PROFESSOR RAZVAN LIVIU NISTOR ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IRIMIE EMIL POPA PROFESSOR ADRIANA TIRON TUDOR

DEVELOPMENT OF THE CURRICULUM FOR MASTER IN THE FIELD OF THE EUROPEAN FUNDS BY A COMPLEMENTARY APPROACH OF THE THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL ISSUES PROFESSOR RAZVAN LIVIU NISTOR ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IRIMIE EMIL POPA PROFESSOR ADRIANA TIRON TUDOR PHD CANDIDATE GEORGETA ANCUTA SPAN

INTRODUCTION • The university education system is responsible with the preparation of the future practitioners who will occupy the positions available on the labor market. Although the labor market requirements are constantly changing due to the increasing complexity of the economic, financial and social context, the academic preparation of the students do not fully meet the format required by the practical environment • One of the most important domains which has significantly contributed to the economic, financial and social improvement is represented by the European Structural Funds. This method was made available by the European Union, since 2007, for their members states • The ESF is a very actual field, has but practice demonstrated that the implementation of such projects is quite difficult. To increase the efficiency of contracting, implementing and managing the European projects with ESF funding is necessary a rigorous preparation of the specialists in this area • Our material aims to present a European project entitled "The adaptation of the university curriculum, at master level, to the labor market requirements in Romania on the projects financed from structural and cohesion funds" whose objective is the specialization of the students in the auditing and financial management of projects financed by the structural and cohesion funds

The project "THE ADAPTATION OF THE UNIVERSITY CURRICULUM, AT MASTER LEVEL, TO THE LABOR MARKET REQUIREMENTS IN ROMANIA ON THE PROJECTS FINANCED FROM THE STRUCTURAL AND COHESION FUNDS" is an idea belonging to the academic professors of the Faculty of Economic Sciences and Business Administration (FSEGA) from Babes-Bolyai University (BBU) in Cluj-Napoca • Our POSDRU project aims to decisively contribute to the adaptability of the graduates to the higher skilled labor market requirements, therefore it was created a master program entitled "Audit and financial management of the European funds" (AMFFE) in partnership with the West University of Timisoara, precisely the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

PREMISES OF THE PROJECT • The need of the project is based on the following premises: • the lack of studies on the labor market needs when the higher education institutions offer and financed masters programs level; • the graduates are not adapted to market demands; • the employers feel the acute need for the selection of professional well-trained graduates expertise in auditing and expertise field, in general, and especially on the projects financed by the structural and cohesion funds; • the existence of a specialized education at master level, driven close to an exclusive way to fundamental research, rather than to the applicative part; • the lack of master-level forms of education focused on the issues covered by this project; • master study programs are conducted without the existence of consultation with practitioners on auditing and expertise of the projects; • practice and projects are poorly defined in the curricula of universities; • curricula are heterogeneous from a college or university to another, are not oriented towards practice and few times they have truly interdisciplinary approach; • the low rate of funds accessed by the new member states that not always fully prepared to absorb funds.

A NEW APPROACH OF THE MASTER PROGRAM • The AMFFE master program project started in 2010 and will run over three years • In addition to the UBB and UVT partnership, a special role in the project is represented by the involvement of practitioners from different institutions, entities and bodies involved in the structural and cohesion funds in both development regions of the two universities involved in the project • The difference between the existing masters in the field and the one proposed by our project is the symbiosis between the two sides of the education system, namely theory and practice in the structural and cohesion funds • The master program aims to develop a close relation between the higher education institutions and the entities from the practical environment that are already beneficiaries of such projects. • The master classes, seminars and training will be held not only by the teachers of the two faculties, but also by practitioners with large experience in the European projects. The practitioners have different professional backgrounds and are involved in the process of accessing, implementation and verification of the projects financed from the structural and cohesion funds.

A NEW APPROACH OF THE MASTER PROGRAM • The master students in the project will have the opportunity to implement their theoretical knowledge by working with various entities in practical environment, including conducting of internships in the field • An important benefit that AMFFE master offers to its graduates is the fact that their graduation diploma is recognized by the national body of statutory auditors, namely the Chamber of Financial Auditors in Romania (CAFR). On the basis of the degree recognition, the graduates will be able to obtain the quality of trainee auditor, and after the completion of their training through a competency exam will receive the quality of financial auditor, member of the CAFR • The partnership between UBB and UVT aims to strengthen the relations among the universities and to achieve an experience exchange among the teachers of both faculties. More specifically, in order to ensure the transparency of our project there will be an exchange of experience among the teachers of the two higher education institutions, which means that they will move at the partner to conduct different classes or seminars.

STAGES OF THE PROJECT • A project funded by the ESF must meet the specific requirements in order to be successfully implemented. All the activities that the project team develops must be done in terms of both the European Union and national requirements regarding the implementation of the fund; • The master program "Audit and financial management of the European funds" debuted in 2010. Its popularization was realized through a press conference and various newspaper articles and electronic ads on the specialized sites; • The admission of the students was done according to the results of a written examination of the basic disciplines (National and European specific legislation, Auditing and Accounting). What should be noted is that, given the fact that the master program is funded by the ESF, there are no fees for this master studies; • The target group is formed of young graduates of different universities and older people who wish to develop or deepen their knowledge regarding the structural and cohesion funds. Gender equality is a criterion that it meets our project.

STAGES OF THE PROJECT • The program aims to educate at least three hundred students during the three years of implementation, one hundred fifty for every university in the partnership; • Contributing to the formation of high level specialists in the field of European funding and taking into consideration the currently existing needs on the labor market, this project is complementary to all the national strategies that will be/are funded by the European Union funds. • The effect will be positive and will have consequences on all the projects funded under these programs. The need for employment training can be appreciated from the very European Commission regulations

CURRICULUM OF THE AMFFE MASTER PROGRAM • The project team has carried out several studies and analysis to define the master program curriculum in order to achieve a correlation with the labor market. Therefore, there have been invited practitioners and collaborators from the Faculty of Law in order to ensure an adequate complementary learning process, considering that the graduates of the master need financial management knowledge, but also commercial, civil or business law; • Additional to the disciplines covered by a master in the same field, our project proposes a new approach of the curriculum introducing at least ten new subjects for each of the two partners involved; • The project’s method of learning aims to share a fundamental knowledge and practical training for the future jobs or to improve the knowledge already acquired; • The calendar of the master disciplines will be supplemented by the introduction of new disciplines and the publication of over twenty specialized courses, including eight new courses;

CURRICULUM OF THE AMFFE MASTER PROGRAM • In order to ensure the equal opportunities within the project, the implementation team proposed to be awarded eight scholarships for each partner, both for the first year and second year of study, throughout the entire period of the project. • The master students will follow an interdisciplinary preparation, therefore the law disciplines will be taught in order to complete the practical specialization; • To increase the degree of originality and diversity of the master program, during the three years of implementation will be organized four sessions of scientific papers with more than a hundred participants, four workshops on the specialized topics, and two contests with prizes for students. • During these events, the students will participate to diverse debates on master’s specialized topics; they will have the opportunity to present their scientific papers and will be able to develop relationships with the other participants.

EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MASTER PROGRAM • The master specialization in audit and financial management of the EU funds will respect the conditions of the general masters in terms of accreditation, the university structure, and the examination method; • Beginning with the academic year 2010/2011, the AMFFE master program is being successfully implemented. In the first year of activities sixty students were admitted in each of the two universities that take part in the project partnership; • They attend the courses and seminars held by the professors of the faculties involved or by the expert practitioners from various economic entities which have practical experience in the process of accessing the European funds; • An important role in the project is represented by the practical preparation of the students. The opportunity to effectively participate within the entities that are beneficiaries of such projects increases the quality of professional training of the students enrolled in AMFFE.

EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MASTER PROGRAM • The courses and seminars of the project are developed in educational places which meet in all the respects the quality standards required by national and European legislation; • The project beneficiary (UBB) and its partner (UVT) are able to provide the best conditions for the master students’ preparation (classrooms with necessary equipment); • The teaching and administrative staff of both higher education institutions is qualified and has an important experience in running various projects. Moreover, the two universities have already cooperated and they had the best results; • At the end of each academic year, the project team members will conduct an evaluation of the project situation and a check on the achievement of the objectives.

CONCLUSIONS • The project “The adaptation of the university curriculum, at master level, to the labor market requirements in Romania on the projects financed from structural and cohesion funds" meet the requirements set by the Lisbon Strategy; • The European Recovery Plan recommends improving the quality and importance of the education system and of the workforce training. Therefore, the project developed by us aims to improve the quality of the Romanian higher economic education, enabling the young graduate to follow a specialization in a new field, namely the structural and cohesion funds; • The master program includes a predominantly practical approach because one of our objectives is to accomplish the labor market needs. The way of organization and the purpose of our project fulfill the requirements of the Bologna education system, contributing to the increase of the higher education quality and ensuring the access of the graduated students to the jobs from the workforce market;

CONCLUSIONS • The final results of the project are to stimulate the interest of the master graduates on the projects financed from the structural and cohesion funds, respectively on the audit and financial management of the European projects. From the educational point of view, the project aims to improve the university programs of study and to multiply the results outside the partnership, at national level; • By proposing a different specialization of the ones existing in the educational services market, the project aims to implement a new approach of the higher education, taking into account the fact that it can meet the new challenges of the practice in the field, arising as a result of the EU integration; • Until the current phase of implementation it’s been shown a particular interest from students, practitioners, professional bodies in the field and from the press as well. Its implementation has not caused any problems so far, and the proposed intermediate results have been successfully achieved.

THANK YOU!

PROFESSOR RAZVAN LIVIU NISTOR ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IRIMIE EMIL POPA PROFESSOR ADRIANA TIRON TUDOR