otal
number of students enrolled in elementary schools entered a secondary
school after completing four years of compulsory elementary education.

Higher education in precommunist Romania was centered in four
universities; two polytechnical institutes; and a limited number of
academies specializing in architecture, the arts, physical education,
agronomy, and higher commercial and industrial studies. All academic
disciplines could be pursued at one or another of these various
institutions, and three to seven years were required to obtain the basic
university degree. An additional two to four years of study and research
were required for the awarding of an advanced degree. The number of
students attending higher institutions was proportionately small, and
the number receiving the basic degree was even smaller.

Communist Educational Policies

After communist seizure of the government in 1948, the educational
system was reoriented away from basic French educational concepts toward
those based on the communist philosophy as developed in the Soviet
Union. The ultimate objective of the reformed system was to make
education available to as large a segment of the population as possible,
with a view to transforming the citizenry into a cohesive and effective
element for the building of a socialist society along Marxist-Leninist
lines. The new system was specifically designed to be tightly
controlled, uniform in operation and administration, exclusively secular
and public, and fully coordinated with the labor needs of the planned
economy.

The August 1948 decree revamping education spelled out in detail the
specific policies and methods that would be employed in meeting the new
educational goals. Foremost among the basic aims were the eradication of
illiteracy and the broadening of the educational base to include all
children of school age. Other specific goals of the educational process
included: inculcating all youth with the ideological spirit of so-called
popular democracy; guiding the use of leisure time by organizing
outside activities for students; educating, on a "scientific" basis, the
higher and lower cadres of specialists needed for the construction of
all aspects of a socialist society; and training the teachers necessary
for the proper functioning of the educational system.

Although these policies have been adjusted and modified and certain
aspects have received additional emphasis at particular times, they h