Published in Scientific Papers. Series "Management, Economic Engineering in Agriculture and rural development", Vol. 25 ISSUE 2
Written by Valentina Constanta TUDOR, Alina Gabriela MĂRCUȚĂ, Jeni Veronica ȚIU, Cosmina Andreea SMEDESCU, Diana VÂȘCĂ-ZAMFIR, Cosmina Simona TOADER

The aim of this research was to analyse the relationship between the level of public investment in tertiary education and the structural characteristics of higher education in the Member States of the European Union, with a focus on the indirect implications on academic integrity. In the context in which institutional pressures can affect academic quality and ethics, the study aims to identify whether and to what extent funding influences performance, structural balance and the risk of compromising university standards. The specific objectives included: selecting a coherent set of comparable educational indicators at EU level, assessing the relationships between them through statistical correlations, constructing a composite score of educational pressure and formulating substantiated conclusions regarding the budgetary impact on the academic climate. The methodology used was of a quantitative-comparative type, based on the processing of data available in the Eurostat platform for the period 2015–2023. Only countries for which all the analyzed data were fully reported were included. The analytical tools applied included descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient and z-score standardization to develop the composite score of educational pressure. The results obtained highlighted significant correlations between the level of expenditure/student and the student/teacher ratio, as well as between education financing and the share of the population with higher education. In addition, the composite score showed that countries with low investment and unbalanced structure (Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, etc.) display increased institutional pressure, which can indirectly affect academic integrity. The overall conclusion of the research is that integrity in the university environment does not depend exclusively on cultural or ethical factors, but is structurally conditioned by the way in which resources are allocated, the academic workforce is balanced and educational transitions are managed. Therefore, a sustainable approach to academic integrity inevitably also requires a strategic vision on funding and institutional architecture.

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