Educational process
Management of the Educational process at the Technical University of Moldova
One of the key components in the activity of any university is the organization of the Educational process.
At UTM, these activities are traditionally coordinated by the First Vice-Rector – Full-Time Studies and another Vice-Rector – Part-Time Studies.
The organization of the instructional, teaching, and methodological process is monitored by the Direction of Academic Management and Quality Assurance, which includes the following departments:
Study Service:
Study Section
Records and Statistics Section
Quality Assurance Section:
Curriculum Evaluation and Development Office
ICT in Education Section
“Tehnica-UTM” Publishing House
The Directorate of Academic Management and Quality Assurance is responsible for drafting the University’s regulatory documents related to the instructional and educational process, reviewing study plans for UTM’s engineering programs, verifying teaching and methodological documentation, and monitoring the publication plans of teaching materials developed by departments and faculties.
Digitalization of the Educational process
In the training of engineering professionals, digitalization plays a major role, becoming a national priority that affects all areas of university activity.
Information technologies are widely used in teaching, research, and institutional management.
On February 1, 2000, UTM established the Information Technology and Communications Direction, responsible for implementing UTM’s IT policy, creating a unified academic information environment using advanced technologies, multimedia tools, and telecommunications — all aimed at improving the quality of education.
The university’s information environment is integrated at regional, national, and international levels, forming an open educational space.
The UTM Senate and Administration have defined key directions for university digitalization:
continuous updating of the UTM website,
development of information systems (admissions, dean’s offices, accounting, HR, etc.),
modernization of UTM’s computer infrastructure,
expansion of local and corporate networks,
ensuring adequate Internet services,
creation of an algorithm and software repository,
development of e-learning and teleconferencing systems,
integration of UTM into the global educational system.
UTM has implemented an integrated information management system for studies and human resources, and now hosts around 50 websites for departments, faculties, and projects.
In 2011, supported by a TEMPUS project, UTM began training teaching staff to create online learning materials using the Moodle platform.
Currently, over 150 online courses are available to more than 6,000 students.
Quality Assurance in Education at UTM
Ensuring the quality of education has always been the main vector for the Technical University of Moldova, regardless of the economic or political situation in the country.
During the period in question, significant measures were undertaken to maintain and develop the quality of the Educational process and to create a true culture of quality.
Key milestones in this activity include:
the University’s involvement in drafting the Law and the National System for External Evaluation and Accreditation of Universities in the Republic of Moldova;
the development and submission, at UTM’s initiative, of a draft law that was later revised and approved;
hosting, for one year (1998–1999), of the National Accreditation Agency;
the creation and international certification of UTM’s own Quality Management System (QMS) — a first in Moldova;
the current process of international accreditation of four study programs.
UTM is the proud holder of one of the most prestigious international distinctions — “European Quality.”
Accreditation of UTM Specialties
The academic evaluation and accreditation of study programs and of the University as a whole represented a landmark moment in the history of the Technical University of Moldova.
During the 1999–2000 academic year, activities were launched to prepare departments for internal self-assessment. Faculties and departments prepared and submitted to a special commission the materials required for the Internal Self-Evaluation Report, according to the indicative criteria developed by the National Council for Academic Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education Institutions (CNEAA).
The internal self-evaluation took place between March 25 and April 30, 2000, during which the commission reviewed, in faculties and departments, the actual state of the organization and conduct of the teaching process. On May 30, 2000, the University Senate summarized the results and decided to submit the institutional self-evaluation report to the CNEAA by June 30, 2000.
Most university study programs — those that already had one or two graduating classes — were submitted for accreditation.
The External Evaluation Commission, consisting of 64 members — university professors from other higher education institutions and representatives from research institutes and the business sector — was chaired by Professor Petru Chetruș, Doctor Habilitated, Vice-Rector of the State University of Moldova. Over two months, the commission carefully examined the study programs, university management, finances, and material and instructional support of the study and research process.
Considering the results presented by the CNEAA External Evaluation Commission, by Decision No. 223 of March 21, 2001, the Government of the Republic of Moldova accredited the University as an institution, simultaneously accrediting 40 specialties.
UTM received Accreditation Certificate No. 002, making it the second higher education institution in Moldova, after the State University, to successfully pass the external evaluation and academic accreditation process.
In the following years, the accreditation of specialties continued under the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (after CNEAA was replaced by a department of the Ministry in 2002).
In 2005, 10 new specialties underwent internal and external evaluation and were accredited by Order No. 444 of September 21, 2005, of the Ministry of Education.
In 2006, the evaluation and accreditation of all specialties and specializations taught at UTM were practically completed, with five new programs being accredited. The same year, the University as a whole and the 40 specialties accredited in 2001 were re-evaluated and re-accredited.
In the absence of a national academic evaluation and accreditation body, during the period 2007–2014, UTM conducted internal evaluations of its Bachelor’s and new Master’s programs, using its own methodology and a set of quality criteria and indicators developed by an inter-university team within the TEMPUS JEP-26091-2005 project “Implementation of the Institutional Quality Assurance System in Higher Education Institutions of the Republic of Moldova.”
International Accreditation
In the jubilee year 2014, UTM launched a new academic evaluation and accreditation process — this time at the international level.
The following programs were submitted for external evaluation by the German accreditation agency AQAS (registered in the European Register of Accreditation Agencies):
Electromechanics (Head of Department: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ilie Nucă)
Textile and Leather Product Engineering (Heads of Department: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Stela Balan, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Marina Malcoci; Dean of FIU: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Valentina Bulgaru)
Geodesy, Topography and Cadastre (Head of Department: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Livia Lopatenco)
This process is highly demanding but also brings great prestige to the University.
Additionally, the Property Law program (Head of Department: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ala Climov) was successfully externally evaluated by the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ARACIS).
Student-Centered and Competence-Based Study Organization
The quality of specialist training requires careful planning and design of the study process. In this context, the conception and improvement of curricula, as well as the adaptation of their content to the new requirements for specialists, are key tasks of the University administration, faculties, and departments.
The University administration and UTM’s departmental teams are fully aware that the quality of graduates is undeniably linked to the quality of instruction — a factor that makes the University attractive to both students and employers. Quality can be ensured only through proper planning of the educational process.
At the foundation of the study process organization lie the following fundamental normative documents: educational standards, the nomenclature of specialties, curricula, and study programs.
During the Soviet period, these documents were developed centrally at the union level. After gaining independence, the universities, departments, and teaching staff of UTM became directly and actively involved in the creative and innovative process of developing and improving educational documents and adapting them to the needs of the labor market.
Educational standards, which define the qualification of future specialists, were developed in the form of Qualification Characteristics until 1998, and in 2000, these were replaced by Title Characteristics. Later, during 2002–2003, UTM worked extensively on developing Professional Training Standards for study fields, which defined general and specific competencies for each specialty and the requirements for the minimum volume of study programs.
With the Republic of Moldova’s accession to the Bologna Process, the issue of developing a National Qualifications Framework (NQF) arose, aligned with the European Qualifications Framework (EQF). In this process, 43 profile departments of the Technical University of Moldova were involved. The result of this complex work culminated in December 2010, when the Ministry of Education approved the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) and the National Qualifications Framework for Higher Education (NQFHE) by study fields in Moldovan higher education, the latter being published in 2013.
The Nomenclature of Specialties for Higher Education Staff Training serves to classify, coordinate, and enable the comparison of diplomas and qualifications obtained in different educational institutions across the country.
In 1992, the Government of the Republic of Moldova approved a nomenclature that mirrored the Soviet system and no longer met the needs of the national economy in transition. Subsequent nomenclatures issued in 1995 and 1999 reduced the study duration for holders of baccalaureate diplomas to four years for engineering specializations. Major changes were introduced in the 2000 Nomenclature, which included many new engineering specialties defined by UTM’s departments in productive collaboration with line ministries, professional associations, and employer representatives.
The year 2005 brought major changes in this area. With UTM’s direct involvement, a new Nomenclature of Professional Training Fields and Specialties for higher education institutions (Cycle I) was developed. It aligned both with national economic workforce needs and the ISCED classifier, ensuring compatibility between Moldovan and European higher education diplomas and qualifications, in accordance with the 1997 Lisbon Recognition Convention.
The curriculum is a document that broadly defines the content of the specialist training process. It is developed based on the strategic directions defined by the NQFHE and the Nomenclature of Professional Training Fields and Specialties for higher education institutions.
Between 1991 and 2014, within UTM, five sets of curricula were designed, developed, and implemented for engineering study fields. Based on the Nomenclature and the NQFHE, the curricula were developed with the involvement of the university commission responsible for designing the general structure, defining the modules for fundamental and economic training, and the specialized departments that created the professional training modules.
One of the main principles adopted in developing the latest set of curricula (2011) was to center the study process on the development of generic and professional competencies appropriate to each specialty and study cycle.