Faced with a brain-drain from better paying jobs elsewhere in Europe, Romanian finance minister Eugen Teodorovici wants to keep university graduates in the country’s workforce for at least a few years after the completion of their studies.
The topic came up as the other day Teodorovici has declared that this week there will be a “transparent” discussion with the representatives of student unions about the state-financed transportation benefits granted to students. He said these discussions should also include the question whether students should be bound to work for a few years in Romania after graduation.
“The Romanian state invests a lot in these young people and yet, a large part if them go abroad to work” – stated Teodorovici. He has also pointed out that the leading committee of the PSD, the Social Democratic Party (the senior party in the current PSD-ALDE governing coalition), has already talked about some principles along which the first amendment of this year’s budget will be based on. One of these relates to the free railway-transportation, granted as a benefit to students.
Teodorovici has let to understand that during the meeting planned with the students, they ought to discuss the possibility of limiting the number of free railway-travels per year. He had also mentioned that in his opinion it would be only fair to link travel benefits to the grades of students; in this scenario, those with failed and remaining exams would not be allowed to travel free by train as their more successful colleagues, something student unions are almost certain to oppose.
Title image: The finance minister has “plans” for students, and he would cut back free travel
