CACTUS CACTUS J Tour Bus Manag Econ CACTUS – Journal of Tourism Business, Management and Economics 2247-3297 ASE Publishing House Bucharest, Romania 10.24818/CTS/3/2021/2.03 cactus-2021-13 Research Article A29, I21 Online Economics Higher Education During Covid-19, A Case Study Approach: The Bucharest University Of Economic Studies, The Faculty Of Business And Tourism Holostencu Luciana-Floriana https://orcid.org/0009-0005-5671-0575 luciana.holostencu@yahoo.ro Iorgulescu Maria-Cristina https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4957-3590 Ţală Mădălina-Lavinia https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0096-4195 Iordache Mădălina-Ionela Vălimăreanu (Mircioi) Ileana Crina Poida Georgiana Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania 15 12 2021 3 2 15122021 Copyright © 2021, The Author(s) 2021 The Author(s) This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

From what in March 2020 seemed as a simple health issue, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to a global crisis with a huge social, economic and educational impact. As a result, many countries that were not prepared for such a situation, in terms of infrastructure, had to abruptly adapt with the resources they had to their disposal at that time. For example, in Romania, most schools and universities moved their classes online via different online platforms, but students from rural areas were not able to attend school at all. The present study aims to evaluate students’ perceptions and difficulties regarding online (blended) learning compared to traditional classroom attendance with a main focus on the difficulties encountered in the process of learning economic subjects. We performed a quantitative research by implementing an online questionnaire which was sent out by the end of the second semester of 2020 – 2021 school year. The respondents were freshmen from The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, The Faculty of Business and Tourism, enrolled in October 2020. Being aware that the quality of their learning might be affected via blended learning, all these respondents agreed to take part into various optional activities provided by the means of the Secondary Education Project – ROSE BT. Therefore, the current study might offer an useful insight into difficulties encountered by these students and solutions provided by both teachers and the university as an institution interested into facilitating the online education process. Moreover, the results will show possible factors that may determine difficulties into understanding various economic subjects and students’ own motion for improving their situation.

 Keywords Higher education online learning learning difficulties coronavirus pandemic educational technology

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