Enrollment in higher education in Moldova, which stood at 10 students per 10,000 inhabitants in 1940, numbered 125 per 10,000 in 1990 and rose to 162 in 1997. As of 1997, there were 4,400 professors working at 24 universities, of which 22 were situated in the capital city. Higher education was established as a public system, and public universities still predominate--with an enrollment of 54,000, versus 4,000 in the private sector.

Public expenditures on higher education represent 1.4 percent of GDP. Budget constraints have affected the status of professors and researchers in the public higher education sector. Despite efforts to protect funding for education during times of budget cutbacks, real expenditures in the higher education sector dropped significantly during the political transition period (17 percent between 1993 and 1996). Low levels of remuneration and constant salary arrears diminish the incentives to work in public education, increase the opportunities for corruption, and affect the overall quality of education. Salaries, school maintenance, and food expenses account for close to 90 percent of education expenditures, leaving minimal amounts for textbooks, teaching materials, and capital repairs.

The declining quality of teaching stems from the poor background of the professors, the lack of adequate library facilities, outdated syllabi for courses, old approaches to learning, and the absence of democratic traditions for evaluating professors, courses, and students. Teaching is mainly authoritarian and direct, organized into lectures, during which the professor dictates, and seminars, during which the students are expected to answer questions based on the dictated material. This approach eliminates opportunities for active learning, class discussions, group work, and problem solving. The system makes truly effective education impossible and will result in a future labor force ill-prepared to enter an increasingly flexible but demanding labor market.

There is a lot of room for patronage and corruption in the prestigious specialties (international economic relations, law, finance and credit, English language, etc.) at the entry level and later, when bribes may be required for each exam or test ranging in the amount from $20 to $100 per student. Young lecturers come under very heavy pressure from higher-ups in the academic hierarchy--they may, for example, be asked to give certain grades to specific students. At the exit level, there is much less protectionism now than in centrally planned times because the private sector values the knowledge of young employees over their connections. The situation is different in the field of medicine. An oversupply of doctors, combined with the decline in the number of jobs, makes it difficult for young MDs to find positions. Consequently, the bribe for a residency amounts to several thousand U.S. dollars.

Discrimination by social background and gender in public education is another issue of great concern. Students from rural areas are discriminated against in getting into higher education, compared to their urban counterparts, because urban students are likely to be well informed and enjoy greater logistical support from their parents. Urban students have a better educational background, especially in foreign languages, given the lack of or poor quality of teachers in the countryside. Housing is also more of a problem for rural students, only 66 percent of whom are able to obtain housing in the substandard dormitories. As for discrimination by gender, though 55 percent of students are female, there are extremely few women in academic and administrative positions, with the exception of some disciplines (e.g., philosophy and psychology).

Since the early 1990s, differentiation has been introduced into the higher education systems of Moldova along several lines: