Romania

Tuition

Romania distinguishes tuition by citizenship rather than applying one national rate. According to the Romanian state's official "Study in Romania" portal, EU/EEA/Swiss citizens are admitted under the same conditions as Romanian citizens: those who qualify for a state-subsidised ("bugetat") place study free of charge, while everyone else pays a fee-paying ("cu taxă") rate that normally runs from 400 to 2,000 EUR per academic year, with merit- or need-based fee waivers possible. Non-EU/EEA/Swiss citizens are instead charged separate "foreign-currency" tuition set directly in EUR, which the European Commission's Study in Europe portal puts at roughly 2,000 to 5,000 EUR per year on average. Concrete institutional examples for non-EU students: the University of Bucharest charges 2,500-3,150 EUR/year for Bachelor's programmes depending on faculty (2026/2027), with a 5-10% discount for applicants from lower-income countries on the OECD list; the Bucharest University of Economic Studies (ASE) charges about 3,500 EUR/year for Bachelor's, 4,500 EUR/year for most Master's and 6,500-7,000 EUR/year for doctoral studies (2025/2026); and the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca charges roughly 2,100 to 3,900 EUR/year for Bachelor's/Master's depending on faculty, and up to 5,280 EUR/year for doctoral Arts programmes. Some private universities, such as the Romanian-American University, charge Romanian/EU and non-EU applicants the same EUR-denominated fee (about 3,400-3,600 EUR/year). Fees for Medicine, Dentistry and other high-demand English-taught programmes are typically well above these figures. Always confirm the current, programme-level fee directly with the university before applying. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]}

Visa

National long-stay visa for study purposes (type D), applied for online via the eviza.mae.ro platform and issued by a Romanian embassy or consulate before travel; after arrival, holders must register with the General Inspectorate for Immigration (IGI) within 30 days to obtain a residence permit covering the rest of the study programme. — 4 hours per day (part-time work without a separate work permit). ^{[8] [9]}

Applications

Romania has no single centralised admissions portal: applicants apply directly to their chosen university, which issues a preliminary decision after about 15 days; the university then forwards the file to the Ministry of Education, which takes a further 30 to 60 days to issue the formal Letter of Acceptance needed for the student visa. Because the academic year formally starts on 1 October (the deadline by which foreign students must complete enrolment), non-EU applicants are advised to start the process several months in advance. Applicants for a Romanian Government Scholarship follow a separate, earlier timeline via scholarships.studyinromania.gov.ro: for the 2025/2026 academic year, for example, the application window closed on 12 March 2025, with results announced by the end of June 2025; comparable dates recur each year for the following intake. Individual universities and Erasmus+ exchanges set their own additional deadlines, so the specific programme page should always be checked. ^{[1] [10] [11]}

Application portals

• Study in Romania – Official Programme Finder (Ministry of Education)
• University of Bucharest – International Students
• Babeș-Bolyai University – Admission

Language

Romanian. Romanian is the language of instruction at most public universities, but Romania also offers a substantial number of full degree programmes taught in English and, in some cases, French, German or Hungarian. The European Commission's Study in Europe portal notes that Romanian universities teach in "Romanian, English, French, German, and Hungarian", and the national Study in Romania portal's own programme finder lets applicants filter among more than two dozen languages of instruction. English-taught options are especially common in Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Business/Economics and Engineering. Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, for example, runs separate Hungarian- and German-language lines of study alongside its Romanian- and English-taught programmes, reflecting Romania's Hungarian and German minority communities. ^{[2] [12] [13]}

Health insurance

Health insurance is required for the whole length of stay and is checked as part of the visa and residence-permit process. EU/EEA and Swiss students can generally use the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) for medically necessary care. According to the official Study in Romania portal, non-EU students under 26 are covered under the Romanian public health-insurance system through their university and receive full public healthcare benefits at no extra charge; those aged 26 or older must pay a statutory monthly health-insurance contribution of 49 RON and register with a family doctor (general practitioner), who provides basic consultations and referrals to specialists. This is general orientation, not insurance or legal advice; current requirements should be confirmed with the relevant Romanian embassy/consulate or the university's international office. ^{[1] [8]}

Universities

• University of Bucharest, Bucharest ^[14]
• Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca ^[13]
• University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest, Bucharest ^[15]
• Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest ^[16]
• Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, Iași ^[17]

Scholarships

• Romanian Government Scholarships (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) — Annual scholarship programme funded by the Romanian state through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, based on Government Decision no. 288/1993, for Bachelor's, Master's and PhD study at accredited Romanian public universities. It covers tuition and enrolment fees, a monthly allowance of 925 RON, dormitory accommodation, limited medical assistance (emergencies and endemic diseases) and local transport under the same conditions as Romanian students, plus a Romanian-language preparatory year for those who need it. Bachelor's and Master's programmes funded this way are taught in Romanian (PhD studies may also be in English or French), and recent calls have excluded Medicine, Dental Medicine and Pharmacy. ^{[18] [10] [11]}
• Erasmus+ — EU programme funding student mobility, including grants for study or traineeship periods at partner universities across Europe; Romanian higher education institutions participate widely in Erasmus+ exchanges, both as sending and as host institutions. ^[19]
• CEEPUS (Central European Exchange Programme for University Studies) — Intergovernmental exchange programme of which Romania is a member state; funds student and researcher mobility for study stays, summer schools and intensive courses at partner institutions across Central, Eastern and South-East Europe through university networks. ^[20]