A D-VUCAD Transitioning Analysis on Romanian Higher Education System in the Context of Artificial Intelligence. Challenges, Opportunities and Perspectives

The significant global transformations in recent years have led to widespread disruption across numerous facets of society. Events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and other concurrent realities have had a tremendous impact on the global order, resulting in profound effects across various crucial dimensions in a D-VUCAD context. Relevant studies highlight the fact that technology has redefined global higher education offering personalized learning but raising ethical concerns. Leadership must adapt to digital disruptions while addressing conflicts between traditional and modern approaches. In this context, the education system is rapidly changing due to technology and societal shifts, posing complex challenges for leaders. Enrollment fluctuations and workforce demands add to the volatility, requiring flexible responses. Furthermore, at EU level, European initiatives aim to improve education, but face practical hurdles in diverse contexts. Despite research common efforts, there's a need to bridge educational insights with real-world applications, navigating from uncertainty to clarity in an evolving digital era. This paper aims to provide through the case study method, an original and unique D-VUCAD analysis on Romanian higher education system in the context of artificial intelligence to understand, on one hand, the realities, and the challenges it faces and on the other hand, to adapt the educational system to the new matrix, transitioning from old dimensions to the new ones: volatility to vision, uncertainty to unity, complexity to clarity, ambiguity to alignment, disruption to digitalization. While the first part of the case study identifies and illustrates with concrete examples and numbers the challenges Romanian higher education system is facing with, the second section of the research analyze the transition from traditional environment to the reinvented one, adding concrete initiatives, programs, and projects as examples to enrich the understanding of these manifests in the realm of higher leadership education perspectives. Paper findings show that multiple initiatives and endeavors are ongoing to modernize the vocational education and training (VET) system, reforms and investments backed by the RRF are geared towards reducing the school dropout rates, enhancing the population’s digital skills and creating lifelong learning opportunities. However, ensuring high-quality, skills-oriented education and alignment with the labor market, policy coordination, efficient legislative initiatives and a comprehensive strategic framework delineating the vision and targets for education remain significant challenges.