THE OBTRUSION OF THE CHURCH ON EDUCATION: BETWEEN MORALITY AND ABUSE
THE OBTRUSION OF THE CHURCH ON EDUCATION: BETWEEN MORALITY AND ABUSE

Author(s): Oliviu Felecan, Mihaela Munteanu Siserman
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Education, Theology and Religion, Vocational Education, Higher Education , Sociology of Religion
Published by: Editura Universităţii Vasile Goldiş
Keywords: theological education; university autonomy; church institutions;
Summary/Abstract: The study is a significantly novel contribution to contemporary scientific landscape, as it presents an atypical situation for European higher education. If in most countries academic concerns generally consist of attracting students, finding proper funding, ensuring quality teaching and increasing the impact of scientific activity, an uncommon situation has occurred in Romania due to the obtrusion of the Orthodox Church on education. This paper refers to the ambiguities and potential interpretations of an administrative text issued and endorsed by the Church to be applied in the field of education. As it is claimed to be a normative text, the document investigated should be defined by precision and clarity, but it is not the case, as it leaves room for interpretation. University autonomy is violated, authority is annulled in the case of the deciding factor (ARACIS, the ‘Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education’) for the establishment/termination of studyprogrammes in Romanian higher education, decisions made by examination boards for obtaining academic positions are disregarded, restrictions are imposed on obtaining a promotion or the habilitation qualification, both of which should depend exclusively on candidates’ scientific and teaching activity, not on receiving the consent of a bishop who does not pertain to the university system.

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