PHOTO/VIDEO: OLT – The Politehnica University of Bucharest opens a branch in Slatina. Rector: “A quality education brought to your home”

The National University of Science and Technology Politehnica Bucharest, the largest higher education institution in Romania, will open a branch in Slatina. The news was given by the rector of the university, Mihnea Costoiu, together with the president of the Olt County Council – Marius Oprescu and the mayor of Slatina – Emil Moț, in a press conference organized on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, in Slatina.

“It is an important event for education in Olt county, especially for the young people of Slatina who are in their final years and not only, because once this project is launched, it will last in Slatina, it will not be launched only for a few years, and at the same time I think it is also important for the employers on the industrial platform in Slatina, one of the most developed industrial platforms in Romania”, said the president CJ Olt. Oprescu also specified that the discussions with the employers in Slatina will start immediately.

“Starting today, we will start a series of discussions with the employers on the industrial platform, to see exactly what they need and what specializations, so that the Technical University of Bucharest knows how to structure its education plan and knows exactly what offer will come in the near future, and of course also in the medium term, to our locality. I am convinced that from the future graduates of the Polytechnic – Slatina branch we will have the future engineers from the Slatina industrial platform”, added Oprescu.

The Polytechnic University will operate in the premises of the former Agricultural High School in Slatina

The mayor of the municipality detailed the support offered to the university. “We will provide the Bucharest Polytechnic (…) everything that means infrastructure, we will have a boarding school, we will have classrooms, we will have a gym, absolutely everything needed for an educational institution. (…) We will have a university campus in the true sense of the word”, stated Emil Moț.

The Slatina local council gave its consent in principle for the operation of this branch in the premises of the former Agricultural High School in the municipality, abolished not many years ago.

The rector of the Politehnica University of Bucharest, who came to Slatina accompanied by vice-rector Cristian Negrescu, vice-president Alin Mazăre and vice-rector Tudor Petrescu, members of the higher education institution’s new management team, stated that the decision to open a branch in Slatina ” it’s not a spur of the moment decision, it’s not a hasty decision.”

“We are facing a major skilled labor crisis”

After Politehnica Bucharest merged with the University of Pitesti, the potential of the two centers was discussed, rector Mihnea Costoiu revealed. As the University of Pitesti was already training teachers for preschool and primary education in Slatina, through the Faculty of Education Sciences, the expansion of the university’s offer in Slatina was taken into account. It was considered on the one hand that every year hundreds of high school graduates who pass the Baccalaureate exam do not continue their studies, most likely many of them because they come from families that cannot afford the costs in a city university, and on the other hand, the ever-increasing need for labor in the economic environment.

As Slatina has a well-represented industry, the demand for the technical field will be high, so the offer of the Bucharest Polytechnic University will include courses for future engineers, but not only that. It will be established following the meeting with the economic agents which are the specializations for which it is most needed and depending on these data the number of places and the specializations will be announced.

“And in the region we are facing a major skilled labor crisis, the overwhelming majority of employers are insisting on skilled labor, in several fields, not only in engineering generically speaking, but also specific engineering in certain fields. It is, we believe, our moral and professional duty to meet young people who would have an extra chance through our presence in Slatina.

Beyond the labor force crisis, it is a reality that there are still quite a few families with low incomes in the region, (…) and statistically, from the number of high school graduates with a Baccalaureate, a significant number of them do not follow some form of higher education in a classic university center. In this context (…) we want to offer quality education here. A quality education to the standards that we have imposed on ourselves for many years, brought to your home”, said rector Mihnea Costoiu.

“There are currently over a million students in Romania without a Baccalaureate diploma”

The rector of the Politehnica University of Bucharest refrained from advancing a tuition figure for Slatina, considering that the discussions with the employers have not yet been completed. He stated instead that there will be places without a fee and, moreover, that tertiary education is also being considered for the future, in order to give a chance to young high school graduates who do not have the Baccalaureate diploma and who will be able to continue their studies in the technical field in a form equivalent to a post-secondary school. “There are currently over a million students in Romania without a Baccalaureate diploma who do not have any specialization and whom we are targeting and to whom we are addressing with our offer,” stated Costoiu.

Although this is being attempted, it is most likely that the first admissions at the Slatina branch will not be possible (except for the faculty that is already present in Slatina and that trains teachers for preschool and primary education) for the academic year 2024-2025, but for next year there will be this opportunity for sure. The investments to bring the space of the former Agricultural High School to university standards were budgeted for this year, Costoiu also stated, and for the future opportunities are being sought to develop the campus with European funds.

The Politehnica University of Bucharest currently has 40,000 students

The Politehnica University of Bucharest currently has 40,000 students, and last year, out of the total of just over 90,000 high school graduates who passed the Baccalaureate in our country, 10% were admitted to the university.

“Between 91-95% of our graduates are employed after the first year of studies. We say it with joy sometimes, sometimes with sadness, many of them have been working since they were in college, the demand is very high”, said Costoiu. Another figure extracted from the statistics presented by the rector of the Polytechnic University refers to the percentage of graduates who leave the country after completing their studies. Thus, if 10 years ago 80% of them left after a bachelor’s or master’s degree, now 80% stay, stated Costoiu.

It should be mentioned that, at the beginning of the 70s, a branch of the university was established in Slatina, through which sub-engineers were trained in the field of metallurgy, which operated for approximately 12 years.