Funding of lifelong learning is provided through public and private funds based on the public-private partnership, through funding and co-funding from employers, non-governmental organisations, through non-reimbursable European funds, through lifelong learning accounts and contributions from beneficiaries.

Regarding lifelong learning accounts, according to the art. 356 of the Law no.1/2011, Law of National Education, the state supports the right to lifelong learning education by according a sum equivalent of 500 Euro to every Romanian child, when she/ he is born. The sum is given with educational scope for the benefit of the holder from the state budget, through the budget of the Ministry of Labor, Family and Social Protection. These benefits are not yet applicable in 2016.

Through the National Plan of Lifelong Learning, the National Agency for Labor Employment includes in its free lifelong learning programmes:

• unemployed persons (the most part of the trainees)

• persons in detention

• persons from other categories:

  • persons who return to work after the parental leave

  • persons who return to work after recovery, after  disability retirement

  • persons from rural areas

• persons who benefit of free services of evaluation of the competencies acquired in other forms then those formal

• persons who benefit of apprenticeship.  

The persons who do not benefit of free services are included at courses organized by the Regional Centers of Lifelong Learning. 

Adults who participate in education and training programmes that are not funded from other sources (employers’ funds, the unemployment insurance budget, sponsorship, donations and other external sources) must pay for the cost of the programme.  The costs are determined by the education and training providers so as to cover expenses incurred by the implementation of the programmes.

Funding

Adult vocational training programmes are financed from the following sources:

• The employers’ own funds

• The unemployment insurance budget

• Grant funds from European programmes (Operational Programme Human Capital 2014 - 2020)

• Sponsorship, donations, external sources

• Fees paid by individuals participating in training programs.

Commercial companies, national companies, co-operative enterprises, state-owned monopolies and other institutions may spend money for the vocational training of their employees, which represents deducted expenses from the profit taxes or from the income taxes.

The institutions that have incomes that are not coming from the state budget may spend funds for the vocational training of their employees out of these incomes. The institutions financed from the state budget or by the local budgets may spend funds for the vocational training of their employees out of budget sources or out of other sources, according with their own approved budgets.

Fees Paid by Learners

Adults who participate in education and training programmes that are not funded from other sources (employers’ funds, the unemployment insurance budget, sponsorship, donations and other external sources) must pay for the cost of the programme.  The costs are determined by the education and training providers so as to cover expenses incurred by the implementation of the programmes.

Financial Support for Adult Learners

For the period when the employees participate in training programs financed by their employers, the employees receive their wages as stated in the individual contract for the normal working program. The employers have to support the travel expenses for the participation in a training program, if that program takes place in another locality than the one where the employee works. The employees that participate in training programs for at least 3 months when requested by the employers will sign codicils to their individual work contracts, stipulating rights and obligations after graduation.

Adult training programmes are provided free of charge for the following categories of people:

• People looking for a job

• People who have not found a job after graduating from an educational institution or after completing their military service

• People who obtained the statute of refugee or other form of international protection

• Foreigners or stateless people who worked in Romania or who obtained any income in Romania, under the law

• People who have not found a job after repatriation or detention

• People in detention who have at most 9 months until the final day of their punishment.

• legal maternity leave

• military service and

• in case of recovery of work ability after retirement for invalidity.

• To benefit of all the theoretical and practical training all through the duration of the programme

• To benefit of specific supplies and learning aids as well as textbooks

• To benefit of all necessary protection equipment during the programme

• To benefit of free of charge transportation from their homes to the training provider on local public transportation or, as the case may be, to benefit of all the facilities provided by the law if the training provider is in another locality. In case that the distance of the travel is more than 50 km, the people concerned are entitled, during the training period, to benefit from accommodation and a sum of money to cover meals at the extent provided by the regulations in force for employees of public institutions

• To benefit from medical consultation, medical analyses and necessary tests for attending the training programme.

In order to prevent unemployment through the improvement and diversification of the employees’ professional competences, employers are guaranteed by the law specific financial incentives for organising vocational training of their employees. Financial incentives are also granted to employers that apply active measures to reduce unemployment and facilitate the vocational training of their employees.

Private Education

Lifelong learning focuses on the training and development of key competencies and competencies specific to a field of activity or qualification. Lifelong learning takes place in formal, non-formal and informal learning contexts.

Adult vocational training, completed with certificates of qualification or graduation with national recognition and / or certificates of professional competence, is an activity of general interest that is part of the national system of vocational education and training.

Adult vocational training includes initial vocational training and continuing vocational training organized in forms other than those specific to the national education system.

Initial vocational training for adults provides the necessary training to acquire the minimum professional skills needed to obtain a job.

Continuing vocational training is subsequent to initial training and provides adults with either the development of already acquired professional skills or the acquisition of new skills.

The professional training of adults is organized through initiation, qualification, requalification, improvement, specialization programs.

The professional training of adults can be carried out, under the conditions provided by law, as the case may be, by natural or legal persons, of public or private law, established in Romania, in the member states of the European Union or in the states belonging to the European Economic Area, regardless the legal form of their organization, called vocational training providers.

The authorization of the training providers is made on the basis of the evaluation criteria, for a period of 4 years, with the possibility of renewal at the request of the supplier, at least 30 days before the expiration of the validity period of the authorization.

The authorization is granted for each of the occupations / qualifications / key competences / transversal competences for which the vocational training providers organize vocational training programs.

In order to be subject to authorization for the issuance of nationally recognized certificates, vocational training providers established in Romania must meet the following eligibility conditions:

• a) to be legally constituted

• b) to have provided in the statute or, as the case may be, in the act of establishment professional training activities

• c) to fulfill its obligations to pay the taxes, fees and contributions due, according to the legislation in force.

The evaluation criteria of the training providers take into account the following elements:

• a) the professional training program

• b) implementation of quality assurance criteria

• c) the experience of the vocational training providers and the results of their activity prior to obtaining the authorization or in other vocational training programs they have carried out, if applicable

• d) human, material and financial resources

• e) the authorizations and approvals necessary for the development of the professional training programs, as the case may be.

The training and evaluation of the results of the professional training of the adults are financed from the following sources:

• a) employers' own funds

• b) the unemployment insurance budget

• c) sponsorships, donations, attracted external sources

• d) fees from the persons participating in the professional training programs.

The companies regulated by Law no. 31/1990, republished, with subsequent amendments and completions, national companies and societies, cooperative units, autonomous utilities and other institutions may incur expenses for the professional training of employees, expenses which are deducted, as the case may be, from the profit tax or from the income tax.