Betting on the Future: Romania Wagers on its Students

The majority of young Romanian students in the field of Social Sciences, and especially those who are studying in Departments such as those of Political Science, Government, European Studies or International Relations, are preparing for a career in Diplomacy or Politics, while an insignificant number of students are enthusiastic about finding a job in the Public Administration. The immediate results may not have an important impact, but on long term, the “trend” might lead to a crisis of specialists.

And what is even worse, this adds to the well-known phenomenon of “brain drain”, a phenomenon first noticed during the 1960s when a mass and permanent emigration of highly skilled people (researchers, scientists, and even graduates) took place and proved detrimental for the economic growth and development of their countries of origin. A similar situation is the current emigration from South East Europe and Romania is not an exception, as statistics show; according to a 2000 survey, 66 percent of Romania’s students have been likely to emigrate (Tascu, Noftsinger, Bowers 2002).

It would be a very hard job to try to put in balance the good aspects of choosing to study in well developed countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom or France and the pro aspects that would convince you to stay home for a university degree. Anyway, the state has been forced not only to start thinking about ways of keeping the best students home, but, also, to develop an efficient plan that would motivate the international students to return after graduating and, in consequence, to use their talents, their professionalism and their ambitions on the benefice of their own country.

In this direction, an ambitious project, The “Romanian Government” Special Scholarship, has been developed by the Romanian Ministry of Education and Research, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) that offers elite Romanian youngsters the possibility to perfect within prestigious universities in Western Europe and North America, attending Bachelor, master and Ph.D. classes with universities chosen by themselves, benefiting of financial support from the state and to build a public manager career in Romania afterwards. The programme has the goal of sustaining the modernization of public administration, by creating a professional and efficient corps of public servants, the one of public managers, by investing in the training of Romanian youngsters and by offering them management positions in the public administration upon return in the country, after graduation.

What is more, the “Romanian Government” Special Scholarship programme offers a viable alternative to the “brain drain”, by investing in the development of the intellectual capital and by creating opportunities for the Romanian youngsters to build a career in the country, in motivating circumstances that would stimulate the competitiveness and professionalism. The programme is in full compliance with the engagements assumed by the Romanian Government, through the updated Strategy of public administration reform acceleration, regarding the operability of the corps of public servants with a special statute, named public managers. The integration into the European Union requires the alignment of Romania to the European standards regarding the public administration, by offering a modern, transparent, efficient and responsible public service.

When I first heard about this scholarship in my last high school year, I was really excited given the fact that I really wanted to experience another educational system, and why not admit, powerfully influenced by the general wish of the young Romanians to leave Romania and maybe not to return for a while. It motivated me to apply for admission at some universities from the United Kingdom and France, but, in part due to the lack of scholarship contests, I did not manage to win the Special Scholarship on the first try. I was accepted by several British universities, but I still did not have the funding opportunity, so I decided to follow the courses of the University of Bucharest. A year after the first scholarship contest, I still had the faith that the contest could give me “a real chance”, just as their motto says, and I subscribed for the second time, with the university acceptance in my pocket, and I won a “Romanian Government” Special Scholarship for 3 years of Politics studies in London, beginning with September 2006. Meanwhile, by meeting all the winners of the scholarship and, also, by taking part in a special pre-departure orientation seminary this summer, I understood the main goals of the programme and how important is it for Romania that we respect our contracts, our promises to accelerate the reform and adapt as soon as possible to the E.U. integration exigencies.

Again, I must admit another wrong and juvenile thought I had, the thought that I would find a job opportunity in U.K. and I would not have to come back to Romania, as the Governmental programme would not achieve its goals. I really believed that the other scholars would only use the funding for study and would try as much as possible not to return. But, as I mentioned before, we had the opportunity to meet each other, to debate continuously, to share our ideas, to work as a real team of public managers and most important to realize that one might find it impossible to change what is wrong, but putting all of our forces together might prove that “impossible is nothing”. What is also important is the fact that the Public Administration can only become a constructive and progressive department of the state as long as more and more young people are beginning to understand its role and as well as the opportunity that it is able to give us. I trust that the “Romanian Government” Special Scholarship project will have a significant positive influence over the management in Public Administration, just like other projects that have yet to come.

There is nothing as inspiring as the feeling you get when you know that you are not the only one who wants to make a difference, that the hope for better days is daily carried on by people with a “different view”.