President Klaus Iohannis has attended the opening ceremony of the 2019-2020 academic year at Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca on Monday, telling students and professors that the rulers’ lack of vision in the past years and the mediocre ministers have led to the low budgets and poor results in the research and higher education system.
President Iohannis has slammed the Government one more time, and the ruling Social Democrat Party for naming “mediocre” Education ministers.
“The reality in the past years proved us the rulers have had no vision and no concern for excellence in education. The only constant concern was that some people lacking vocation came and went at the helm of the Education Ministry. They had no concern to understand, much less to solve the systemic problems of the education system. Mediocre ministers can only achieve mediocre outcome,” President Iohannis pointed out.
Klaus Iohannis has added that youth is not provided with enough opportunities to have a successful career, for there are too less strong academic centres that should cooperate with the private business environment, while research is underfunded.
“Education in Romania should breed talents and shape values. Unfortunately, this is not the rule, but the exception that we only see in several universities, as the one here. Moreover, youngsters are not provided with enough opportunities to build successful careers in the country,” he argued, while encouraging universities to cooperate among one other, but also with the private business environment.
“Without a strategic approach of cooperation, based on excellence and meritocracy, the Romanian universities risk having no notable achievements in the world rankings”, Iohannis underlined.
The Romanian head of state has also delivered a message to the students and congratulates them for their civic involvement.
“Youngsters have been at the helm of a true revolution of civic participation in the last years. During the latest elections, you have destroyed the myth of the sluggish and passive youth who is not coming to polls. I congratulate you and I advise you remain as involved as before, ready to sanction the slideslips of the politicians at any moment. By launching startups, fulminating careers and by boosting the civil society, the youngsters have taken over the reconstruction that Romania so badly needs”.