FINANCING HIGHER EDUCATION IN EUROPE IN THE CONTEXT OF FINANCIAL CRISIS

• Main Author: GABRIELA ILIE
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Romanian Academy 2013-11-01
• Series: Revista Română de Sociologie
• Online Access: http://revista.acadsudest.ro/pdf-uri/nr.5-6-2013/10-GIlie.pdf

The purpose of this study is to put into evidence the fact that the global economic crisis had a strong impact not only on the economic systems of European societies, but also on their educational ones. The systemic perspective shows us that a phenomenon produced at a sub-system level of the social system, generates other modifications on other component systems. The main effect of the global crisis on the educational system was its under-financing. This has lead to the increase of educational taxes, the diminution of salaries, of the higher education participation rate and investments in the research infrastructure. Even if this situation was present in almost all of the European countries, there are societies where we can find a certain politic of investment in higher education. This can be an example of good-practice, because, even if they have universities well-known at international level, even if they were strongly hit by the recession, they did not hesitate to invest in the human capital