Abstract. The research goes in-depth of a highly debated public decision on education due to its topicality and suddenly enforced changes. The analysis argues that the perceptions of the groups which are mostly impacted by the changes contradict the effects targeted by the Law. These perceptions are tested in a split focus group (in three target subgroups – teaching staff, students and secretarial staff) and both the initial observations and the ones filtered through the field literature prove a strong burden on the higher education system, which will only multiply like ripples in the context of the current economic situation.

Keywords: higher education; public decision; perceptions.