Planning for higher education in Socialist Romania. Political priorities or economic needs?

Abstract

The present paper intends to analyze the planning of study places inRomanian higher education during the real Socialist regime. A strict numerusclausus system was in place that enabled a national planning of study placesfor each discipline. The numbers were supposed to reflect the “real” needsof the economy. We use econometric models (VAR regressions and Grangercausality tests) to find if the planning was related to previous and followingGDP values as estimated by an independent source (the Maddison project).The results show that the planning was indeed based on the economic situationas well as on political goals, and even succeeded in positively influencingeconomic development in some areas of study. The economic disaster ofRomanian communism was not caused by deficient planning.