Romania ranked 45th among the 65 countries (OECD members and partner countries) that took part in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) in 2012. The country recorded a progress compared to 2009, when it ranked 49th out of 65 participating countries, reads a statement of the Romanian Education Ministry.

In 2006, Romania ranked 47th among the 57 countries that took part in the program.

Despite the ranking improvements in 2012, Romanian students still scored below the average. The average score recorded by Romanian students at the PISA 2012 tests was of 445 score points in mathematics, 438 in reading and 439 score points in science. The OECD average was 494 score points in mathematics, 496 in reading and 501 in science.

In mathematics, Romanians’ results are comparable to those recorded by students from countries such as Turkey, Cyprus, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Bulgaria and Chile, but are better than the ones registered by students in Malaysia, Montenegro, Costa Rica, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Uruguay, Brazil, Tunisia, Jordan and Argentina.

In reading, Romanian students’ achievements are comparable to those recorded by students from Serbia, United Arab Emirates, Chile, Thailand, Costa Rica and Bulgaria, reads the ministry’s statement.

Better performances, but still under the OECD average, were recorded by countries such as Cyprus, Slovakia, Russian Federation, Turkey, Greece, Lithuania, Slovenia, Iceland, Sweden and Croatia.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com

(photo source: sxc.hu)