Agricultural Higher Education in Moldova: Some Economic and Financial Aspects of Management

Abstract

Moldova’s agricultural education and research system is confronted with many issues due to the aging of the teaching and research staff, the decline in enrollment below the critical level and the unattractiveness of science and education to the younger generation. Another factor that affects the efficiency of the agricultural higher education is the lack of a collaboration network between education, science, and production. The aim of this paper is to analyze the current economic and financial situation of the agricultural higher education system in Moldova. The research is based on data collected from the State Agrarian University of Moldova. Incomes, expenditures, revenues, profits, and other economic and financial management indicators are analyzed. The examined period is 2017-2021. Over the last years the institution registered losses, mainly because the number of students that apply for agricultural study programs decreased significantly, fact which contributed to lower revenues. Currently higher education has the largest share in revenues, while research and innovations represent less than ten percent of total incomes. To increase revenues, must be identified new sources for research financing, mostly international, and additional sources for modernization of infrastructure, capitalization of institutional patrimony. For a more efficient management in agricultural higher education, is required the modernization of the whole system, focused on education, science, and production network.