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Minister of Education Sorin Cimpeanu stated on Friday that the prestige and relevance of university diplomas must be strengthened, specifying that, in a few days, a service of the National Council for Attesting Titles, Diplomas and Certificates (C.N.A.T.D.C.U.) with technical and legal support skills in solving problems in the field will be operational and the development of a strategy to prevent plagiarism is being considered.
"A responsibility that lies on the shoulders of universities is that of consolidating the prestige and consolidating the relevance of university diplomas. It is a problem that we face and that is reflected to a more or less objective extent outside the university environment. (... ) There are problems that we have and we know and with which we fight specifically, systemically, as best we can. Important steps are being taken. I would like to say that in a few days, at the level of the Ministry of Education, a CNATDCU service will be operational, a service that brings together technical and legal support skills to support CNATDCU in an extremely difficult and necessary mission," said Cimpeanu, at the debate "Social responsibility of Romanian universities," organized by DC News Media Group.
He noted that a strategy for preventing plagiarism is being developed.
"Apart from this, I think that the consultation part for the setting up of a plagiarism prevention strategy lies also with universities, we have also discussed this in the CNATDCU general council. Many things have been done, they must be integrated and they must have a sense and a high level of efficiency so that, by combating this phenomenon, by the public perception in which universities are correctly positioned in relation to this phenomenon, we can increase the degree, the credibility of university diplomas, this is a major responsibility of universities, also from the perspective of the university environment credibility," added the minister.
Cimpeanu mentioned that universities have several responsibilities, including reducing inequity in the education system.
"The responsibility of universities extends on a number of fronts: the quality front, the need to support performance without neglecting the broader context in which inequity is a major problem facing the education system, in general, the university education system less than the pre-university one, but we also have there many problems related to the issue of equity. Still on the same front, we have issues related to ethics and integrity, issues that are known and that need to be diagnosed perhaps more accurately, so that we have a real picture and not a distorted image in order to be able to have chances to give to the universities so that they can solve these problems," Cimpeanu appreciated.
He said there is a need for a partnership between academia and the socio-economic environment. "Things outside the university system are perceived differently than we might think, compared to what we see from within the university system," the minister added.
Sorin Cimpeanu also mentioned that the responsibility of universities is important for the training of teachers in pre-university education.
"It is essential and we must identify as soon as possible, we would like this year, a way of organization that will lead us out of that vicious circle in which we complain about the quality of high school graduates in the university environment, and in the pre-university environment we complain about the quality of the professors trained in the university environment. It is a reality that is increasingly becoming an imperative responsibility of the universities," added Cimpeanu.
He also referred to the fact that during this period there are "emotional losses" among students and teachers and there is a need for counselors with a twofold competence - psycho-pedagogical assistance and school counseling - to be present in school.
"We have highlighted the need for counseling in the education system, in addition to the educational losses that will have to be recovered, the recovery will be possible only in time, we have emotional and social losses, we have multiple disorders not only among students, especially because they are the central element, but also among our colleagues. This component of counseling has always been important and I am a follower of a very clear idea, in order to have real counseling, that counselor must have a twofold competence - psycho-pedagogical assistance and school counseling - they must be present in school, to get to know the students, teachers, the learning environment and must know as many of the students' teachers as possible, in order to provide real and effective counseling. (...) More than 6,000 people are needed to be trained with these competencies, and these competencies are the responsibility of the universities towards the society," Cimpeanu also explained.
