CONDITIONS OF CHANGE: THE REGIONAL ROLE OF A ROMANIAN AGRICULTURAL SECONDARY SCHOOL

Abstract

The focus of our study is a high school with an agricultural education programme operating in a rural micro-region within Harghita County (Romania), in which context the relationship between the school and the regional society comes under analysis. Since the 1970s, it has been the school’s mission to provide the micro-region’s professionals with a secondary education, and today it still intends to maintain this micro-regional function. It has been struggling with significant operational and maintenance problems for several years now, while the evolution of its micro-regional role is uncertain. The present study puts under scrutiny the attitude of parents and the region’s élites towards the school and its regional role as well as analyses the school’s service-marketing practices towards the region. The aim of the study is to analyse the school-community relationship and the school’s marketing communication. The main research question is: what is the regional role of the school and how can it be strengthened? Analytical results indicate that repositioning the regional role of the school seems to offer a way out and a development opportunity for the institution.