The specific goals of the policy are:

• To improve the educational standards by integrating ICTs into the teaching/learning process as a didactic method
  
  The results will be measured by developing the practical skills required for the integrated use of ICTs by pupils and teachers; building online educational platforms; elaborating digital educational content; diversifying existing school resources (by encouraging the educational software market, by using open/free resources; and by developing and sharing resources among teachers) - while taking into account the specific development, assessment, and selection quality criteria/standards.
• To reduce the rural/urban education gap in the ICT field
  
  The results will be measured by introducing an online system for distance learning; initiating an online administrative system for effective school management; ensuring fast access to information regardless of the school's geographic location; identifying ways of using ICTs as tools in bridging the knowledge gap between pupils and teachers, especially in schools in disadvantaged areas; and facilitating access to superior educational or professional development opportunities.
• To ensure that personnel at all levels are able to develop interactive pedagogical methods based on the integration of ICTs
  
  The results will be measured by achieving qualified teaching staff in the ICT sector, regardless of the subjects they teach; increasing the research and innovation capacity within the pre-college educational system; restructuring pedagogical principles to ensure compliance with the current circumstances and the European perspective; adapting the continuous training process of the teaching staff to the European key competences; and building an ICT competence profile for the teachers to favour the development of an assessment and training courses curriculum.
• To strengthen institutional capacity and to increase managerial performance by integrating ICTs at the national level (The Ministry of Education, Research and Youth), the regional level (County Educational Inspectorates), and at the local level (schools)
  
  The results will be measured by developing management competencies at all levels to extend the use of ICTs to educational management and administration; building an online management system; adapting the IT infrastructure to the current educational management and administration requirements; expanding the IT infrastructure at the central level, the regional level, and the school level; and building open source applications.
• To develop a viable and effective partnership by using ICTs in the education process
  
  The results will be measured by developing collaborative systems, such as EuroSchoolNet, eTwinning, School and Classroom, etc; adapting existing school learning environments to integrate ICTs; encouraging educational public-private partnerships; and diversifying online and offline partnerships.

The two ministries organized three expert debates and direct consultations with a range of stakeholders from the pre-college educational system in order to conceive and detail a sound document for the new educational policy. The debates were informative, and they contributed to defining the existing needs and issues related to the use of ICTs in education, as well as to elaborating three alternative solutions.


The proposed alternative focuses on five directions of ICT use in education: curriculum and assessment, human resources, infrastructure, and institutional capacity development. The budget needed to support the program has been estimated at 446,200,000 euros over three years.

The discussion groups were composed of representatives of European and international institutions - the British Council, the Information Office of the Council of Europe in Bucharest, and the World Bank; representatives of affiliated institutions of the Ministry of Education, Research and Youth; representatives of higher education institutions; representatives of the NGOs active in the educational field; and representatives of hardware and ICT services providers - Siveco Romania, Softwin, Microsoft, Cisco, Intel, Oracle, Google, and ECDL Romania.