High school admission in 2026 comes with major changes in technological education, the abolition of vocational school being the most important. Economic operators who support dual education are no longer obliged, on the other hand, to offer a scholarship at least equal to the technological scholarship offered by the state.
For students who have graduated from secondary school and are interested in admission to a technological high school because they want to learn a trade, things are happening differently from the 2026-2027 school year. The vocational school has been abolished, and the admission takes place according to new rules.
All students enter high school from now on, with the status of “vocational student” no longer existing, even if there is the possibility of interrupting the educational course after the 11th grade. Admission, on the other hand, is no longer done by presenting your file directly to the high school (as was the case at the vocational school), but, in order to have the best chance of getting the place you want, you must take the National Assessment exam (most of the students admitted to the vocational school in the past years did not take the exam) and then fill in an application form for the computerized distribution, because the places at technological education can be found in the offer of high schools that select their students on the basis of computerized distribution.
Two qualifications in four years of high school
When completing the registration form, students and parents, assisted by the directors, will check, in the case of technological education, pairs of qualifications, these covering Level 3 and Level 4, respectively (which is reached by students who continue high school after the 11th grade).
In past years, students with very low averages or who did not pass the exam could enter the vocational school much more easily. From the summer of 2026, the ranking for places in technological high schools will be computerized, depending on the average obtained at the National Assessment.
Students who do not take the National Assessment, but in a stage organized after stage I of the computerized assignment and being taken into account for the assignment to the places left unoccupied after solving the situations of the students who took the National Assessment and who have not yet been admitted, can also be admitted to technological education.
Dual education has also undergone changes. Companies interested in training specialists in certain fields will support dual technological high school classes from now on. The economic agents who support such classes may still require the taking of additional specific admission tests (interviews, aptitude tests, etc.), established together with the educational unit. The legislation no longer obliges economic operators to provide students from dual technological education with a scholarship at least equal to the technological scholarship offered by the state (which is transferred from the vocational school to the high school), leaving it up to them to decide whether to grant it or not.
This change, together with the modification of the admission procedure, makes the recruitment process much more difficult for the directors of the technological high schools, as it is even more difficult to convince the parents of the students, from now on, to direct their children to the technological field.
What advantages does technological education offer?
The offer of technological high schools at the level of each county can be found separately on the website of each county school inspectorate, such a presentation being a legal obligation. Also there, but also on the websites of technological high schools, you can also find information about possible additional selection stages for dual technological education classes.
The brochure on the website of the School Inspectorate of the Municipality of Bucharest (IȘMB) presents some of the general advantages that technological education offers.
Thus, in the case of state technological education you will benefit from:
– Practical training at partner economic operators or in the school’s workshops/laboratories;
– Obtaining a qualification for easier employment;
– The possibility to participate in various projects, Olympiads, school competitions and conferences.
In the case of dual technological high school education, you will benefit from:
– Practical training at partner economic operators;
– The economic operator can provide scholarships for high-performing students;
– The economic operator can provide other advantages in favor of supporting the students: lunch, work equipment, medical tests, transport settlement, supplies;
– Possibility of employment at the partner economic operator.
Both routes – technological high school education and dual technological high school education – can be completed with the 12th/13th grade, which offers level 4 qualification (after passing a certification exam). Students can take the Baccalaureate and go to college or, without the Baccalaureate, enroll in post-secondary education.
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If they choose instead to stop after the 11th grade, they get a level 3 qualification (for which they will take a certification exam) and can be employed.
The technological stream offers students the opportunity to choose between three major profiles: “Technical”, “Natural resources and environmental protection” and “Services”.
If they are from Bucharest, in the technical field they will find in the offer of technological high schools specializations in fields such as: Mechanics; Electromechanics; Automation electronics; Electric; Construction, installations and public works; Polygraphic techniques; Media production; Manufacture of wooden products; Textile-leather industry.
Also in the offer of technological high schools in Bucharest, under the “Natural resources and environmental protection” profile, qualifications/specializations are available in fields such as: Environmental protection; Industrial chemistry; Agriculture; Food Industry.
In the “Services” profile, high schools offer training in specializations in fields such as: Commerce/Economics; Tourism and food; Aesthetics and hygiene of the human body.
In the brochures on the websites of the school inspectorates, you can find both general information about admission to technological/dual technological education as well as the offer of each individual high school, in which the fields of qualification are presented in detail.
How is admission into technology education
Admission to technological education broadly follows the centralized calendar, based on the National Assessment, which involves the following stages:
• June 12, 2026: Official end of classes for the 8th grade;
• June 22 – 25, 2026: Conducting the written tests from the National Assessment;
• July 3, 2026: Display of initial results and submission of appeals;
• July 9, 2026: Display of final results and announcement of the hierarchy of graduates at county level;
• July 13 – 17, 2026: Students and parents fill in the registration forms with the desired options (both theoretical and technological/dual), assisted by the leading teachers;
• July 22, 2026: The official computerized distribution in high school education takes place. Lists of candidates admitted to educational institutions are displayed;
• July 23 – 27, 2026: Submission of enrollment files to the schools to which the students have been assigned, because the simple assignment does not mean that the student is automatically enrolled in the high school to which he was assigned, but it is necessary to submit a file and complete a request.
It should be noted that for classes in dual technological high school education that require preselections or additional skills tests required by partner economic operators, the selection exams can be scheduled locally between July 13-16, 2026, before the processing of the final sheets.
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After taking the tests, the high schools publish the lists of the students who passed these tests, and the “Admitted” marks/qualifications are entered into the centralized database of the Ministry of Education.
On computer assignment day, July 22, the computer processes the student’s choice sheet. If a dual technological high school code appears on the card, the computer instantly checks if the student has the status of “Admitted” on the test from that school. If so, and the average from the National Assessment allows it, the student takes the place. If the student was “Rejected” on the test, the calculator skips that option and goes to the next one on the sheet.
A second chance in August
If, after the first stage of computerized assignment, the students did not get a place at the high school (this can happen in the case of a small school, combined with an insufficient number of options listed in the registration form), or if for various reasons they did not participate in the first stage of assignment, the next stage takes place in July – August.
The stage is dedicated to those who remained unassigned after the first session, to those who did not participate in the assignment/National Assessment or to those who were correct and passed the exams in the summer.
The July-August allotment calendar begins with the display of seats remaining vacant after the first stage.
Here are the steps:
• July 28, 2026: Display of seats remaining free after the first stage.
• August 11 – 13, 2026: Registration of candidates at the county school inspectorates or completion of a new option sheet;
• August 17 – 19, 2026: The actual distribution of candidates from the second stage by the county admission commissions.
