society development.  To this end, our actions will aim at:

• Organization of training programmes for the academia, in order to improve knowledge and skills required for a student-centered education, so that the student should truly become a catalyst of the process of training and knowledge consolidation;
• Regular training sessions of the academia and students (on work groups) for the improvement of knowledge and the implementation of the concepts of ‘ongoing improvement’, ‘processes of quality ongoing improvement’, ‘quality’, ‘quality management’.
• Initiation, accreditation and support for certain new undergraduate/master study programmes, in parallel with the elimination of the obsolete programmes;
• Diversification of the subjects developing entrepreneurial skills for the initiation of new study programmes;
• A new dimensioning and adjustment of the educational programmes, dependent on the attractiveness for the high school graduates and evolution on the labor market; the administration of the undergraduate/master study programmes for the young people with a genuine interest;
• Initiation and development of a project to attract the high school graduates who have special intellectual skills in competitive educational programmes (by competition and scholarships for top high school students);
• Expanding the study programmes in English and French;
• Increase in the number of educational programmes, organized and developed in partnership with universities from abroad;
• Substantiation of the range of optional subjects to provide the practical consistency to the principle that the student brings his contribution to building his own career;
• Change in the vision upon the lab/project classes, by their change into activities where the teacher is no longer a step-by-step guide, but instead he is an adviser, receiver and evaluator of the papers;
• Increase in the involvement of the students in the teaching activities, including the lecture, seminar, lab classes;
• A sustained pace of the processes of authorization and accreditation of the undergraduate and master study programmes;
• Increase in the usage degree of its own infrastructure, mainly the Blackboard e-learning platform;
• The development of the post-graduate programmes of ongoing training and professional development;
• The expansion of the study programmes organized for the part-time and long distance modes of study.

 

3. Interdisciplinarity and innovation in research

The research orientations and instructions need to comply with the challenges and requirements in the knowledge society, from an interdisciplinary and innovative perspective.

Our choices for this field are as follows:

• Guiding the research toward fundamental and/or applicative topics for which financing chances are higher;
• A substantial time contraction for filing of a research project;
• Promoting a permanent activity where the employers get involved in complying with the conventions in the student practice, including the absorption of the graduates;
• Encouraging the increase of using and dissemination of the research findings in the country and abroad;
• Initiating new partnerships and consolidating the existing ones between Spiru Haret University and other universities, companies, institutions, organizations and professional associations;
• Organizing debates on fundamental topics aiming at the development directions, major issues and challenges in the Romanian society and the contemporary world and an active involvement of Spiru Haret University in such debates;
• Increasing the success rate in the project competitions;
• Increasing the number of the publications with ISI, Thomson, Scopus, etc. citations, and providing their visibility;
• A higher international mobility of the researchers;
• A surging involvement of the students in the research activities;
• Improving the scientific visibility of Spiru Haret University in the national and international educational environment.

4. Empowering the relations of international cooperation

The achievements in this area need to be consolidated and developed, along with initiating new partnerships, opening towards the international contexts, mainly academic, scientific and cultural.

To reach this strategic objective, the steps to be taken are as below:

• Devising an operational programme regarding the development of the international relations of cooperation and partnerships of USH and the promotion of the institution image;
• Identifying and participating in projects and programmes that are financially supported by public or private international bodies;
• Establishing, devising and completing common educational programmes with other universities abroad;
• A higher participation rate of the academia in events of a great international economic and scientific relevance;
• Assistance for the expansion of the international mobilities for students via EU-supported programmes and grants awarded by USH;
• Developing international partnerships for a common organization of the summer schools;
• Encouragement and support provided to the students for their participation in international competitions;
• A higher attendance of USH in the international educational fairs.

5. Competence and performance in human resources

To us, human resources is the determinant of institutional development, having in view the current demands, standards and performance criteria.

To attain such an objective, we aim at fostering the following endeavours:

• the USH (teaching and administration) staff developing professional and entrepreneurial competencies;
• promoting creativity and entrepreneurship as key factors of improving quality;
• ensuring a friendly work environment in line with the fundamental values of the University;
• promoting an efficient performance assessment system;
• providing qualified human resources for teaching classes at international level;
• attracting and recruiting foreign languages teachers from abroad on medium and long term;
• attracting and recruiting skilled Romanian teachers and researchers working abroad, into research projects;
• increased number of graduates finding employment;
• regularly implementing precise criteria on teaching and research staff promotion, constant adjustment of staff structure according to the national and foreign partners’ demands;
• permanently informing the USH teaching and research staff on the current interest issues.

6. Competitive infrastructure and financial balance

The University has a modern and competitive academic infrastructure ensuring the proper operation of the teaching / learning and research processes. Even under the current restrictive conditions, we aim at further providing the material resources, through an efficient managerial strategy, in order to accomplish the University’s mission and objectives through proper funding. To this end, we encourage the following endeavours:  

• elaborating realistic development and investment plans according to the projected income and USH strategic priorities;
• acquiring new licenses and renewing the existing ones for specialized software necessary for the development of the teaching / learning and research processes;
• rehabilitating the deteriorated buildings;
• replacing the used equipment, devices and furniture in the lecture  / seminar rooms and labs;
• wise management of the University financial resources;
• attracting research and donations-based funding;
• adopting a funding strategy based on differentiated fund allocation according to performance;
• identifying the areas requiring improvement in the fundamental educational processes and minimizing costs;
• calculating, assessing and reviewing the costs for each programme of studies;
• efficient use of the spaces and obtaining income from temporary or permanent activities performed in partnership with the private environment. 

The provisions of this Managerial Plan are in line with the 2014 – 2018 strategic objectives of the University and will be permanently adapted to the demands of the teaching / learning and research processes, according to the domestic and international regulations in the field and to the changes in education, research and in the relation with the society. 

The planned strategic actions will contribute to the active involvement of Spiru Haret University in the social, economic and cultural life and will turn the University into an educational, scientific and cultural authority in the spirit of the domestic and European values.

 

Associate Professor AURELIAN A. BONDREA, PhD