President Iohannis: Romania's education should train values, unfortunately, this is not the rule,but the exception

Romania's education should cultivate talents and train values, but, unfortunately, this is not the rule, but the exception, President Klaus Iohannis stated on Monday in Cluj Napoca, at the opening festivity of the academic year. 

"The only constant concern of the current Government was to appoint as ministers some persons without any vocation or concern to understand, let alone solve the systemic problems in education. With mediocre ministers one gets only mediocre results. Romania's education should cultivate talents and train values. Unfortunately, this is not the rule, but the exception which we encounter only in certain educational centres, like the one here. Moreover, the youngsters aren't yet offered enough opportunities to build successful careers in the country," the head of state said. 

He underscored that, over the past years, Cluj became a magnet for talented youngsters. 

"Only through the consolidation of strong university centers, with a well-defined culture of quality and with an active cooperation both with the private milieu and European, and international partners, we can provide these opportunities. It's not a coincidence that over the past years we have witnessed a transformation of Cluj into a magnet for talented and ambitious youngsters across Romania. The academia and the economic milieu here have already made these crucial steps toward normality and modernity," Iohannis stated. 

He encouraged the professors to joint forces. 

"I also encourage you to join forces. The Romanian university centres have the opportunity to use in common important resources, bringing together the potential of all the performing universities and research institutes. Without a strategic collaboration approach, based on excellence and meritrocracy, the Romanian universities risk not having notable results in the world rankings. The budget difference between the Romanian universities and those in the international rankings is huge and a possible solution so they become competitive is to create some strong universities through merging or through university poles that have the support of the private milieu, but also of the local authorities," Iohannis also said.