ADDRESSING SMART ECONOMIC GROWTH BY SPECIFIC POLICIES IN THE EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION AREA

Abstract

This paper aims to analyze the characteristics of the European Higher Education Area in the framework of EU Strategies for higher education. The main indicators analyzed in this paper are: the number of students enrolled in higher education in the European Area countries, annual public expenditure allocated to higher education and a comparison between Romania and the EU in tertiary education. The conclusion drawn in the paper is that each European country must implement its own reforms in tertiary education due to different national frameworks. The demographic changes play an important role for the education policies in all countries, as some of them are facing relatively high growth in the number of students, while others face a decrease.