How Open is Moldovan Higher Education to Innovation?

I successfully completed the Muskie Program – a program designed to provide young professionals from the NIS countries with graduate American education and financed by US Department of State. I returned to Moldova, my home country, with the aim to find a job. Open Society Institute (OSI) – one of the organizations that co-sponsored this program offers the 2006 Muskie graduates an opportunity to apply for a grant to develop and teach a course in a higher education institution. At first this seems like a great idea. However, the truth is that the highly centralized system of higher education in Moldova is so rigid that teaching a new course to undergraduate or graduate students is almost impossible. All existing courses are part of an officially approved Course Plan, so introducing a new course is very difficult. Secondly, the existing courses are primarily being taught by PhD graduates, which is common everywhere. The competition for vacancies to teach these existing courses is fierce, which is again, very common, particularly in Europe.

This situation shows how difficult it is for innovative thinking (in the form of new, challenging, interdisciplinary courses) to get through and be accepted in the Moldova higher education system.

According to an article by Ralph Darendorf in Logos Press (16 June, 2006), European universities have several important weaknesses, such as conformity, limited diversity, freedom and accountability, a reduced level of ambition, high level of bureaucracy, and insufficient financing. Darendorf argues that the only way universities in Europe, Japan, Southern Korea, China and India can progress is to increase their level of flexibility and openness. I agree with this view, and based on my own experience, believe that Moldovan and Romanian universities could learn a lot from American universities by opening their doors for professionals like me who studied abroad and are willing to act as agents of change and innovation.