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UNIVERSITY ‐‐ INDUSTRYRELATIONS: A ROMANIAN CASESTUDYConstantin BalaPublished online: 06 Jul 2006.

To cite this article: Constantin Bala (1983) UNIVERSITY ‐‐ INDUSTRY RELATIONS:A ROMANIAN CASE STUDY, Higher Education in Europe, 8:4, 17-25, DOI:10.1080/0379772830080403

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Higher Education in Europe, Vol. VIII, No. 4, 1983 17

UNIVERSITY — INDUSTRY RELATIONS:A ROMANIAN CASE STUDY

Constantin BALA

The progress of education at all levels, particularly of higher technicaleducation, as one of the main factors determining the future of a country'seconomy, is a major concern for policy and decision makers in matters of educa-tion. Educational specialists coming from countries at different levels of eco-nomic development have reached a similar conclusion, namely that higher educa-tion is called upon to ensure the thorough training of specialists, by assumingthree complementary functions: to provide students with specialized knowledgeand expertise, to develop their abilities to do research, and to offer them ampleindustrial experience. The latter function is viewed as an application of thefirst two functions.

This paper has two objectives:— to very briefly outline the Romanian concept of the integration of

education in general, of higher technical education in particular, with scientificresearch and production;

— to illustrate this concept by presenting, as a case study, the BucharestPolytechnic and its relationships with research and industry.

I. INTEGRATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION WITH SCIENTIFICRESEARCH AND INDUSTRY

Two decades ago, higher education in Romania was characterized bytheoretical excellence in various fields such as mathematics, physics, chemistry,and engineering; it was however deficient in its ability to establish directrelations with industrial practice. During the four-week periods in each academicyear which students at technical universities were required to spend at industrialenterprises, they merely observed technological processes. During Romania'speriod of industrialization, the technological training of students was ensuredprimarily on campus because industry, just developing at the time, did notyet apply all the fields provided by the education system.

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18 A Romanian Case Study

Since then, particularly since the 197O's, a new concept has been promoted,which has become the basis of education at all levels. Basically, this concept,applied to higher technical education, consists in the organic integration of theteaching and educational processes, with scientific research and production inthe training of youth for work and through work.

As compared to other socio-economic organizations, the technical univer-sity in Romania is placed in a special position in relation to the academic pro-cess. While coordination is provided by the Ministry of Education and Instruc-tion, specific scientific research activities of faculties and departments are spon-sored primarily by the relevant economic ministries. The legislation in forcein Romania stipulates that the economic ministries share in the responsibilitiesfor providing guidelines for educational institutions in their areas and for sup-porting policies leading to the integration of education with scientific researchand production. The boards of university senates and faculty councils include,in certain proportions, representatives of the economic ministries. These pro-visions are meant to facilitate the emergence of direct relationships betweendepartments and faculties, on the one hand, and research institutes and indus-trial organizations, on the other.

II. A CASE STUDY: THE RELATIONS OF THE BUCHARESTPOLYTECHNIC WITH INDUSTRY AND RESEARCH

1. The organizational structure of the Institute

There are 12 faculties in the Bucharest Polytechnic corresponding tosix fields of engineering specialisation namely, electrical, energetic, mechanical,mechanochemical, chemical, and metallurgical. Over 27,000 students are beingprepared to be awarded engineering degrees. These fields of specialization infact include almost all industrial areas: electrotechnics, automation, computers,machine building, power plants, industrial energetics, aircraft construction,agricultural mechanization, transport, chemistry, metallurgy, and technologicalequipment.

Over 3,000 academic staff members (professors, assistant professors, andassociate professors) teach at the Bucharest Polytechnic.

The Institute offers five-year, full-time courses and six-year evening courses.Furthermore, the Institute provides post-graduate training for specialists inindustry through one-year post-graduate courses, and part-time and full-time Ph.D. programmes (four and three years, respectively).

2. Financial Resources

2.1. Facilities and Investment Funds

The facilities at the disposal of Bucharest Polytechnic have recently expan-ded due to the construction and equipping of new educational buildings, teachingand research laboratories, workshops, etc. A computer centre, a thermopower

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C. Bald 19

station, programmed instruction laboratoires, etc., have in addition beenin operation for some time. The purpose of all these facilities is to provideadequate conditions for practical technological and research training alongsidetraditional class work.

The investment funds allotted by the state budget to the Polytechnicexceed one billion lei. In addition, allocation funds of up to a quarter of abillion lei have been paid out over almost a decade by industrial organizationsAvhich have supported the building and equipping of laboratories to be usedboth by industry and by the Polytechnic.

2.2. Self-financing

In addition to funds received from the state budget, the Polytechnicraises funds on its own by charging fees for undertaking research, design, andindustrial projects for industry. At present, over one third of the annual bene-fits necessary for the development and the equipment of laboratories is raisedin this fashion.

Universities in other parts of the world have been able to generate similarpartnerships with industry.

2.3. International Assistance and Co-operation

In order to ensure the rapid progress of certain areas of science and techno-logy of major interest for the training of the specialists the Romanian economyrequires in the fields of computers, strength of materials, high-voltage tech-nology precision mechanics etc., the Polytechnic benefitted from substantialinternational support between 1969 and 1975 as part of a programme sponsoredby the United Nations Programme for Development assisted by Unesco. Inreturn, the Polytechnic makes its own contribution to the training of specia-lists all over the world; over 1,000 undergraduates and Ph.D. students, whoenjoy the same conditions as their Romanian colleagues, are pursuing theirstudies at the Bucharest Polytechnic.

3. Integration of Polytechnic Programmes with Research, Design, andProduction Programmes in Industry

The main industry links of the Bucharest Polytechnic are outlined infig. l,.As apparent from this diagram, these relations work in two directions:

a) as part of the practical work of students and of the research activitiesof both students and teaching staff;

b) as part of post-graduate training and scientific co-operation with specia-lists in industry.

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too

Teachingresearch

1st — 3rd

students

4th 5thstudents

andstaff

year

year

Engineeringgraduates

ThePolytechnicInstitute

ACTIVITIES

[ Research design 1

Further specialisation J

r Practical work training "IL Technological training J"

[" Industrial Design 1I- Research J"

I Engineering work I- Economic organisations— industrial units— research units— design units

Ph.D. studiesPost-graduate coursesTechnico-scientificcooperation

EngineersResearchworkers

Fig. 1. Diagram of the relationships between university and industry

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C. B&la 21

Co-operation with industry gives rise to . significant feedback which isvery useful for the optimisation of the process of education.

3.1 Research

Further details are given below to illustrate the complete freedom whichthe university enjoys in working out its research plans and in selecting.theindustrial organizations in which students will carry out their practical activities.

a) Range of Options : '

In preparing their research plans, departments acting as research unitsselect the industrial organizations with which they wish to co-operate. Theybase their: decisions on how well the topics included in their plans interfacewith the intersts and the activities of the respective organizations. Frequently,however, the departments of the Polytechnic must select areas of interestfrom among those put forward by industry. When a particular problem raisedby industry falls outside the scope of usual academic research concerns butis nevertheless of particular interest to the Polytechnic, the latter studies thepossibility of tackling it itself in one of its specialized departments.

£b) Perfecting the Educational Process

The departments, faculties, and the Senate of the Polytechnic take greatcare to ensure that the research plans and the topics of the research contractssigned with industry have pedagogical value.

c) Interdisciplinary Research

The Polytechnic of Bucharest can carry out interdisciplinary researchalong various lines, due to the wide range of specialities within its depart-ments. Its professional staff includes many mathematicians, physicists, chemists,economists, as well as a large number of specialists in all industrial speciali-zations.

A) Priority Programmes

Of great interest for the research activities of the Polytechnic for hhe1981—1985 period are the priority programmes elaborated in the followingfields: energy conservation, nuclear energetics, new energy sources and storage,microware techniques, interaction of radiation with matter, robotics, newengineering materials, information retrieval and processing, and new manufac-turing technologies applied to machine building.

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22 A Romanian Case Study

3. 2. Effects on the Process of Education

Research in top scientific and technological fields keeps engineering educa-tion in close contact with the practical results of such research. Thus teachersare enabled to impart the most up-to-date information to each new cohortof undergraduates.

As a consequence of its latest scientific concerns, the Bucharest Polytech-nic ranks among the top technical universities in the world in terms of thetraining which it can offer in new fields, such as precision mechanics, machinevibrations and their causes, stability of control systems, uses of microproces-sors and computers in electricity transmission and the control of power grids,laser techniques for non-destructive testing, computer-aided design, etc.

3. 3. Application of the Results of Research in Industry

The requirements of industry have made it necessary for academic researchnot to confine itself to theoretical solutions and laboratory testing but to coverall stages involved in the practical applications of results.

Such a broadened scope entails the construction of component proto-types, equipment, installations, and machines in factory sections or in theworkshops of the Polytechnic. The research recently undertaken by differentteams in the Institute has resulted in the construction of such varied devicesas: vidcoprocessing installations, dimensional control sets, special hybridelectronic circuits, prototypes of electrical batteries with molten salts, chemicalreactives and additives, information retrieval and control apparatuses, etc.

This new trend in academic research has necessitated the organizationof joint teams and the setting up of research units with additional technicalstaff in certain specialized fields, which are grouped around departments orfaculties.

The regulations in force concerning academic research make provisionfor material incentives to stimulate the efficiency, the rate of solution, and thepractical application of academic research. Thus, teaching and research staffcan earn the equivalent of six extra months of salary for research successfullycarried out, patented, and applied in industry or for research projects under-taken in addition to those listed in the research plan of each department.Thanks to this system of bonuses the rate of research has been sped up, thenumber of projects applied in industry has risen, and research teams haveincreasingly concentrated on problems with practical applications.

4. Students' Practical Design and Research Activities

4. 1. Types of practical training activities

In order to facilitate the integration of education with research and pro-duction, the scheduling of academic year programmes has been adapted in anappropriate manner for the practical training of engineers.

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C. Dala 23

a) During the first three years of study students are trained in six broadareas of engineering: electrical, mechanical, energetic, mechano-chemical,chemical and metallurgical. The curriculum allows for a period of 2 monthseach year to be devoted to practical activities so as to ensure technologicaltraining corresponding to the areas in which the students are specializing.

b) In the final two years of study, on the average, half of the time isdevoted to formal instruction while the other half is devoted to research anddesign activities. These activities culminate in the diploma project by whichthe students present the results obtained by the research topics Avhich wereassigned to them.

4. 2. Practical work in Industry

In order to gain practical and technological experience, students aredirectly involved in production processes as members of work teams in thevarious industrial organisations. A student's average work load is one thirdthat of a regular worker.

Students can be paid for the practical work they do. If employed as fulltime workers during their practical training periods, they receive full pay.For example, students in the School of Agricultural Engineering are sche-duled to undergo their practical training in agriculture during spring and autumn.Students are first trained to operate agricultural machines after which theyjoin the work teams of the respective units of agriculture mechanization,earning the same salaries as the other workers. The work they do is extremelyuseful, particularly during harvest periods.

4.3. Practical Training on Campus

Some students do practical work in the laboratories and workshops ofthe Institute, particularly in sections devoted to machine tools and techno-logical aggregates. Thus, they become directly involved in microproductionprocesses. Their range of activities is quite wide, covering supply operations,preparations for manufacturing processes, quality control, and product dispat-ching.

4.4. Research and Design Activities

As part of their research and design activities, students do individualwork under the direct supervision and guidance of professors or senior resear-chers. During this period, they are trained in research methods; they parti-cipate in experimental investigations, etc. Depending on their own inclinationsand interests, they may gradually reach the level of competence and experienceof research trainees who can approach and solve research problems by them-

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24 A Romanian Case Study

selves. They are encouraged to suggest new solutions to problems. Those whoput forward valuable new ideas are helped to obtain patents for them.

Students at the Bucharest Polytechic have obtained patents for originaldiscoveries and inventions concerning the shaping and forming of metallicparts under the action of electromagnetic forces, the non-destructive laserbeam testing of electronic components, the technologies involved in castingin evacuated moulds, the electrical measurement of non-electrical quantities,graphic systems of information processing, the reduction of power losses inhigh current transformer windings, etc.

5. Conclusions

The major positive effects of policies aimed at establishing closer linksbetween education and engineering and research practice became apparentimmediately after the entry into professional work of the first cohort of gra-duates who had gone through the new programme of training. Here are someof them:

a) reduction of the probation period (from 3 years to only 1 year, in certaincases);

b) better knowledge of the practical aspects of the industrial processesand of the needs for the country's social and economic development;

c) development of new production techniques;d) better knowledge of the problems related to the quality, testing, and

reliability of industrial products ; heightened awareness of the need for increasedeconomic efficiency through reductions in the specific consumption of energy,fuel, and raw materials.

In the implementation of the new engineering training programme certaindifficulties have also been encountered:

In the first place, the academic staff members are expected to undertakecomplex guidance and supervisory activities meant to develop the students'potentials and abilities for scientific research, in addition to their responsi-bilities for the transmission of information and knowledge. Hence, professorsare expected to be highly skilled researchers as well as good organizers ofresearch activities. The integration of teaching with research and productioninvolves the joint participation of students and professors in the solutions toproblems. Thus, engineering education comes to resemble medical educationin that, in addition to assimilating theoretical knowledge, the student is suppo-sed to become familiar with complex aspects of his future profession by doing"fieldwork" in factories like medical students in hospitals.

In the second place, the limited number of internships in industry, as wellas the limitation of the period of practical work to a maximum of two monthsper year, cause undesirable interruptions in training as well as in productionprocesses. In industrial units such as chemical plants with high degrees of mecha-nization and automation, the effectiveness of the student's practical trainingas an operator is still rather low.

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• ' • •••• • • C. Baili • ' • • 2 5

5.1. Prospects

a) Some people, not many however, are still of the opinion that the inte-gration of education with research and production may be to the detrimentof the students' thorough theoretical training. Experience has proved, however,that by elaborating new syllabi and curricula a better correlation with practicalactivities can be achieved.

b) The application of the new training programme implicitly results inthe transfer of activities involved in the engineer's probation period to theperiod of his academic studies. Therefore, it is only natural that, underthe circumstances, part of the knowledge exclusively transmitted in the teachingprocess should be acquired by the graduate engineer, either directly in industry,or through post graduate courses. In fact, since the level of present-day indus-trial development in Romania can ensure the complex technological trainingof engineers, it is more efficient to let industry provide for adequate special-ization.

c) The Bucharest Polytechnic will play an ever increasing part in theorganization and development of postgraduate education, which is calledupon to provide deeper theoretical backgrounds for new single-and multi-disciplinary subjects, as well as testing new production and experimentaltechniques.

d) Linking education to industry and research also has a positive educa-tional effect on students, by developing their feelings of respect and high esteemfor all people working in the area of material production, particularly factoryworkers.

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