Culture and Education

In order to have a correct idea about the Romanian culture, we have to mention, from the very beginning, that it includes the following elements:

• the Geto-Dacian tradition, kept, to a certain extent, in the popular culture ( costumes, dances, ceramics etc.) associated with other traditions borrowed from the migrating people with whom the Daco-Roman population came into contact after the withdrawal of the roman armies from the Northern region of the Danube (271 AC).
• the Latin element - which is very strong and prevailing in all the spheres of the manifestation of the folklore culture and that of the "cults" , starting with the language and ending with the phenomena which are specific to art;
• the early presence of Christianity on the current territory of Romania , so that, taking into account the fact that this process coincided with the formation of the Romanian people itself, we can assert that the Romanians were not christianized, but were born Christians.
• The Romanian culture created a pattern by comprising all of these sources of spirituality, a model it enriched during the subsequent ages of evolution. The consciousness of its Latinity represents the characteristic feature of the Romanian cultural pattern.

This cultural pattern with its specificity can be noticed in all cultural manifestations like literature, architecture, music, theatre, filmmaking. A special attention must be paid to Romanian folklore, one of the richest in Europe, part of the Romanian culture, which constitutes together with other cultural manifestations the voices of authentic Romania. These voices of many creators of genius of Romania succeeded, in the course of time to make a "beautiful country" become an "unique country" too.

Referred to or not here, we guard them an everlasting gratitude.

ARCHITECTURE

In the first years of the second century, when Dacia became a Roman province, the material culture of the Dacians interfered with the civilization and art of the Roman Empire. The Roman architecture, with buildings mainly of stone, gave Dacia the military camps (castrum) that guarded the expanded limes of the Empire. In its Transyilvanian nucleus there existed urban settlements with an octagonal structure, the forum being placed at the intersection of the two main streets, with gates and cannons at the entrance into the town: Alba Iulia (Apulum), Turda (Potaissa), Cluj-Napoca (Napoca), Drobeta-Turnu Severin (Drobeta), close to which there was the famous bridge over the Danube - whose pillars have been preserved - built by the Syrian architect Apollodorus of Damascus on commission from emperor Trajan. The Ionian and Dorian colony-citadels, founded as early as the 6th century B. C. (Tomis, Callatis, Histria, Aegyssus, etc.) and having an urban civilization of Mediterranean type, remained under Roman domination until 4th century AD when the Byzantine Empire took possession of them. Architectural fragments unearthed here attest the degree of material and aesthetic comfort.

Mediaeval architecture displays stylistic particularities dependent on the spiritual space to which is belonged: Byzantine (Eastern) Orthodox Christianity or Western Catholicism.

In Transylvania, the Catholic monastic order transmitted successively Romanic, Renaissance and Baroque stylistic forms, under the spur of the evolving styles in Western Europe. At the Roman-Catholic cathedral in Alba-Iulia, the elements of the late Roman style coexist with the early Gothic. In the Transylvanian Romanian villages, the early voivodal buildings evince influences of both architectural styles mixed in original local syntheses (the Strei, Sânta Maria Orlea and Densus churches).

South of the Carpathians, the ecclesiastical architecture will perpetuate typologies and techniques characteristic of Byzantium (the princely St. Nicolae Church of Curtea de Arges, Vodita, Tismana, Cozia, Cotmeana).

The 15th and 16th centuries prove the originality of the architecture in Moldova and Wallachia, attested by many exceptional monuments that have no match in other artistic spaces. The major element is constituted by the religious monuments built under Stephen the Great (1457-1504) in Moldova.

The Byzantine architecture and the decorative elements of Gothic inspiration combine in a novel conception as in the case of the Putna, Patrauti, Voronet, Moldovita, Sucevita, Hârlau, Dorohoi, Neamt and other monasteries. Standing out among these are the famous monasteries painted both inside and on the outside. The rulers of Wallachia consolidated the Danubian citadels (Giurgiu, Braila, Turnu-Severin, etc.) and founded exquisite monuments such as the Dealu monastery, the Episcopal church at Curtea de Arges, or the church of the Snagov Monastery near Bucharest.

In Transylvania, beginning in the latter half of the 15th century, the elements of mature Gothic are obvious in most religious edifices and in some of the lay ones in the main towns: Sibiu, Sebes, Cluj, Medias, Brasov, Sighisoara.

Typical for the mediaeval architecture are also the fortifications of these towns, the most important being the one of Sighisoara, with 14 towers bearing the names of the guilds that defended the town. The castles of the Corvin family in Hunedoara, the Bran Castle, the peasant citadels and the fortified churches provide another example.

In Wallachia, the model of the Episcopal Church in Curtea de Arges BisArgeswas replicated. One can trace it in the narthex of the Caldarusani Monastery (1638), in the Metropolitan Cathedral in Bucharest and the church within the precincts of the Cotroceni Palace (1679), as well as in the most beautiful edifice founded in the Brâncoveanu epoch, the church of the Hurez Monastery (1692).

In Moldova, in the 17th and 18th centuries the religious architecture tends towards new horizons. Three important monuments of the late 16th century- Galata (1584), the St Nicolae-Aroneanu church (1594) with decorative elements that synthesize forms of the cultivate architecture and of the folk art, and the church founded by metropolitan Anastasie Crimca (1608), all in Iasi- are exemplary. They will stimulate the artistic ambitions of voivode Vasile Lupu (1634-1635) who built two unique monuments: the Trei Ierarhi Church (1637-1639), an exquisite edifice the exterior of which is decorated in gold and lapis lazuli, and the Golia monastery (1652), also Iasi.

The acme of the lay and religious architecture of that epoch is connected to the name of ruler Constantin Brâncoveanu. The palace at Mogosoaia, near Bucharest, and the one at Potlogi are examples of the compositional principle and of the whole Renaissance, Baroque or oriental repertory of ornaments.

The principal Romanian architect who promoted a neoclassicism unaltered by other tendencies was Alexandru Orascu (1817-1894). Together with other architects trained at French or German schools, he militated for urban modernization through Western models adapted to the requirements of the Romanian environment. It is to him that we owe the architectural conception of the University (1857) and of the Bulevard Hotel (1865) in Bucharest.

In Transylvania, the neoclassicism with Empire suggestions is asserted in several towns, with a more austere decorative language. The starting point may be considered the Banffy Palace in Cluj.

Eloquent in point of the architectural landscape at the turn of the century is Calea Victoriei avenue in Bucharest, lined by buildings forming an almost integrally conserved reservoir of architecture. Worth mentioning are also monumental buildings such as the National Bank, the Romanian Athenaeum, the National Art Museum, the Justice Palace, the Palace of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Palace of the Savings Bank, in Bucharest or the National Theatres in Iasi and Cluj, the Baroque Palace (the Museum of the Cris Land) in Oradea, etc.

The Romanticist outlook, which also present, uses construction and decorative elements borrowed from the feudal Gothic, resulting in architectural views filtered by the classical laconism: the Sutu Palace in Bucharest, the Cuza Palace (Ruginoasa, Iasi county), the "Caru cu bere" restaurant in Bucharest, the Palace of Culture in Iasi, and many others. In Transylvania, the neo-Gothic Romanticist architecture is tied to the name of Antal Kagerbauer who built the palace of the Cluj Town Hall, whose façade constitutes the starting point for the Transylvanian Neo-Renaissance style. Also, the Peles Castle of Sinaia belongs to the German-school Romanticism.

Remarkable for the Romanticist spirit is the orientation that revives the Romanian mediaeval tradition. The founders of the national school of architecture - for instance, architect Ion Mincu (1852-1912) - creatively take over some specific elements of the autochtonous feudal architecture (the porch with arches, ogees or lancets, specific alternations of fullness and emptiness) and apply them to the neo-Romanian style (the Lahovari house, the building of the "Pub" on Kiseleff AvenuebufDoina, the Central Girls School, the Bucharest Town HallPrimariaBuc, all in Bucharest, as well as the Administrative Palace in Craiova). Peasant architectural style can be seen at the Village Museum in Bucharest. Architects like Petre Antonescu (1873-1965), N. Ghica-Budesti (1869-1943), Grigore Cerchez (1851-1927), Cristofi Cerchez (1872-1955), a.o. embrace the new style. In Transylvania there emerge elements of the Secession style, of the traditional local architecture or of the German Jugendstil. In the South of the country, several edifices in Bucharest and Constanta remind of Art Nouveau.

LITERATURE

The French moralist of Romanian origin named Cioran said the Romanian language was the Romanians' best creation. His assertion is based on the highly poetic character of the Romanian language. A proof in this sense would be, asserts the paradoxical writer Cioran, the fact that the Romanian language - receives easily the translation of the Bible and that of Shakespeare's work!

From Latinity, which continues to represent a fundamental element of the Romanian spirituality and other influences, among which the most important is the Slavic one, comes out a genuine spiritual equation: Latinity plus Orthodoxy. It means a Western spiritual tradition (through language and other elements) and a specifically Southern-Eastern European religion. It is the bridge between two cultures that Mircea Eliade speaks about. This would be, he added, the Romanians' chance. It is the chance of spiritually linking the West and the East.

THEATRE

The beginnings of drama performances can be detected in the primitive forms of folk theatre occasioned by magic rituals, celebrations or ceremonies. Historical documents attest them as early as the Dacian period. Archaeological testimonies point to the existence of an open-air theatre at Histria.

In the Middle Ages, theatrical performances were given at the princely courts or the residences of the big feudal lords, evincing mostly a formal character.

1817 marked the opening of the OravitaTheatre, the first in the Romanian language, while in 1818 the Arad Theatre had its premiere. In 1819 the Theatre of the Red Fountain in Bucharest staged Hecuba by Euripide, featuring Ion Heliade Radulescu, a renowned writer, linguist, politician, and man of culture. The Literary Society, established in 1927, gave a strong impetus to theatrical life in Bucharest. Its masterminds set up the School of Dramatic Art and gave daily performances. The Gazette of the National Theatre was issued in 1835 for the first time and printed Romanian versions of plays by Voltaire, Moliere, Alfieri, Goldoni, Racine and Shakespeare.

In 1836 the Philharmonic-Drama Conservatory of Iasi was founded. In 1840, a group of intellectuals launched in the "Dacia literara" magazine an urge to create a national literature and to encourage original drama. Thus Gh. Asachi, B.P. Hasdeu, Alecu Russo, and Vasile Alecsandri enriched Romanian literature with several plays.

In 1848 the Iasi Theatre was established, and in 1852 the Bucharest Theatre, with a capacity of 1,000 seats. Of the first generation of artists doing honor to the Romanian stage and helping enhance the Romanian drama, mention should be made of: Matei Millo, Mihail Pascaly, Matilda Maior-Pascaly, Costache Dimitriade, Theodor Theodorini, Maria Theodorini, Eufrosina Popescu, Neculai Luchian, Mihail Galino, Frosa Sarardy, Stefan Vellescu.

The foundations of the Romanian theatre were further consolidated by prose writer and playwright Ion Luca Caragiale (1852-1912). Caragiale's artistic maturity came at the time when the Romanian society, after Romania's gaining her independence in 1877, entered a fresh stage of evolution. The ideals and dreams of the Romanian artists and intellectuals implied also a critical view of the social developments. Thus the vein of Caragiale's writing is satirical, inspired from the theatrical realism of the 19th century.

Oher personalities of the same generation with Caragiale, also having contributed to the development of Romanian drama, were: Dimitrie Bolintineanu (1819-1972), Mihai Eminescu (1850-1889), Ioan Slavici (1848-1925), Alexandru Davila (1862-1929) and Barbu Delavrancea (1858-1918). In the first decades of activity of the National Theatre several actors gave memorable performances, going down in the history of Romanian theatrical performance: Grigore Manolescu, Stefan Iulian, Mihai Mateescu, Aristizza Romanescu, C.I. Nottara, Aristide Demetriad, Ion Brezeanu, Petre Liciu, Vasile Toneanu, Petre Sturdza, Ion Mortun, Maria Ciucurescu and Aglae Pruteanu.

The pace of Romanian drama was further enhanced in the period between the two world wars. Crucial problems of human existence were contemplated and treated philosophically. The most representatives playwrights of that period are Camil Petrescu (1894-1957), Lucian Blaga (1895-1961), G.M.Zamfirescu (1898-1939), Gib Mihaescu (1894-1935), Nicolae Iorga (1871-1940), Victor Eftimiu (1889-1972), Mihail Sebastian (1907-1945), Victor Ion Popa (1895-1946), G. Ciprian (1883-1968), and Tudor Musatescu (1903-1970).

When the communist regime was installed, the socialist realist style was imposed. However, many playwrights tried to communicate their ideas and messages through parable and parody, or have placed the action of their plays outside time. In spite of some aesthetic concessions, contemporary Romanian theatre has important authors, such as: Horia Lovinescu, Paul Everac, Theodor Mazilu, Ion Baiesu, D.R. Popescu, Marin Sorescu (1936-1996), Tudor Popescu, Iosif Naghiu, Dumitru Solomon, Romulus Guga, I.D. Sarbu, Matei Visnec.

In the performing art of the last decades exceptional actors have increased the prestige of the national theatre school: Lucia Sturdza Bulandra, Ion Manolescu, George Vraca, George Calboreanu, Stefan Ciubotarasu, Costache Antoniu, Constantin Ramadan, Grigore Vasiliu- Birlic, Al. Giugaru, Silvia Dumitrescu Timica, Silvia Popovici, Gheorghe Cozorici, Octavian Cotescu, Toma Caragiu, Amza Pellea, Radu Beligan, Irina Rachiteanu, Gina Patrichi, Olga Tudorache, Valeria Seciu, Leopoldina Balanuta, Irina Petrescu, Carmen Stanescu, Tamara Buciuceanu, Draga Olteanu, Marin Moraru, Gheorghe Dinica, Stefan Iordache, Ion Caramitru, Victor Rebengiuc, Mircea Diaconu, Ovidiu Iuliu Moldovan, Petre Gheorghiu, Dan Condurachi, Claudiu Bleont, Serban Ionescu, Florina Cercel, Florin Zamfirescu, Dem Radulescu, Stefan Banica, Mariana Mihut, Maia Morgenstern, Adrian Pintea, Oana Pellea. Among the most important theatre directors there are Liviu Ciulei, Lucian Pintilie, Radu Penciulescu, David Esrig, Dinu Cernescu, Horea Popescu, Ion Cojar, Silviu Purcarete, Catalina Buzoianu, Alexandru Tocilescu, Alexa Visarion, Dominic Dembinschi, Cristian Hadjiculea, Tompa Gabor, Alexandru Darie - many of them known outside Romania. Andrei Serban holds a special place among theatre directors, and has earned a deserved celebrity worldwide by his stagings.

Romanian contemporary theatre companies have received prizes and appreciation in numerous international festivals and have completed successful tours throughout Europe.

The theatrical instruction of the students is done in higher education institutions. These are: The Theatre and Film Academy of Bucharest, The Theatre Academy in Târgu Mures - with Romanian and Hungarian sections - and numerous Theatre Faculties within private universities in several Romanian cities.

MUSIC

The Christianization of the Daco-Roman population in the North of the Danube led to the development of religious music. In the Middle Age, the Romanian musical art becomes an original spiritual reality acknowledged as such. The Wallachian dance is mentioned in many European musical Codexes.

The Renaissance and the Baroque epoch spurred the process of musical creation both in monasteries and in the princely citadels of Suceava and Iasi (Moldova), Alba Iulia (Transylvania) and Bucharest (Wallachia).

The autochthonous element gains ground in the liturgical music. The Putna School was for nearly one century (1490-1585) the most important Romanian music school. Besides lectures on musical theory, rules of interpretation and creation were also taught. Another music school famous at that time was the Transylvanian Counterpoint School at Sighisoara, Bistrita, Sibiu and Brasov. Important names are Ioan Caianu main, a composer and gatherer of Romanian folk music, Dimitrie Cantemir, the ruler of Moldova, who was a connoisseur of folk traditions and customs, of musical instruments and ceremonial music, and Anton Pann, an author of lay and profane music who also collected literary and musical folklore. Economic and social prosperity favored the emergence of new forms of musical manifestation: concert ensembles and theatrical-musical troupes. In Oradea, Timisoara, Bucharest, Sibiu and Brasov there functioned groups of the type capela musicale and collegium musicum. In the last quarter of the 18th century opera performances, too, gained ground.

The times that came after the Union of the Romanian Principalities (1859) and the state independence (1877) witnessed a cultural upsurge. The first Conservatories were set up in Iasi (1860) and Bucharest (1864) and then was created the Romanian Philharmonic Society (1868).

With folklore tulnic as a source of inspiration, composers like J.A. Wachmann, Carol Miculi, Alexandru Flechtenmacher, Eduard Caudella, Gavriil Musicescu, Ciprian Porumbescu, Gheorghe Burda, and Gheorghe Dima composed choral and vocal-instrumental music, opera, operetta and vaudeville. The work and activity of these founders of the professional Romanian music mark the birth and assertion of the national musical school and herald the rise of a genius: George Enescu.

The creation of George Enescu (1881-1955) covers several historical stages in the development of music and raises the value of modern Romanian music to the level of word art. After the Romanian Poem op. 1 (1897), the Romanian Rhapsodies op. 11 (1901) are considered his best other symphonic or chamber works or in his masterpiece, the opera Oedipus, he started from the time's musical language in which he brilliantly incorporated elements of the national art.

George Enescu was not only a great composer, pianist, violinist, conductor and professor but also a tireless promoter of the Romanian musical life. In 1931 he was elected a honorary member of the Romanian Academy.

Enescu's generation was also marked by other names such as D.G. Kiriac, Sabin Dragoi , Mihail Andricu, Dimitrie Cuclin, Filip Lazar, Martian Negrea, Mihail Jora, Al.Zirra, Paul Constantinescu, Tiberiu Brediceanu with works performed also abroad and then the conductors Constantin Silvestri, Ionel Perlea, Sergiu Celibidache, George Georgescu, who were famous throughout the world. The musicologists Constantin Brailoiu and George Breazu are considerated trailblazers at an European level. Dinu Lipatti (1917-1950) was highly appreciated as en outstanding piano player.

The contemporary composers - Tudor Jarda, Sigismund Toduta, Wilhelm Berger, Zeno Vancea, Gheorghe Dumitrescu, Pascal Bentoiu, Aurel Stroe, Anatol Vieru, Stefan Niculescu, Adrian Ratiu, Myriam Marbe, Carmen Petra-Bascopol, Tiberiu Olah, Theodor Grigoriu, a.o. - have combined the traditional vein of the Romanian music with the new expressions in modern creation, opening a universal vista to Romanian music.

In the last decades we have also had a remarkable generation of conductors: Mihai Brediceanu, Iosif Conta, Emanuel Elenescu, Ludovic Baci, Mircea Basarab, Mircea Cristescu, Cristian Mandeal, Horia Andreescu, Marin Constantin, as well as of soloists - Valentin Gheorghiu, Ion Voicu, Aurelian Octav Popa, Dan Grigore, Stefan Ruha, Cristina Angelescu - and opera singers: Elena Cernei, Zenaida Palli, Nicolae Herlea, Dan Iordachescu, Ion Buzea, David Ohanesian, Octav Enigarescu, Nicolae Florei, Iolanda Marculescu, Viorica Cortez, Ileana Cotruba, Mariana Nicolesco, Iulia Buciuceanu, Eugenia Moldoveanu, Gheorghe Crasnaru, Ludovic Spiess, Cornel Stavru, Angela Gheorghiu, Ruxandra Donose, a.o.

FILM MAKING

In 1896, in Bucharest, at the headquarters of daily L'Independence Roumaine were screened the first films by the Lumière brothers.

In 1902, a Romanian photographer, Paul Menu, achieves the first new reels shot in Bucharest with a Lumière camera. In 1912 Grigore Brezeanu signs the film "Independence of Romania", the most significant Romanian film dating back to the beginnings of this art, an evocation of the Romanian-Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878.

1924 is a year marked by the debut of two talented directors, Jean Georgescu (1904-1993) and Jean Mihail (1896-1963). The National Cinematographic Office is set up in 1938 edition of the Venice Film Festival, the documentary "Tara Motilor" by Paul Calinescu wins the Grand Prix.

The founder of the Romanian cartoon school, Ion Popescu-Gopo, makes his debut in 1951. With his "Short History" Gopo wins, in 1957, the Palme D'Or at Cannes International Festival. 1959 is the year when the Film Studios at Buftea open.

In 1961 director Liviu Ciulei makes his debut with "The Waves of the Danube" which wins the Crystal Globe at Karlovy Vary Festival. In 1965 Liviu Ciulei 's film "The Forest of the Hanged" is awarded the best director prize at the Cannes Festival.

This is a time when a generation of good directors assert themselves gradually: Lucian Pintilie, Iulian Mihu, Manole Marcus, Malvina Ursianu, Geo Saizescu, Andrei Blaier, Elisabeta Bostan, Lucian Bratu, Sergiu Nicolaescu, Mircea Muresan, Mircea Sãucan, Savel Stiopul .Year 1975 was marked by a record production of films - 25.

The directors Mircea Daneliuc, Doru Nastase, Constantin Vaeni, Stere Gulea, Alexa Visarion, Alexandru Tatos, Dinu Tanase, Nicolae Margineanu, Tudor Marascu, Serban Marinescu, Ion Carmazan, Radu Gabrea, Iosif Demian, Mircea Dragan, Dan Pita, Laurentiu Damian, Mircea Veroiu, Serban Marinescu, after 1975. This "new wave" of remarkable talents is credited with some of the best Romanian films. Many films by these directors won important international prizes (Berlin, Venice, Moscow, Panama City, San Remo, New Delhi).

1990 is the year when the Romanian film-making enters a new stage, a wide-scope process of restructuring. Cinematography is now independent but the difficulties of the transition to a market economy affect this field as well. In conditions of an austere budget there is no question of a large number of films. The organizational structures have been reshuffled, the National Cinematographic Office has been set up (with state subsidies) to stimulate and support the national film-making and promote Romanian films abroad.

Some of the best films of the last years are: "Libra","The Oak" and "Unforgettable Summer" by Lucian Pintilie, "The Eleventh Commandament", "The Conjugal Bed", "Fed Up", "The Snails' Senator" by Mircea Danieliuc, "Hotel de Luxe" (awarded the Silver Lion at Venice, 1992), "Pepe and Fifi" by Dan Pita, and "Asphalt tango" by Nae Caramfil.

EDUCATION

For the period 1998-2000 the education continues the systemic reform of restructuring and modernizing the entire educational system based on cultural-humanistic, moral and scientific values.

1.1 The objectives of educational policies

The strategy of the educational reform:

• redimensioning of the social role of education by redefining the position of the school within community, redefining of the quality and the efficiency of the educational process in accordance with an open, dynamic and democratic society as well as with the requirements of European integration;
• the structural optimization of the educational system, the decentralization of decisions and school autonomy, expending and diversifying of the educational offer to respond to the requirements of the labour force market;
• the elaboration of school books to reestablish the historic truth on scientific basis on the past of the Romanian people and the correction of some errors and false interpretations in the field of social human sciences;
• the privatization of an important segment of the State education system, at all levels;
• the elimination of restrictions from the public education in the mother-tongue of the ethnic minorities as well as giving up the State monopoly in the organization and financing of the education offer in support of the alternative communitary and confessional education systems.

1.2 Main restructuring and modernizing directions

• the consolidation of curriculum reform: plans, programs, manuals, evaluation;
• ensuring an offer of manuals and didactic materials;
• the continuous training of didactic personnel within flexible programs;
• the improvement of flexible methods of shortening the period of schooling for the super-endowed children;
• the reorganization of the professional and technical education, in the sense of its adapting to the requirements of the labour market - inclusively in the languages of ethnic minorities - by reducing the schooling figures starting with the level of gymnasium for the declining professions;
• the consolidation of the universitary autonomy and the creation of incentives for the introduction of some new directions according to the requirement of the market economy;
• diversification of the financial resources of the public education; the increase of efficiency of the use of the resources allocated and the promoting of the decision making autonomy;
• the simplifying of the regulations regarding the recognition of studies, the equivalence of diploms and titles obtained abroad and giving an impulse to the finalization of some bilateral agreements in this sense.

1.3 Measures regarding the education in the language of ethnic minorities

• sustaining the Law for approving the Urgent Ordinance no. 36/1997 of the Government and its norms of appliance, inclusively of those regarding the creation of an adequate frame removing the restriction in the languages of ethnic minorities according to the protocole signed by the coalition partners and of the understandings reached between them;
• widening of the institutional frame of the State academic education through multicultural universities and depending on necessities, self sufficient institutions in the languages of ethnic minorities;
• the elaboration and approval of the norms regarding material support granted by public authorities to the saecular education structures, set up by the official recognised religious cults (according to the Urgent Ordinance no. 36/1997 of the Government).

THE ROMANIAN EDUCATION SYSTEM

Schooling is free and compulsory for children aged between 6 and 16 in the state schools. Suitably-qualified pupils can progress to upper secondary education in general secondary schools, grammar schools, professional schools or vocational institutes.

Education legislation
The legal basis for the higher education is provided by the Educational Act adopted in 1995.
Romanian has both public and private higher education institutions.
Higher education is provided in education and research institutions: universities, institutes, academies, conservatories and university colleges.
Higher education is organised in two types: short-term university education (3 years programs organized in university colleges), and long-term university education (4-6 years, provided in universities, academies, conservatories).