SPECIAL Informat.ro / "We are not lacking diplomas". How does Romania actually stand in terms of the number of higher education graduates compared to the EU, in the context of Ilie Bolojan's statements.

Ilie Bolojan's statement "we lack diplomas" contradicts the statistical picture of Romania: we are, in fact, one of the EU countries with the fewest higher education graduates, while the educational dropout rate remains structurally problematic. Moreover, the way the Government cuts the doctoral allowance - quickly, proportionally, and without an impact study - risks penalizing both imposture and academic performance indiscriminately and deteriorating the relationship with the academic environment, exactly at a time when Romania needs more, not fewer, well-trained people.

"All sectors of the administration participate in this effort. We agreed that the measure to reduce expenses in the university area should start from autumn, the proposal came to halve the allowance for doctorates. This is a practice that you will not find in Western European countries; it was introduced in our country. We do not lack diplomas, but competencies, dedication. We have many talented people, and the fact that you are a teacher at a university in Romania is compensated by the teaching staff you have," Bolojan conveyed on Tuesday evening, at the adoption of the reform package that cuts the doctoral allowance to only 500 lei gross, in 2026.

The Government decided, through an emergency ordinance, that the allowance for the scientific title of doctor will be capped at 500 lei gross per month in 2026, compared to the current cap of approximately 950 lei gross (an amount frozen for years at the level of the minimum wage since 2018). In terms of net income, we are talking about a decrease from about 550-580 lei to approximately 293 lei, which is almost a 47% cut for those who benefit from this right.

Romania in European statistics: few graduates, still high dropout

The context invoked by the Prime Minister - the idea that Romania has "too many diplomas" - is contradicted by official data regarding the share of higher education graduates.

In 2024, only 23.2% of young Romanians aged 25-34 had higher education, Romania being last in the EU for this indicator, far from the European average of 44.1% and even below Italy, Hungary, or other states in the region.

In 2023, Romania had about 22.5-23% graduates of tertiary education in the 25-34 age group, while the EU average was about 43-44%; the target for 2030 is 45% at the level of the European Education Area.

Countries like Ireland, Luxembourg, or Cyprus exceed 60% of young people with higher education, while Romania drags down the EU average.

On dropout, the statistical picture is more nuanced:

On the Eurostat indicator cited by Digi24, only 1.5% of young Romanians aged 15-34 report having dropped out of an education or training program at least once, well below the EU average of 14.2%, with Romania being among the countries with "the fewest reported cases."

At the same time, however, official documents and interpellations underline that Romania has one of the highest early school dropout rates (16-17%) almost double the EU average, when looking at the classic indicator of "early school leavers" (young people aged 18-24 who have not completed high school and are no longer in education).

In other words, while a specific Eurostat indicator shows "few reported dropout episodes" across a wide age range, structural indicators - the share of university graduates, early dropout at ages 18-24 - indicate a chronic problem of keeping young people in the system and transitioning to higher education. In this context, the statement "we lack diplomas" seems more like a rhetorical signal to public opinion, built on the perception of plagiarism scandals, rather than on the overall statistical picture, in which Romania has too few quality diplomas, not too many.

Reactions from universities and unions: between revolt and disbelief

The academic environment and education unions reacted quickly and, in general, critically.

The president of the Alma Mater Federation, Anton Hadăr, calls the measure "unreasonable" and warns that "we will remain at the bottom of Europe in the number of graduates with doctoral titles," emphasizing that the doctoral allowance is already "capped from cap to cap" and that the effects of the reduction are felt especially by university staff at the base of the salary pyramid.

Hadăr explicitly states that the unions accept the idea of a "belt-tightening effort," but "not at any cost and not in any way," criticizing the fact that the measure hits indiscriminately and is not accompanied by a real reform of performance criteria or a consistent fight against plagiarism.

The National Federation of CultureMedia demands the maintenance of the allowance at the current level and the withdrawal of the provision, citing the lack of real consultation and the risk of demotivating researchers and specialists in culture and press with doctoral titles.

At the level of university leadership, Bolojan's statements regarding consultation with rectors are nuanced or contradicted:

The rector of "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University in Iași, Liviu George Maha, stated that the cut in the doctoral allowance was not proposed by the National Council of Rectors, contradicting the narrative that universities explicitly assumed this measure.

At the same time, Edupedu notes that the Prime Minister insists on the idea that the reduction came "following discussions with representatives of the universities," which suggests either a formal consultation or a negotiation in which the academic environment had, in reality, little maneuvering room in the face of the political decision to reduce expenses.

Bolojan's discourse axis - "we lack diplomas, but competencies" - touches a sensitive point, but does so in a way that mixes two distinct plans. On one hand, there is a broad consensus that Romania has generated, in the last two decades, a disproportionate number of doctoral titles in certain areas of administration and politics, under conditions of questionable quality and with a high degree of plagiarism and formalism. On the other hand, Eurostat data shows that, overall, Romania has a very low share of young people with higher education and is at the bottom of the EU in educational outcome indicators.

In conclusion, the reduction of the doctoral allowance, as it is currently formulated, is a measure of austerity, not an educational policy; there is no correlated package of quality criteria in the OUG, filtering out weak programs or strengthening anti-plagiarism mechanisms.

Historian and researcher Dorin Dobrincu (A.D. Xenopol Institute) harshly criticizes both the Government and the "comfort of the academic environment" that accepted for years the politicization and inflation of titles, only to now bear an indiscriminate cut.

According to him, the OUG penalizes uniformly, without distinguishing between fields where the doctorate is essential for research and training (fundamental sciences, medicine, engineering, social sciences with public policy impact) and areas where the title has been used mainly for prestige and salary increase in administration. It may discourage young researchers and university staff at the beginning of their careers, for whom the doctoral allowance was one of the few forms of financial recognition in an otherwise underfunded system, according to Anton Hadăr.

Synthesis made with the help of a data monitoring flow provided by the media monitoring platform NewsVibe Romania. The analysis presented has been enhanced with the help of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence tools.