Transformations  in
Business & Economics

Performance of Academic Research in Romania: The View of Academics from Bucharest University of Economics
Rodica Milena Zaharia

ABSTRACT. This paper tries to answer to several questions related to this issue. One of these is why academic research is such a sensitive aspect for the Romanian society. Another aspect that this paper wants to highlight is the particular case of the Bucharest University of Economics. It is the intention of this paper to identify what is the opinion of our academics about the research activity in our university, how do they appreciate the evaluation system of the academic research and how do they consider that this system can be improved. A qualitative research (based on focus-group and in-depth interviews) was conducted in order to find out answers to these questions. The conclusions reveal a resistance that academics from Bucharest University of Economics have against academic research for many reasons. The evaluation system is considered to be too restrictive by academics from this university; however, academics from Bucharest University of Economics are in favor of an evaluation system of academic research which does not differ significantly from the systems used in other universities. Some suggestions are offered by this paper in relation to the conclusions.

KEYWORDS: academic research, higher education, Bucharest University of Economics, performance measurement, Romania.

JEL classification: A29, I23, I29, M39, P2.