Digital Transformation in Romanian Higher Education: Policy-Driven Strategies and Institutional Governance

This paper examines the digitalization of higher education in Romania by analyzing the digital strategies of four major universities: Babes-Bolyai University, the University of Bucharest, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, and the Western University of Timisoara. Using qualitative content analysis of institutional strategic documents, the study explores how digitalization is framed and implemented. The findings show that digitalization efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic were primarily driven by top-down pressures from the European Union’s policy framework and funding mechanisms, particularly the Next Generation EU program. Due to limited expertise and institutional capacity at the national and university levels, many initiatives were reactive and limited in scope. The study contributes empirical evidence on digital transformation in Romanian higher education, a topic that remains underexplored in the literature.