All youth want to have a good career, which should provide them a privileged position in society, but also in the eyes of other people. However, many high school or university graduates face a real dilemma when they have to decide on their professional future. Lacking experience, they do not really know what exactly they want, and they know even less about their own advantages and skills.
According to experts, when they have to make important choices in relation to their career, youth must take into account, first of all, their own wishes. They must follow their vocation and be aware of the fact that life is better when they can do what they like to.
Moreover, youth must not choose their profession in relation to the demands and offers available on the labor market at a certain moment. If they do that, they risk the confrontation with a professional failure. One of the biggest mistakes of youth and parents alike is to base their decision on certain changeable trends, which may take a different course when graduating.
Before choosing the faculty or the job to apply for, one must perform an internal analysis. Why are the skills? "Know yourself" first, as even Aristotle used to say.
Don't you know what you are good at? Give yourself time and you will surely discover it, as you know yourself best. Do not let the opinions of others convince you that you cannot do what you have wished for all your life, and the most important thing, it is never too late to do what you really want to!
The offer of professions is, however, very generous, if we consider that after the year 1990, at the same time with the political, social and economic changes in Romania, we also observe a change in Romanian education, a pretty natural change according to the new demand of the labor market, first of all caused by the gradual , but sure, bankruptcy of industry and agriculture, which has had unfavorable consequences on the technical and agronomical education, along with the increasing need of specialists as in the legal, economic, informational, journalistic, philological, etc. field, and the existence of new professions, as those like social assistant or political analyst, but also determined by the "fashionability" of new professions, on top being that of jurist.
Taking into account the demand for jurists, but also the "fashion" mentioned above, the number of places at the traditional law schools has increased first, the faculties were re-established, a considerable number of private faculties came into being, thus there being over 40 faculties of law in Romania, already accredited or temporarily authorized, out of which there are thirteen within the public education sector, twenty-eight in the private education sector, placed all over the country, as only the capital city has a total number of twelve such faculties, totalizing over fifteen thousand places for admission.
The moment a student steps into the lecture hall of a faculty of law for the first time, he/she gets in touch with a different world from the one he/she has been used to up to that moment. Suddenly, the accumulated knowledge and partially undergoing forgetfulness during high school time become unusable for the student at the beginning of the studies. The student contacts the world of law, and shortly he/she observes that the learning system in high school is not too useful in the context in which the volume of information taught at the faculty easily overcomes the imagination of any common high school student with the habit of studying only basic subjects attentively. Suddenly, all subjects become essential for the law student, each professor has a specific style of teaching, certain demands when it comes to grading, and the argument in favor of importance or non-importance of the subject becomes irrelevant during the examination session.
The specific vocabulary the student comes in contact with in the first weeks of study does launch an avalanche of uncertainties. The teachers insist on the importance of trying to learn and understand it, on the legal institutions that start shaping up with each course delivered, and of course, with each page individually learnt by the student.
The drastic change compared to the system they had been used to during high school studies has managed, within a short time, to divide the categories of students. The first months are not a real struggle with new subjects, with the new teaching system focusing on individual study too much, but with the adaptation of their own manner of thinking and building a relation with this new world of law. Some time is to pass until this process reaches a satisfactory stage. The entire image on the fields of law will be drawn along the years of study, along thrills before examinations, on projects with
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various topics, in practical stages in which they directly get in touch with professionals.
The last faculty year will also be the point where the student faces the choice of his/her own future. Regardless of the fact whether the future had already been sketched before entering the lecture hall for the first time, or whether the decision came on the spur of the moment, the finality of the license studies closes only when they understand the manner in which the legal world operates, when the thousands of pages learnt or read start to relate logically, they become aware of a professional field of which an uneducated person has no understanding at all.
Putting theoretical knowledge to work is done during student scientific work/research, which pursues the creation of links among theoretical and applicative aspects, the development of team work, the encouraging of students to publish in various magazines. It is also a practice to approach topics of research work, which will be later used for the graduation examinations, thus students having the opportunity to present chapters of their dissertation to others.
The activity of such student research teams is presented in conferences, symposia and other scientific events for students.
Any activity of training within the academic environment must finally lead to a series of skills and knowledge the student must have. Generally, it is considered that all these skills and knowledge can be certified by the elaboration of research work. Such a piece of work is the diploma project, having as objective the certification of capacities and theoretical competence of student research.
The graduation paper must reflect the skills of its author to analyze, filter, and critically report to scientific works in the field of study, as well as the capacity to elaborate his/her own scientific paper, which has to base on both the theoretical dimension of the subject framework referred at, and on the methodological one, there being either the theoretical construction as a whole, or the collection, processing and interpretation of data.
In any such work they do not observe only the elaboration part, but also the argumentation of the relevant theses contained therein. For this reason, the dissertation is presented publicly. This means the certification of the academic quality of the work involved, which must be within a formal framework defined on the level of the scientific community. Therefore, the paper must be presented in front of a commission, of a body of experts, who necessarily debate on the ideas proposed by the author.
The capacity of intellectual work and competence the paper certifies also include the dialogue the author has with the members of the commission.
The skills of a specialist inclusively regard the public debate capacity on the thesis, the ability to have an academic dialogue on research subjects. Therefore, every student not only has to be able to orally present the paper, but also he must be able to do the same, in the same style, and with the same availability demonstrated in writing.
This academic dialogue is not one of balance by all means, as the members of the license or dissertation commission rather ask questions than provide answers, or their own point of view. But this aspect is rather related to a natural specificity of the first academic dialogue for the newcomers into the scientific community.
The license paper requires the conceiving and elaboration, under the guidance of a teaching staff member who is the coordinator, of a text which should encompass, in a logical and ordered succession, information, ideas, opinions of the author, coming or formulated from studying juridical literature, and the practice of judicial organs in the field.
The elaboration activity of the paper must represent a natural continuation of the university teaching activity and professional training of students. Besides the finality of the studies, the objective of these papers is also to ensure the reaching of high quality standards in the chosen profession. On the other hand, the license paper must prove the consistency in the specialization attended for years.
The intense preparation within the elaboration stage of the paper will certainly consolidate the graduate's competence and knowledge in the respective thematic area, which will be very useful to the future place of employment.
The license paper represents the stage where the teachers end the long period they had been responsible for the student formation. The directions, advice and orientation will determine the student to believe in the real value of law, in the establishment of justice about which each chronically optimistic person dreams. And those moments of the exmination, when the sudent comes in direct touch with the teacher to subsequently discover that his/her work is appreciated, are invaluable.
The attempt to look towards future from the perspective of a student freshly graduating from the faculty is frightening when it comes to look for a job in the legal field. Certainly, the knowledge accumulated represents the foundation of the future career, and the overall image provided by the years of study should contribute to the final career choice. However, within a less favourable economic context, to some extent it is intimidating to watch the harsh competitions admitting people to professions. It is the time when personal
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qualities are employed into the game to help in front of unprecedented difficulties in professional life until that moment.
The judicial system represents, besides others, the unknown for the student in law. Though theoretically, he/she knows the organization, hierarchyzation manner, the duties of people part of it, its actual operation remains a mystery as dangerous as the choice of profession after the license examination. Maybe in the case of those who practically understand the functioning of the judicial system, these issues will eventually be clarified, but for the student who evaluates each career opportunity it represents a disadvantage. It is true that practice during the years of study helps the buiding of an overall image of the judicial system. Thus, the student can undergo a personal analysis, as objective as possible, to determine the competence for a certain profession, the skills and their matching to the choice made. Certainly all these base on the student's goodwill, who is well-prepared professionally and personally.
Doubtlessly, at least half of the students who step into faculties of law are animated by the wish to "become a judge, a prosecutor, or a lawyer". Each profession enjoys certain pluses and minuses on a conceptual level. From the student's perspective, the profession of a judge imposes respect, provides a high degree of authority in comparison with the citizens in the trial hall. The judge becomes, in the student's imagination, as important as law itself. The profession of prosecutor, although not so popular among students, represents a mystery up to the last years of study.
Along the last few years, they have organized a Complete Training Course for the Magistrature Examination, and the National Institute of Magistrature (NIM), which attempts to find the most efficient methods for the attendants, to find the straightest path to the objective proposed, a path easily and clearly usable for anyone who knows it. The course, with a duration of 120 hours, teaches attendants to have a better self-control so that they go through the interview impecably, taking into account the criteria of grading. Additionally, they have the opportunity to go through a simulated interview at the end of the course in the same conditions as in the examination, so that they get used to the process and become confident, avoiding mistakes on the day of the interview.
There also is an Intensive Training Course for the Bar Admission Examination. The course aims at those who want to enter the Bar and wish to train adequately.
The objective of this course is to help attendants to understand how to solve the subjects in previous examinations, to understand the legislation in force, so that they can solve the subjects without encountering hardship.
The initial training of adults ensures the necessary training to gain the minimum professional competences for a place of work.
The continuing education of adults comes next to the initial formation, and ensures either the development of the already acquired professional compentencies, or the gaining of new ones. The continuing education of adults is administered by the National Center of Adult Professional Training (NCAPT).
According to the communique of the European Commission, November 2001, The Achievement of a European Area of Continuing Education - the term of continuing education is defined as follows: the sum of the learning activities along a lifetime, with the objective to enrich knowledge, skills and abilities from a multiple perspective: personal, civic, social and occupational. According to the same document, continuing education entails:
a) The acquiring and updating of any type of skills, interests, knowledge and qualifications, starting with the pre-school education up to retirement. The concept of continuing education thus promotes the development of knowledge and ability necessary for each citizen to adapt to a society based on knowledge and to actively take part in all the spheres of economic and social life, thus owing control of his/her own future;
b) The use of each form of learning, including: learning in formal contexts, as, for example, a course attended at the university; the non-formal learning, as professional abilities gained at the place of work; informal learning , as intergeneration learning (for example, parents teaching children to use modern communication means or the learning of an instrument with a friend).
c) According to this definition, continuing education entails that learning opportunities be available to all citizens, any time. Practically, it means that each individual can build his/her own path of education and training, adapted to personal needs and interests, any moment of life. The contents of learning, the manner of learning, and the context in which it takes place may vary according to the one who learns and has personal learning requirements.
d) Continuing education also means to provide "second chance" types of programs, to update basic abilities and to benefit from a higher learning level of opportunities. This needs more open and flexible educational systems, so that these opportunities should be really adapted to the needs and the real potential of the learner.
In this context, the active judges and prosecutors take part at least every three years in professional
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training programs organized by the National Institute of Magistrature, by higher education institutions in the country and abroad, or in other professional training forms.
The continuing professional training must take into acount the dynamics of the legislative process and mainly consists of the knowledge and development of domestic legislation, of European and international documents where Romania is a part, of court jurisprudence, and of the Constitutional Court, of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, and of the European Community Court of Justice, in the multidisciplinary approach of institutions that are new, as well as the knowledge and development of foreign languages and computer operation.
The continuing education of judges and prosecutors takes place according to the requirements of their specialization.
The judges and prosecutors have the obligation to attend an intensive course of foreign language and an intensive course of computer operation within the continuing education programs, organized by the National Institute of Magistrature or courts and prosecutor's offices , by higher education institutions in the country and abroad, as well as other institutions in the field.
The responsibility for the continuing education of judges and prosecutors is held by the National Institute of Magistrature, leaders of courts and prosecutor's offices where they carry out their activity, as well as each judge and prosecutor, by individual training.
The National Institute for the Education and Training of Lawyers is the legal person of private law, non-profit, of public interest, where they organize training courses in the fields of law, taking into account the specialization tendency of lawyers, with practical contents, pursuing the completion of professional training through the updating of knowledge in the field they exercise their profession, the use of theoretical knowledge to stimulate and form professional abilities, interpretation capacity of legal norms, the development of the analysis and synthesis capacity, the acquiring of juridical terms.
The objective of courses and debates on various themes is represented by the development of theoretical and practical knowledge regarding institutions of law and their correct application, through the good knowledge of the general institutional framework, in relation to the juridical doctrine and jurisprudence of the High Court of Cassation and Justice, The Constitutional Court, and the European Court of Human Rights.
The conclusion of this incursion into the legal field cannot be but optimistic. With all the hardship encountered along the years of study, with the stress which has driven to personal or professional accomplishments, nothing compares to what comes next, professional achievement. According to training and responsibility related to the manner of training, people may acceed to various professions in the field. Although pursuing a career in law is not easy and competition is harsh, what is certain is material and personal satisfaction which comes along with it.
Taking part in continuing education tends to be supported by employers to a greater extent, through various mechanisms: the assessment of training needs, financial support for training courses, the elaboration of development strategies with direct reference to the development of employee abilities, the organization of human resource departments, and even the organization of training centers. The assessment of employee training needs is generally done periodically, more and more companies resorting to it.
Justice, including juridical cooperation, has become a mature EU policy since the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty; the European Space of justice must be consolidated; education represents an essential instrument to guarantee that the rights granted by EU legislation become reality, that the efficiency of justice systems in Member States increases, and that practitioners in the field of law share a mutual trust in the justice systems of the others. This fact, at its turn, should contribute to the ensuring of a proper flow of trans-border procedures and the recognition of injunctions.
1. Law no.87/2006 regarding the enhancing of educational quality with subsequent changes and completions, re-published in Romania's Official Gazette, Part I, no 656. Of September 14 2011.
2. Law no. 1/2011 of National Education re-published in Romania's Official Gazette, Part I, no. 18 of January 10, 2011
3. Rules regarding the carrying out of professional training courses for magistrates, published in Romania's Official Gazette, Part I, January 8, 2010.
4. Rules regarding the organization and carrying out of the graduation examination of the National Institute for the Education and Training of Lawyers, - I.N.P.P.A., published on site www.unbr.ro ■
Lábjegyzetek:
[1] The Author is Assistant Professor Faculty of Law "Bogdan Voda" University Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Visszaugrás
