Higher education is accomplished through:

• universities
• institutions
• academies of study.

The mission of the higher education institutions is:

• either education and research, or
• only education.

Establishment of the higher education institutions is possible only through dedicated laws, according to the institutions accreditation and diploma recognition procedures (Law 88/1993 amended through Law 144/1999).

The nomenclature of fields and programs of university studies, the fields and programs of university studies accredited or authorized to operate provisionally, the administrative-territorial unit of implementation, the number of transferable study credits for each program of university studies, form of education and the language or languages of teaching, as well as the maximum number of students that can be educated, proposed by the quality assessment agencies that evaluated each program/field, are established annually, by Government decision, for short-term university study programs, undergraduate university studies and for the fields of master's/doctorate university studies.

This GD is initiated by the Ministry of Education before March 31 of each year, with the consultation of the CNR and with the approval of ARACIS and the National Qualifications Authority.

The fields of study in the nomenclature are correlated with the fields of the International Standard Classification of Education ISCED-F 2013.

Higher education institutions usually include:

• faculties,
• departments,
• departments for teaching staff training,
• doctoral schools,
• institutes, centers or laboratories,
• design units, consulting centers,
• clinics or university hospitals and/or other medical structures/units, such as ambulatory medical units, including dental, and specialist offices, including dental, dental technical laboratories, residency training institutes, university pharmacies,
• artistic studios and workshops, performing arts,
• museums, audiovisual studios and workshops, cinematography and photography, botanical gardens, theatres, museums, radio and television,
• printing houses, publishing houses, publications,
• centers for continuous training of human resources,
• micro-production and service units, accommodation and catering units,
• teaching stations/teaching bases for applications and performance in sports,
• experimental stations or other entities for production activities and transfer of knowledge and technology,
• centers of competence, university sports clubs, as well as
• pre-university education units

Faculty

The faculty is the functional unit that develops and manages the study programs. The faculty corresponds to one or more fields of sciences, arts or sports.
Depending on the specifics of each higher education institution, study programs can also be developed and managed at the department level. In the case of these departments, the status will be mentioned separately in the university charter of the respective educational institution.

A faculty may include one or more departments, doctoral schools, postgraduate schools and university extensions that are responsible for organizing study programs by types and cycles of university studies.

Department

The department is the functional academic unit that ensures the production, transmission and exploitation of knowledge in one or more specialized fields.

A department may consist of postgraduate schools, research centers or laboratories, artistic workshops, performance halls, concerts, studios and audiovisual workshops: radio, television, cinematography and photography.

The department may organize research centers or laboratories that function as revenue and expenditure units within the institution of higher education.

University branch

The university branch is an organizational structure of the higher education institution, which is established with the approval of the senate, at the proposal of the board of directors, in a different geographical location than the one in which the higher education institution in which it operates is based and which benefits from autonomy under the conditions established by the university charter. 

The following can work within the branch: faculties, departments, doctoral schools, institutes, centers or laboratories, design units, consulting centers, university clinics, pharmacies, artistic studios and workshops, theaters, museums, radio and television, printing and publishing houses, publications‚ centers for continuous training of human resources‚ micro-production and service units‚ accommodation and public catering units‚ teaching stations/teaching bases for sports applications and performance‚ experimental stations or other entities for production activities and transfer of knowledge and technology ‚ competence centers‚ as well as pre-university education units.

University extension

The university extension is the academic unit that ensures the production, transmission and valorization of knowledge in one or more specialized fields, in a different geographical space than the one in which the higher education institution in which it operates is based.

Higher education for national minorities is achieved: 

• in higher education institutions in which faculties/lines/study programs operate with teaching in the mother tongue
• in multicultural and multilingual higher education institutions. In this case, lines of studies are established with teaching in the languages of national minorities
• within higher education institutions, groups, sections or lines of teaching in the languages of national minorities may be organized, under the conditions of the law.