THE EVOLUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN INTERWAR ROMANIA: QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE ASPECTS
THE EVOLUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN INTERWAR ROMANIA: QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE ASPECTS

Author(s): Arthur Viorel Tuluș
Subject(s): History, Social history, History of Education, Nationalism Studies, Ethnic Minorities Studies
Published by: CEEOLPRESS
Keywords: Interwar Romania; unitary national state; national minorities; education system; public instruction; state consolidation; young population
Summary/Abstract: The end of the First World War marked the conclusion of the formation process of the unitary Romanian national state, through the union of the Old Kingdom of Romania with territories that had previously been under the control of neighboring empires: Bucovina, Transylvania, and Banat—parts of the late Austro-Hungarian dualism. Even though the population of these provinces was predominantly Romanian, their inclusion in interwar Romania led to a significant increase in the percentage of national minorities: from approximately 6.5% (according to the 1912 Census) to 28.1% (according to the 1930 Census). Under these conditions, the integration of the new provinces and the administrative, institutional, and socio-cultural homogenization became essential. In achieving this objective, and in the broader process of consolidating a modern state—what Romania aspired to be between the wars—education and the public instruction system played perhaps the most important role. Our study aims to present a series of statistical data regarding the participation and level of training of the young population of Romania between the two world wars and, subsequently, based on these statistics, to draw qualitative conclusions regarding the degree to which the proposed goals were achieved.

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