Romanian ex-minister Ligia Deca’s revolving door case: she was named university vice-chancellor less than 3 weeks after proposing Eur 2.3 million project to deploy OECD’s adult skills survey PIAAC nationally – a project opaquely attributed to same university and to another office she is indirectly connected to

Romania’s ex-Education minister Ligia Deca left office on the eve of Christmas 2024, in governmental changes that followed recent parliamentary elections. Less than 3 weeks later, she was announced a vice-chancellor at SNSPA, a university in Bucharest. Her latest bill submitted for transparency procedures is a draft governmental decision on the participation of Romania to PIAAC, the OECD’s adult skills survey. The project, valued at Eur 2,3 million, an unprecedented amount for such a research in Romanian education, is due to be deployed by a consortium of three public institutions, including two which Ligia Deca is either directly or indirectly connected to.

• The full report on this topic, as first published by Edupedu.ro, is available in Romanian here.

The three are the same university SNSPA where she is now rector in charge with „strategic projects”, a unit which overviews funding for universities and research bodies, UEFISCDI, where her husband and former colleagues work, as well as INCSDMPS, a research institute in the field of labor and welfare.

This revolving door situation is the kind which may raise integrity questions in other systems, but which is not regulated for holders of public office in Romania.

SNSPA – or the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration – announced it was naming Ligia Deca as vice-chancellor on January 8, just over two weeks after her departure from the Education Ministry. She had run for a seat in Parliament on the lists of the governing Liberals (PNL), but failed to do so despite holding an eligible position on party lists in parliamentary elections late last year.

• Just as she was leaving office, the ministry published for consultation the draft governmental decision on Romania’s participation to PIAAC 2025-2029, the study run by OECD, an organisation Romania is due to join. The value of the project for the deployment of the adult skills survey in Romania – Eur 2,3 million – is unmatched for such studies at national level. 

And no clear reasoning was offered for the selection of the three institutions which are due to deploy the survey, beyond several mentions that SNSPA had been previously involved in initiatives associated with a strategy of boosting adult skills in Romania and in partially funding the participation tax for PIAAC. The draft government decision says SNSPA is due to use European funds to cover 240,000 of the Eur 600,000 participation tax.

Deca’s SNSPA connection

Ligia Deca, a former presidential aide involved deeply with the development of the so-called „Educated Romania” reform in the education sector, has been working as a lecturer at SNSPA since February 2022, the year she took over as minister, according to her LinkedIn profile.  Another public CV presented her as working with SNSPA since 2019.

SNSPA was chosen to host a conference for the presentation of the national data of OECD’s PISA 2022 results in late 2023, with the participation of top representatives of the international organisation. Soon after that she visited the US accompanied by SNSPA rector Remus Pricopie in early 2024.

SNSPA was also involved with the ministry in a project to develop a national strategy for the education of adults several years ago. But no direct explanation was given for the selection of SNSPA as a partner in the consortium to deploy PIAAC.

Deca’s UEFISCDI connection

Another institution in the consortium, UEFISCDI, is where Ligia Deca’s husband Cezar Hâj works. And Edupedu.ro reported last month that many of the members of Deca’s ministerial aides were employed or involved in UEFISCDI-run projects in the later phases of her time as minister of Education.

Ligia Deca herself used to work as an expert at UEFSCDI a decade ago (2012-2015), until she was named a presidential aide at the beginning of President Klaus Iohannis’ first term in office. 

• The Education Ministry has yet to provide supplementary information on criteria regarding the selection of three institutions to run the project, to prevent any conflict of interest. Further information is also needed regarding the involvement or non-involvement of Ligia Deca’s husband Cezar Haj in the project on behalf of UEFISCDI, whether he would obtain any benefit from this and whether he had any influence on the formation of the consortium.

Asked about whether he would approve the future governmental decision that the ministry initiated under the previous minister, new Education minister Daniel David said in a press conference on Friday that any act leaving the ministry that he would sign had to clear three aspects: the need of such a decision, the legality of the decision and the ethics of that decision. 

Note: This is a summary of a report first published by Edupedu.ro in Romanian. The original article on this topic is available here.