The universities’ professional formation programs in the general area of studies “Law” will be assessed by the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education. On December 16, the Ministry of Education and the Agency signed a contract for the provision of external assessment services, IPN reports.

The Romanian Agency’s head Ioan Curtu told a news conference that the process will last for a year and will include several stages, starting with self-assessment, which will be carried out by every institution, and ending with visits by the team of experts to universities.

Every university will obtain a qualification level: confidence; limited confidence, and lack of confidence. The faculties that will lack confidence will be liquidated, while those that will enjoy limited confidence will have one year at their disposal to comply with the quality standards.

Minister of Education Maia Sandu said that they want programs of a high quality to be used in Moldova and they must know what’s going on in the education institutions. “The justice reform is a priority in Moldova. The external assessment is important at internal level, when we want to attract students and to have clear evidence of what is happening in our institutions,” she stated.

Minister of Justice Oleg Efrim said that there are many institutions preparing jurists in Moldova, but the quality of studies leaves much to be desired. “I’m sure that after this assessment, we will have the expected results. Only those who can ensure education of a higher quality will remain on the market,” he added.

Also in 2014, there will be assessed the State University of Medicine and Pharmaceutics “Nicolae Testemitanu”. The assessment will be carried out by the World Federation for Medical Education.