APPLIED LEARNING IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING AT TECHNOLOGICAL HIGH SCHOOLS: A QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS BASED ON PUBLIC INDICATORS AND RECENT LITERATURE

The modernization of mechanical engineering education at technological high‑school level depends simultaneously on laboratory infrastructure, students’ exposure to real working situations (workshops, practical training, collaboration with industrial companies), and the integration of digital technologies such as CNC simulation, digital twins and extended reality. This paper proposes an engineering‑oriented interpretation of these factors through a quantitative analysis based on European and national public indicators (Eurostat, Cedefop, European Commission, OECD), triangulated with empirical results reported in the scientific literature on CNC‑assisted training and problem‑based learning. The results highlight: (i) a high share of students enrolled in vocational education pathways in Romania (61.3% in 2023); (ii) a very low level of reported exposure to work‑based learning among recent graduates (8.4% in 2022), compared to the EU average (60.1%); and (iii) a relatively strong orientation towards STEM fields within vocational education (36.0% in 2023). These findings are translated into operational recommendations for mechanical workshops, including minimum sets of practical tasks, engineering performance metrics (tolerances, surface roughness, cycle time, scrap rate) and the design of didactic sequences following a process‑oriented logic (planning– programming–execution–inspection).