In brief
- Universitatea „Transilvania” din Brașov may run doctoral studies in Food Product Engineering, and Universitatea din Petroșani in Business Administration.
- Both accreditations come from one and the same decision of the ARACIS Council, no. 224/H of 29 July 2026, registered with the ministry under one and the same number.
- The orders take effect on publication, that is ahead of doctoral admissions for the academic year now coming.
Published: Official Gazette of Romania (Monitorul Oficial) no. 714 of 27 August 2026
Signed: 21 August 2026
Two new doctoral fields enter the system through a pair of orders built on the same template, which differ only in the university, the field, the doctoral school and the earlier order cited. Orders of the Minister of Education and Research no. 4.806 and no. 4.807 of 21 August 2026, published in Official Gazette of Romania no. 714 of 27 August 2026, accredit the field „Ingineria produselor alimentare” (Food Product Engineering) at Universitatea „Transilvania” din Brașov and the field „Administrarea afacerilor” (Business Administration) at Universitatea din Petroșani (the University of Petroșani). They are the ministry’s second intervention on doctoral schools in this period, after the one by which the commission that proposes state-funded places received a new regulation.
Both rest on the same source: Decision no. 224/H of 29 July 2026 of the Council of the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, registered with the Ministry of Education and Research under no. 614/E/DGIU of 31 July 2026.
Five days later two more fields were accredited on the same pattern: social work at Sibiu and music at Craiova.
What it changes in practice
From the date of publication, the two universities may run doctoral studies in the accredited fields. At Brașov, the field „Ingineria produselor alimentare” operates within Școala Doctorală Interdisciplinară, the interdisciplinary doctoral school of the university. At Petroșani, „Administrarea afacerilor” operates within the doctoral school of the university.
Accrediting a doctoral field is not the same thing as accrediting the institution. Both universities already held the right to run doctoral studies, confirmed by earlier orders which today’s acts cite expressly: Order no. 5.980/2021 for Brașov and Order no. 5.985/2021 for Petroșani. What is added now is a new field inside that right.
Carrying the orders out falls, in both cases, to the General Directorate for Higher Education within the ministry and to the institution that runs the doctoral studies. The orders lay down no intermediate deadline, no implementing rules and no further condition.
In practice, the most concrete effect is one of timing. The orders appear at the end of August, that is ahead of the doctoral admissions session for the coming academic year. A candidate interested in one of the two fields can apply to that university, and to no other.
What has changed compared with the previous situation
Until today, the two fields could not be run as doctorates at these universities. From today they can, and the map of doctoral fields in Romania changes at two points.
The second thing to note is the route. The ARACIS Council decided on 29 July, the ministry registered the decision on 31 July, the minister signed on 21 August, and publication came on 27 August. Twenty-nine days from the evaluation by the agency to legal effect, which is quick for an act that passes through an outside agency and through a ministry.
The third is the common source. Both orders cite the same decision of the ARACIS Council, no. 224/H, and the same registration number at the ministry, 614/E/DGIU. That means a single sitting of the Council produced at least these two accreditations, and probably others, which will appear or have already appeared separately, each with its own order.
Advantages and disadvantages
What it improves
- Two universities outside Bucharest receive new doctoral fields, which keeps doctoral training closer to the regions where the applied research is done.
- The route is short: 29 days from the decision of the evaluation agency to the publication of the order.
- The acts name the ARACIS decision and its registration number at the ministry outright, so the decision can be followed back to its source.
- Publication at the end of August catches the admissions calendar for the academic year about to begin.
What remains a problem
- The decision of the ARACIS Council is not published, so the grounds for the accreditation, the scores and any conditions stay outside the act.
- The orders do not say from which academic year they apply, nor how many doctoral students may be trained in the newly accredited fields.
- Neither the duration of the accreditation is stated, nor whether and when a re-evaluation follows, even though the preamble does cite an evaluation methodology.
- The same decision of the Council produces several orders, published separately, so the reader cannot tell how many accreditations came out of a single sitting.
Practical advice
- If a doctorate in one of the two fields interests you, check the admissions calendar and the doctoral supervisors available directly on the website of the university. The order grants the right to run the studies, not the enrolment details.
- Do not confuse accreditation of the field with accreditation of the study programme. The field is the frame; the actual research topics are settled at the level of the doctoral school.
- If you are already a doctoral student at one of the two universities, the orders change nothing for you. They add a field, they do not alter existing programmes.
- For the grounds of the evaluation, ask the agency for Decision no. 224/H of 29 July 2026 of the ARACIS Council. It does not appear in the Official Gazette of Romania.
- Check from time to time whether further orders citing the same decision 224/H appear. The accreditations from one sitting are each published separately, sometimes days apart.
Frequently asked questions
Which doctoral fields are being accredited?
From when do they apply?
Who decided the accreditation?
How many doctoral students may be enrolled?
Were the universities allowed to run doctoral studies before?
How long does the accreditation last?
Editorial analysis
The two orders are a fine example of an administrative act that does its job while saying almost nothing. They are built on the same template, and the differences between them can be counted on the fingers of one hand: the name of the university, the name of the field, the name of the doctoral school and the number of the earlier order that maintained the accreditation. Three articles each: one that approves, one that names who is to carry it out, one that orders publication. Not a figure, not a condition, not a duration.
What works is the traceability. The preamble says exactly where the decision comes from: Decision no. 224/H of 29 July 2026 of the ARACIS Council, with its registration number at the ministry and the date. A reader who wants to find out on what basis the accreditation was granted has a starting point, even though the document itself is not public. Many orders of this kind stop at the formula „taking into account the resolution of the agency”, with no number and no date.
What does not work is that the source stays closed. Accrediting a doctoral field means an evaluation with criteria, standards and performance indicators, precisely the ones in the methodology cited in the preamble. The result of that evaluation does not reach the Official Gazette of Romania and is not published by the agency in any easily accessible form either. The reader learns that a panel said yes, but not on what grounds. For a candidate choosing a doctoral school, the difference between a borderline accreditation and a solid one matters.
The second point is the fragmentation. A single sitting of the ARACIS Council produces several accreditations, but each becomes a separate order, published when its turn comes. Two appear today. How many more came out of decision 224/H cannot be told from the Gazette. The effect is that the map of doctoral fields in Romania is updated in pieces, and anyone who wants the full picture has to gather orders published on different dates.
What should be changed
- Publication of the ARACIS resolution together with the order. A summary of the evaluation, even a single page, would turn an administrative decision into a verifiable one.
- The academic year from which they apply, written into the act. Today it is inferred from the date of publication, which leaves room for interpretation right on the edge of the admissions sessions.
- A public, up to date list of accredited doctoral fields. If the accreditations from one sitting are published separately, at least the consolidated register ought to exist in a single place.
Original text of the legal act
The text below is reproduced in Romanian, the official form of publication.
The full text, as published in the Official Gazette of Romania
Official Gazette of Romania no. 714 of 27 August 2026 16 pages PDF, 111 KB the act starts on page 4
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This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. For specific situations, consult a licensed attorney or tax advisor.