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Prior to my appointment as Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Bergen, I taught and conducted research in the UK. For several years, I worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Warwick. I got my PhD in Sociology from the University of Essex. I was also a Visiting Researcher at the Stanford Graduate School of Education in the US.

I am especially interested in how empirical research in the field of social sciences can be used to question the capabilities of purposive organizational action. At the theoretical level, I explore how contrasting insights from functionalist perspectives and global institutional perspectives can help us make sense of one of the biggest social problems of our time - the dislocation between formal goals and action. 

My most recent research explores the (de)coupling between institutional missions and practice, using the case study of inclusion-oriented goals in universities.

SOS120 Newer sociological theories 

SOS340 Project Development (MA research)

Books

Baltaru, R.D. (2025). Inclusion Organisation in Universities – How commitments work. Palgrave Macmillan.

Research Articles

Baltaru, R.D. (2023). Minority Ethnic Staff in Universities: Organisational Commitments, Reputation and the (Re)structuring of the Staff Body. Sociology. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385231163107.

Baltaru, R.D., Manac, R.D., Miruna, I. (2022). Do Rankings affect Financial Sustainability? Financial Vulnerability to Rankings and Elite Status as a Positional Good. Studies in Higher Education, 2323-2335.

Soysal, Y., Baltaru, R.D., & Cebolla-Boado, H. (2022). Meritocracy or Reputation? How University Rankings Matter. Globalization, Societies and Education. 

Soysal, Y., and Baltaru, R.D. (2021). University as the producer of knowledge, and economic and societal value: the 20th and twenty-first century transformations of the UK higher education system. European Journal of Higher Education, 11(3):312-328.

Baltaru, R.D. (2020). The rise of agentic inclusion in the UK universities: reputation through (formal) diversification. Studies in Higher Education. 10.1080/03075079.2020.1739015.

Baltaru, R.D. (2019). – UK Universities’ Pursuit of Inclusion and Its Effects on Professional Staff. Higher Education 1-16. doi:10.1007/s10734-018-0293-7.

Baltaru, R.D. (2018). Do Non-Academic Professionals Enhance University Performance? Reputation vs Organisation. Studies in Higher Education, 1-14. doi:10.1080/03075079.2017.1421156.

Baltaru, R.D. & Soysal, Y. N. (2017). Administrators in Higher Education - Organizational Expansion in a Transforming Institution. Higher Education, 1-17. doi:10.1007/s10734-017-0204-3.

Chapters

Baltaru, R.D. (2022). Borderlessness between Academic and Non-Academic Professionals– an Analysis of Occupational (re)Classifications in the UK. In: Research Handbook on Academic Careers and Managing Academics. Sarrico, C.S., Rosa, M.J., Carvalho, T. (Eds). Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd, p. 99-110. Collection: Sociology, Social Policy and Education.

Blogs

Baltaru, R.D. (2023). Academic precarity undermines the Race Equality Charter. LSE Impact Blog .

Baltaru, R.D. (2022). Rankings affect the financial sustainability of English universities, just not for the elite. LSE Impact Blog .