Abstract
The paper follows the institutionalization of meritocracy in the Romanian higher education. Using the Romanian experience, the study explores the setting of meritocracy, highlights the revised institutional genesis that led to the adoption of a so-called post-traditional approach, and it reviews the deployment of practices that steered higher education in Romania. In support to these, a reflective stance is employed alongside secondary sources to scrutinize the techniques of control and practices which inform institutional evolution. The research attempts to shed light on the increase of doctrinal entrenchment through which meritocracy justifies academic stratification in a pauper system aspiring to world-class recognition.