Remus Pricopie has been an associate professor and the Dean of the College of Communication and Public Relations at the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest, Romania, since 2005. Before that he was the director of the Open and Distance Learning Department and a lecturer on public communication, within the same institution. In addition to his current position, he is the director of a research project financed by the National Council of Research in Higher Education and the coordinator of a research team who studies the policy dialogue and the communication behavior of educational institutions.
Dr. Pricopie has also achieved significant experience in the field of educational management. He got his first management position in 1997, when he was appointed the head of a department within the Ministry of Education. From that moment on and up till now, he has occupied several managerial and counseling positions such as spokesperson for the Ministry of Education and director of Communication and Public Relations Department, program coordinator, General Secretary of the Ministry of Education (the third in line from the Minister), counselor of the minister of education, consultant for a World Bank project implemented in Romania, and so on. Since 2004, he has been the counselor of the President of the National Council of Rectors.
Dr. Pricopie has a BA from Bucharest University, an MA in international relations and European policies from Liege University, Belgium, an MA in communication and public relations from National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Romania, and, from the same university, a PhD in political science, with an interdisciplinary thesis on communication and organizational response to environmental changes. Also, Dr. Pricopie has been involved in many projects and has participated regularly in different conferences and trainings. Among the latest, include his participation at the core course of the World Bank Institute, Strategic Choices for Education Reform (2006), the Advanced Studies Program for Visiting Scholars in International Education Policy (2003-2004), a program coordinated by The George Washington University and The Georgetown University, the Salzburg Seminar Session 419 on Changing Concepts of International Education Exchange and Mobility (2004) and the International Short Course on South East Europe Higher Education Administration Development (2004) offered by the Graz University and Salzburg Seminar.
Select Publications
- Pricopie, R. (2005). Public Relations: Evolutions and Trens. Bucharest, Tritonic.
- Iacob, D; Cismaru, D.; Pricopie, R. (2005). Public Relations: Credibility through Communication. Bucharest, comunicare.ro.
- Pricopie, R. (2005). Ivy L. Lee, the Publicity Man, in Journalism and Communication. Bucharest, Bucharest University.
- Iacob, D.; Pricopie, R. (2005). Public Relations – a new explicativ model, in Journalism and Communication. Bucharest, Bucharest University.
- Iacob, D.; Pricopie, R. (2005). The Public Relations Specialist: Toward a Professional Model in Balaban, D.C. and Rus, F.C. (ed), PR Trens. Cluj Napoca, Accent.
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Higher Education Access & Equity: Public Awareness and Policy Dialogue
This proposed research starts from the following hypothesis: where there is no public awareness about disparities of access in higher education, it’s less likely that proper public policies will be developed on this issue. This hypothesis is based on my empirical observations as a high level administrator of the Romanian higher education system, working intensively in public information and policy dialog, and also on my research and teaching experience on public communication issues. During this one-year research, I will try to find out if there is a direct link between the level of public awareness about this specific public issue of access and equity in higher education and the commitment of policy actors to promote appropriate public policies. In addition, I will try to see how different systems organize dialogue on such issues, identify some good practices and elaborate a model (or more models) of communication concerning the access and equity in higher education. These model(s) might be successfully used in order to significantly support the public awareness concerning the equity of access to higher education, and could sustain the successful implementation of public policies in this area.
In order to do all of the above, I will first identify a set of countries (Type A), which over time have learned to promote and implement sound policies that address access and equity, and another set of countries (Type B), which do not provide a high level of equitable access to higher education. For every country in both categories, I intend to follow a three-step inquiry process, try and find out answers to different questions and try and understand different aspects related to the history of the issue as well as the nature of the educational policy promoted. I expect this approach to be a new one, which will complete and enrich the research within the framework of NCS on access and equity in higher education. |
