The Academy of Economic Studies (ASE) in Bucharest, one of the largest higher education institutions in the country and one of the main suppliers of graduates, will gradually reduce the number of places available in order to reach 30,000 students in five
"The reduction in the number of students, which will be done gradually by reducing the number of places available, is caused by an insufficient number of teachers. We now have 1,000 teachers for 45,000 students. To ensure the best teaching, we would need twice that amount. Since we cannot get any more than 1,000, we have to reduce the number of students to 30,000," said Gheorghe Rosca, ASE rector.
ASE graduates are among the highest in demand on the domestic labour market, and the reduction in the number of places at the institution could worsen the current shortage of skilled employees.
Many of the young people that graduate from ASE end up being hired in the financial-banking, outsourcing or IT&C industries, and if they worked while in college, could earn 1,000 euros in net amount as soon as they graduate, depending on their specialty and training.
The reduction in the number of places has already started with the admission exam for the 2008/2009 year, which has slashed 600 places from 4,200.
"The decline in the number of places was due to the closure of the 12 of the 16 regional university centres that ASE has. In 2009/2010 we will witness the sharpest decline in the number of places at the Academy, because the number of students doing master degrees will halve, while the number of places for people studying to get their undergraduate degrees will go down by 10-15%," Rosca explained. He added that reductions would mainly target those places for which tuition is charged.
ASE saw 16,000 students graduate in 2007-2008, as a result of the enforcement of the Bologna C
