The Bologna process initiated a series of changes in the Romanian higher education structure, such that it will become comparable and compatible with the higher education systems from the other countries which signed the Bologna Declaration, in 1999. Implementing this process requirements and increasing the competitiveness of universities from this European area need new approaches in the university governance. In this perspective, the present paper deals with the problem of implementing strategic management and marketing, based on corporate experience. Participating directly in this process at the top management level of the Ministry of Education and Research, the authors analyze both the generic forces for promoting this change and the inertial forces. Implementation of the strategic management has been done through a series of changes in the higher education legislation, as well as through a coherent program of necessity awareness for rectors, vicerectors, deans and vicedeans from the university system. It has been a progressive process, which lasted several years and proved that the higher education restructuring is possible only the when there is a clear vision and an adequate political will. Unlike strategic management, strategic marketing can be implemented at the level of each university, without being necessary the Ministry of Education and Research intervention. To illustrate this fact we will present some examples from the American university area.
