Most RO teenagers from rural communities want to attend university, but 1 in 3 fear money is an impediment
80% of teenagers living in villages and other disadvantaged communities want to go to university, but one in three is worried that their family will not be able to support them financially, according to the latest survey conducted by the World Vision Romania Foundation.
In order to make ends meet, 70% of those who want to go to university plan on working during their studies.
World Vision Romania asked more than 300 11th and 12th grade students from rural communities how they see their chances of getting into university. The survey was conducted in September 2022 as part of the I want to be in 9th grade program.
More than 34% of respondents said their families would not be able to support them financially at college, and 78% said they are worried about the rising cost of living.
Most of the respondents (70%) plan to get a job during university. At the same time, less than half of young people from rural backgrounds hope to rely on scholarships offered by universities.
If they don't manage to get into university, the priority for almost 28% of teenagers is to get a job. Another 23% would try to get some other type of qualification, while 12.7% would start a business and 11.4% would go abroad. 19% of the teenagers said they don't know what they will do if they don't get to go to university.
When asked what might prevent them from seeking further education, over 46% said they are worried about not passing the necessary entrance exams, and 28% of of them were particularly worried about not passing the Baccalaureate.
Concerning the Bacccalaureate exam, the most widespread fears are: the new structure proposed in the Draft Law on Pre-University Education, which will measure competencies in several subjects (41.7%); that they do not really understand what their classroom teachers are teaching them (20.4%); that they do not have enough time to study on their own (17.5%); and that they do not have the money necessary to be tutored in the exam subjects (13.3%).
The survey shows that the most important criteria that teenagers from rural communities consider when choosing a university to apply to are: a passion for the offered field (86.3%), job security after graduation (81%), access to scholarships during their time there (34.6%), and as many state-funded spots as possible (30%).
The fields most sought after by respondents are Police/Gendarmerie/Military Academy (30.6%), Medicine or related fields (19%), Computing/Engineering (16.5%), Law (16%), Psychology (15.5%), Socio-Political Sciences (15%), Social Work (9.2%), Foreign Languages (8.7%), Arts (6.8), Geography (6.8%), History (4.9%), Architecture (4.4%), and Literature (3.9%).
World Vision Romania is looking for volunteers to help the teenagers living in villages.
Romania currently ranks last in the EU in the number of young people graduating from higher education (under 25% in 2021) compared to the European average of over 40%, and many young Romanians don’t make it to university at all.
By comparison, the release states, 76% of graduates of World Vision Romania's I Want to be in 9th grade program began attending university this fall; the rest found jobs, enrolled in various training/qualification courses, or are preparing to try to get into college next year.
The foundation finds that the most valuable support for young people to get into university are tutoring and mentoring sessions, and non-formal education.
"Teenagers need people to give them a little of their time, online or in person, to help them prepare for the Baccalaureate. They need positive role models to motivate and guide them in their adult lives, to tell them about their own experiences of how they have succeeded in life. In their communities, they rarely find someone who believes that education matters, who can give them useful advice for the future, or with whom they feel free to talk about any subject they are interested in," says Mihaela Nabăr, Executive Director of World Vision Romania.
Those wishing to sign up as volunteers for the I want to be in 9th grade can do so here.
(Photo source: 99 Art | Dreamstime.com)
