Carmen Manuela Nicolae
The economy based on knowledge is that economy that passed the developing stage beyond which knowledge represents the key-resource. An extremely important issue in the functioning of the educational system is represented also by the methods of financing, afferent to each level. So that, according to the Education Law no. 84/1995 with the ulterior changes and completions, the state education is free being financed mainly from the state budget and local budgets, but also from the economical agents' funds, as well as of other physical and juridical persons. To the superior education there is allocated a separate fund for university scientific research, from the global budget of research, on competitive criteria, in terms of national priorities and of obtained or anticipated performances. The financing system of the state pre- university education must provide the decentralization of the funds at teaching units' level. The financing of the state pre-university teaching units consists of basic financing and complementary financing. Other form of financing is represented by auto-financing realized on the basis of their own resources. The financing of the Romanian education system has to be in accordance to the law concerning the competition and state help, as well as to the communitarian practice in the field. The economy based on knowledge is that economy that passed the developing stage beyond which knowledge represents the key-resource. What makes this knowledge to become such an important resource? The more capable a society would be to develop, to accumulate and to use the information, the richer it would become. Knowledge can be associated with human capital. The information's accessibility makes that the persons could investigate and express easier, it can determine the growth of communication between human beings, the development of new types of business (e- commerce), and the development of new on-line information centers. Because of the science's development, ever many persons are employed in the development of new activities. The number of the research fields has grown a lot and, thus, in order to become a good specialist, a person needs ever many years of training. The importance of education-as an act of conscience on whose quality depends not only the welfare of the future nation, but, at the same time, the power, the influence and even its existence as a different entity in the world and regional configuration, is unanimously recognized. The strategic objectives established by the European Commission in the year of 2002, within the European Council of Barcelona, as well as the decisions adopted at European level within the Bologna have determined the speeding up of the reform process of the educational system. Romania's assuming the obligations established through the process of Bologna, has took shape in structural changes brought to the educational system, such as the extension of the period of obligatory education from 8 to 10 years, reorganization of