Transformations  in
Business & Economics

Students’ Experience in Romanian Higher Education: A Comparative Institutional Approach
Luminita Nicolescu

ABSTRACT. Starting from the lack of empirical evidence about students’ experience at university level generally in Romania, this paper envisages bringing more insight into students’ experience through empirical evidence from two Romanian higher education institutions. Based on two individual studies conducted at faculty level in the two higher education institutions, a comparison is drawn in terms of the experiences of their students. Main results of the comparison illustrate that the two institutions are perceived well in similar respects mainly related to the academic side and less well also in similar respects mainly related to the non-academic side. The findings make us believe that there is place for generalization of a number of proposals for the improvement of student experience for most Romanian HEIs. The last section comprises a number of proposals for the improvement of student experience in Romanian higher education institutions.

KEYWORDS: students’ experience, higher education, student satisfaction, teaching and learning experiences, Central and Eastern Europe, Romania.

JEL classification: A22, I23, P36, P2.