self evaluation report - Universitatea de Ştiinţe Agricole şi Medicină ...

The curricula content, outcomes and evaluation methods, are presented to the students at the beginning of
each semester. Usually, one mid-term and one final examination are evaluating the outcomes of a course.
Besides, complementary methods of evaluation (projects, individual home work, etc.), are applied. Optional
courses are offered, being one of student-centered learning characteristics. USAMV Cluj-Napoca supports all
faculties to stimulate the student-centered education and the continued improvement of the curricula by new
knowledge, modern didactical tools (multi/media, team working groups, projects, problem-solving based
learning), by registering the course feedback by students’ surveys and by benchmarking with other higher
education institutions.
The results of the students’ assessment regarding to courses quality and content are very important, being
managed by the Department of Quality Assurance. Unfortunately, the students’ answers are rather weak, and
a specific action is being planned to improve this situation.
Specific attention is dedicated to reduce the relatively high abandon rate of students suspending or leaving
the university before graduating. This problem is in direct relation with another sensitive point: the admission
procedure in the university. Although the admission forms and criteria are considered to be part of university
autonomy, the decision must also consider the national trend and the options of other Romanian universities
with similar profile.
USAMV Cluj-Napoca aims to attract good candidates, therefore wants to have some good selection criteria,
considering the former performance of candidates, by their marks in the secondary school and their results at
an entrance examination.
A top-priority for the university strategy is the improvement of master programs’ quality. The number of
Master programs is related to the number of graduating students, and the general aim of the university was to
attract at least 50% of the graduating students for Master programs. Over for the past 8 years, at national and
university level, it was noticed an increasing trend and a permanent effort in diversifying the educational offer
and to enlarge the number of Master programs. So that, there are situations when were proposed and
authorized a too large diversity of study programs, with overlaps of courses and redundant information.
Unfortunately the success of these programs was limited, due to their low quality. We intend to restructure
the master programs and to have fewer, but stronger, master programs with relevance for the labor market,
and especially compatible with similar programs taught in European universities. Especially International
Masters taught in English are encouraged to be promoted, with modules which allow the mobility of teachers
and students between the partner universities.
We believe we have some weak points in Master programs strategic development and especially in running
sustainable curricula for really interested students.
One key point in developing efficient and sustainable study programs is the good balance between students
and academic staff (see: Appendix – Students). The proposal of a new study program is generally done by a
department, according to the national standard criteria (defined by ARACIS), forwarded to the Faculty Council
and, after approval, to the University Administration Council. The Senate approves or rejects the proposal. If
the University Senate approves the program, the external evaluation follows, performed by ARACIS
evaluators. The study program is temporarily authorized, if a confidence grade is obtained by the first external
evaluation. After graduation of three generations of students, the program needs to obtain the accreditation
by ARACIS. For keeping the accreditation, a periodic external evaluation is carried on, each 5 years. The
relevance of a new program is validated, among others, by the number of candidates. In this context we can
mention that newly developed study programs which attracted a significant number of candidates are: Control
and Expertise of Food Products, Engineering of Food Products, Veterinary medicine.
Finally, each study program is validated by the number of graduates able to find a job in the labor market in
accordance to his/her specialty. In this respect, USAMV Cluj-Napoca still has limited information on the
graduates’ career track. Unfortunately, the risks and threads of the actual economic situation in Romania
affected too the jobs’ offer in the fields of agriculture, animal science, food technology, and in almost all areas
Page 14 SELF-EVALUATION REPORT, March, 2012