A National Student Council in Romania: Haunting Memory or Futurama?

Alternative 1: Student Councils in Romania: Haunting Memory or Futurama? Alternative 2: Corporatist arrangements of student representation in Romania: Haunting Memory or Futurama?

This article provides an explanation for the disappearance of the National Student Council (NSC) from the Romanian student representation spectrum. The NSC functioned between 2001 and 2005; its local (subsidiary) level was regulated through HE Law in 95 and it remained largely unchanged. I will argue that the institutional arrangement of the NSC did not allow it to be an effective structure to pursue students interests. In this respect, I will analize its performance in organizing a specific form of collective action: student protests. I will contrast it with the effectiveness of the national federations of local student organisations in performing the same actions. In early 90, the local student organisations had a similar institutional arrangement as the local level of the NSC, a simillar institutional departure. The main difference wais that in local students organisations the members could determine the structure. I will describe and explain the adaptation of their institutional arrangements, using some illustrative study cases. They will be chosen based on the criteria of (1) being still active, (2) being founded before 95, (3) in comprehensive universities with a heterogeneous student body and (4) having an initial institutional arrangement almost identical to the local (subsidiary) level of the NSC. The adaptations will be described in terms of membership, main activities, sanctions and legitimatory resources. The empirical data will be provided by statutes changes and interviews with some of current and formal leaders, from structures and periods relevant for the article. In the second part, the article will argue that the idea of NSC is far from being forgotten and it is still influencing the constitutional level of the national student representation frame. I will argue that a peculiar combination of exogenous factors: (1) its appeal to policy makers (2) the communist heritage and (3) the Bologna Process are reasons for its persiexistence and influence. A comparison between the former NSC and the actual national student federations will be performed. The empirical data will be provided by statutes changes and interviews with some of current and formal leaders, from structures and periods relevant for the article.