Victor Ponta does not backtrack with regard to the setting up of a new faculty within the Targu Mures University of Medicine and Pharmacy (UMF). The premier said Friday evening, at the conclusion of talks with representatives of UMF and of UDMR, that there must not exist separate faculties, as the ethnic Hungarian party wants. “As provided by law, this university, too, will operate like the other universities (…). At the same time, however, this university, like all the universities of the country, is affected by the aberrant provisions included one year and a half, or two years ago, in the Law of Education, which actually prevent promoting new professors,” Ponta said, quoted by adevarul.ro. He lashed out at the former minister of Education (now presidential advisor) Daniel Funeriu, saying that “because of a poorly conceived law” which he supported one can no longer promote young professors, because it enforced conditions nobody can meet. He mentioned that the Law of Education will be changed, possibly by the end of the year.On the other hand, the PM added that the ministers of Education and Health talked with the Romanian and Hungarians representatives of UMF, and “steps forward have been made.” “Targu Mures deserves (…) an elite university, same as it has now an elite hospital and Emergency Ward. I want to believe that those who work in this sector are much wiser than politicians,” Ponta told, quoted by Mediafax, to the dozens of personalities attending the inauguration of the new Emergency Ward of the Targu Mures County Emergency Clinical Hospital.In her turn, Education Minister Ecaterina Andronescu said that, following talks, the representatives of UMF decided that “things will be sorted out:” “The representatives of the Hungarian community must belong to the leading structures of the university – the Senate and the councils of departments and faculties. Jobs will be made available, based on contest, to both the Hungarian and Romanian communities, and the pro-rector and pro-deans of the Hungarian community will be elected.”Answering Ponta’s criticism about the Law of Education, Funeriu said that the law actually allows “promoting quality professors,” based on transparent procedures. “The Law of Education blocks the access of plagiarists, impostors and those that forge their CVs, to positions with universities, and this upsets Ponta and his friends,” Funeriu said.In a separate move, the Democrat-Liberals announced that they will initiate a simple motion on Education during the first plenary meeting of the Chamber of Deputies, which might be held today. Ecaterina Andronescu said that she will answer the motion “with the concrete facts” she achieved since she took over the ministry, adding that during these two months she did “practically everything she could” as minister of Education.
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