206. Hungarian-language study track and affirmative action for Roma in the Faculty of Law, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj, Romania
Authors: Balint, Emese balintmse@hotmail.com
Abstract: A project to establish a Hungarian-language track of study in the Faculty of Law, along with an Affirmative Action Program for Roma candidates. The goal is to lessen discrimination against non-native Romanian speakers.
Region/Country: /Romania
Minorities: Roma, Hungarian
Problems: Education for minorities, minority right improvement, Use of mother tongue
Keywords: Social development, Human capacity building, Education, Facilitation, Conflict resolution, Managing interethnic relations
Practices: fighting against discrimination
Actors: ministry, educational institution
Target Groups: university students
university students
Summary:
LOCAL LEVEL GOOD PRACTICE:
A project to establish a Hungarian-language track of study in the Faculty of Law, along with an Affirmative Action Program for Roma candidates. The goal is to lessen discrimination against non-native Romanian speakers.
Cluj is the second largest university center in Romania. The Babes-Bolyai University has a multicultural character, and its Charter clearly states that the policy of the university is not to discriminate between students on the basis of nationality. The Charter also specifies that students are guaranteed the right to study in Romanian, Hungarian or German. In reality, however, Hungarians have been protesting against the low number of places available on courses functioning in Hungarian. In recent years this situation has been improved substantially by the Ministry of Education allocating more such places.
MINORITY/TARGET GROUPS:
Minority: Hungarian and Roma
Target group: students in the Faculty of Law in Cluj, Romania
BUDGET ALLOCATED BY LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTHORITIES AND/OR BY OTHER ACTORS:
The University is sustained by the Ministry of Education. Both projects were financed from the Ministry budget.
TIMEFRAME:
By the beginning of the 1990s over 500,000 Hungarians had signed a petition for an independent State University in the Hungarian language in Cluj, a proposal that provoked vehement opposition on the part of the Romanian majority. In the academic year 1997-1998 the Faculty of Law, for the first time ever, reserved 30 places for Hungarians, and 5 places for Roma students (alongside 200 places for Romanian candidates).
GOOD PRACTICE DESCRIPTION:
The organizations participating in the project were:
Ministry of Education
Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj
Faculty of Law in the Babes-Bolyai University
Pazmany Peter Katolikus Egyetem, Hungary
The Babes-Bolyai University and education
The forced unification of the former (Hungarian) Bolyai University and the (Romanian) Babes University in 1959 had created negative feelings and frustration in the Hungarian community, and remains a major issue affecting the peaceful coexistence of Romanians and Hungarians in Romania. At the beginning of the 1990s over 500,000 Hungarians signed a petition for an independent State University in the Hungarian language in Cluj. This proposal was absolutely unacceptable to the Romanian majority.
The main objections concerned the admission systems of some faculties. In the Faculty of Law the candidates must take an exam in Romanian, proving their knowledge of Romanian Grammar and the History of Romania. This is obviously a disadvantage for those native Hungarian candidates who studied in Hungarian high schools, and had Romanian as a foreign language. This situation is generally interpreted to mean that Hungarian pupils must invest more time and effort in their schooling, because they have an additional subject, i.e. Hungarian language and literature. (It has been suggested that Hungarian pupils should give up this subject in order to lessen the burden upon them.) In fact, both Romanian and Hungarian pupils study their native language and literature, but Hungarian pupils must learn Romanian language and literature to a very high level as well. The Hungarian students’ situation differs substantially from that of native Romanian speakers who might study Hungarian as a second language with a much lower degree of difficulty. This situation works against Hungarian pupils wishing to continue their studies and prepare for university admission exams. At these exams Hungarian-speaking students have to compete with Romanians, and the latter have a great advantage. This is one of the underlying causes of the low percentage of Hungarians in higher educational institutions.
Roma pupils are at a disadvantage in schools because of their marginal status in society. This obviously influences their chances of finishing high school and applying for admission to a university. The intense competition for places at the Faculty of Law within the Babes-Bolyai University (6.64 candidates per place) further influenced their chances of success. The low percentage of Roma students is revealed by the facts: in Romania 5.11% of the population have graduated from institutions of higher education, while among the Roma population this percentage is 0.11%. Given the pervasive discrimination that exists in Romanian society in relation to the Roma, and the need to fight this discrimination with legal means, the presence of Roma students at the Faculty of Law, and the availability of Roma lawyers, becomes especially important. The tendency for Roma students to be absent from higher educational institutions was somewhat improved when the Babes-Bolyai University started an Affirmative Action Program for Roma candidates, which reduced the competition (4 candidates per place in 1997, and 1.8 candidates per place in 1998 for example), and facilitated their access to higher education.
The main causes of the low percentage of Hungarian students in the institutions of higher education
1. The low number of places on courses functioning in Hungarian. In recent years this situation has been improved substantially by the Ministry of Education making more places available.
2. The lesser likelihood of Hungarians passing the admission exams in those departments, where they must compete with Romanian candidates, due to the following factors:
Hungarians have less time to prepare for the admission exams, as a consequence of their heavier school burden (see above);
- at some faculties the Decree of the Minister of Education, according to which the candidates are examined in all subjects in the language they have learned that subject in the school, is not always respected, so Hungarians are examined in a second language (Romanian), while their Romanian competitors can use their native language;
- if the program of admission exams contains such subjects as Romanian Language and Literature, The History of Romania or The Geography of Romania, Hungarian candidates are examined in these subjects in Romanian, because they learn them in the school only in Romanian. So they are at a disadvantage relative to the native Romanian speakers.
The absolute number of Hungarian students in Romanian higher educational institutions has grown significantly over recent years but this has not has any substantial effect on their percentage in the higher educational system as a whole. Data concerning the participation of Hungarian young people in Romanian institutions of higher education in 1992 show that Hungarian students in the Faculty of Law represented 1.46% of all students. Further comparative data come from the national census: in 1992 Romania had 22,810,035 inhabitants, out of which 1,624,959 were Hungarians, representing 7.12% of the population.
Hungarian track of study
The situation has been improved by according special places at some faculties for candidates who studied in Hungarian high schools, and wished to continue their studies in Hungarian, so they are not in an unequal competition with Romanian candidates. In June 1999 the Parliament of Romania modified the Education Act to allow faculties in minority languages within the existing universities. This could be a real solution for Hungarian students, but it has generated other problems, e.g. protests from Romanian candidates (and their parents), who failed their exams with higher grades than those of Hungarians who passed the exams. (These protests found strong support among some political parties, and influential parts of Romanian media.) According to some politicians, this solution might not be the best one, especially if the present issue is considered as part of a long-term conflict resolution process.
After negotiations with the Pazmany Peter Catholic University from Hungary, the two universities signed a co-operation contract between the two Faculties of Law. As a consequence, students from the Babes-Bolyai University can conduct part of their studies at the PPKE, and both parties can invite visiting professors. They also organize joint programs.
Affirmative Action for Roma students
The situation of Roma candidates was improved by starting an Affirmative Action program, which facilitates access to law studies for students who arrive with disadvantages other than those of the native Hungarian candidates: Roma pupils study in Romanian high schools, and they also continue their studies in Romanian, with the same curricula as Romanian students, after being accepted to the University. The positive discrimination is due to the general conditions of the Roma communities in Romania: economic disadvantages and their marginalized social position. The substantial number of Roma population in Romania, and their real need for higher education can fully justify the existence of the Affirmative Action program, considering that the Roma population in Romania is at a disadvantage in not having their own intellectuals and representatives. The Ministry of Education approved the implementation of an Affirmative Action program in the universities and faculties which educate young professionals to fill this gap within the Roma communities. At the request of the Roma organizations, since 1997 the Babes-Bolyai University has been allocating 5 places yearly in the Faculty of Law to young Roma, who could apply for those places on the basis of a certificate or a recommendation given by Roma community leaders. On the application every applicant must specify that he/she is applying for the places reserved for Roma. As it was expected, the competition here was not as high as for the Romanian or Hungarian tracks.
Advantages of the Hungarian track of study and of the Affirmative Action program for Roma in the Faculty of Law
- It is a good way of eliminating discriminatory factors in the higher education system (in relation to Hungarians and Roma).
- It will organize the higher education of the Hungarian and Roma young people in line with the needs of both communities, and the general interest of the country. It could assure the full education and subsequent higher professional performance of native Hungarian speakers.
-It will assure the availability of specialists and lawyers able to give professional assistance to the members of the Hungarian and Roma communities.
Disadvantages
-The functioning depends to a considerable degree on decisions made by the majority vote of the Senate of the University.
-The implementation of the programs can be easily stopped by the Senate of the University, even against the decisions of the Ministry of Education or the existing laws, by invoking the principles of the University’s autonomy.
-It does not create good conditions for conflict resolution among students, and between the minority nationalities and the majority in Romania.
Problems which appeared during the project
In two consequent years (1997 and 1998) after the Faculty started allocating separate places for minorities and for Roma students, the selection was not based on ethnic criteria, so they requested a Hungarian language proficiency test from candidates for the “Hungarian places”. In 1999 this Hungarian language test was not a part of the admission exam, therefore there were some supposedly native Romanian students who declared themselves Hungarians, and applied for the more accessible places with lower admission grades. The same problem was encountered by observers of the Roma Affirmative Action: corrupt Roma leaders provided certificates and recommendations for non-Roma applicants (this must be one of the very few cases when a Romanian would pretend to be a Roma).
Some urgent problems must be solved to make the Hungarian line of study attractive to Hungarian students and accepted by the Romanian majority,. The first and most serious problem is to find qualified lecturers who can teach students in Hungarian. At the time in question, the Faculty had two ethnic Hungarian professors, but they could teach only in Romanian. This problem was solved either by hiring retired Hungarian professors or by inviting visiting professors from other universities in Hungary.
The second problem is the open resistance of the Romanian professors and students. It was and still is very difficult, in the current political atmosphere, to make the project accepted by politicians and majority leaders. A lot of wrong ideas and fears are invoked about this university, and a lot of hard work will be required to dispel them.