How to Get Into a University in Romania as an International Student

Fee figures: catalogue of 6 October 2026.

Romania has no national application portal and no national entry score. Each university runs its own admission for each programme and, by law, must publish the conditions at least six months before the exam. How you apply depends mostly on your citizenship.

Our catalogue has 2,090 full-time bachelor's and long-cycle programmes (medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, architecture) at 129 institutions and campuses, public and private.

Two routes: EU citizens and everyone else

Citizens of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland apply on the same terms as Romanians, including fees. They compete for free state-funded (budget) places and for paid places in the university's normal admission.
Citizens of other countries apply under a separate procedure for foreign students, on paid places with fees in foreign currency. Their admission becomes final only when the Ministry of Education issues a letter of acceptance to studies (scrisoare de acceptare la studii).

How universities select

You need a Romanian Bacalaureat or a school-leaving certificate that gives access to university in the country where it was issued. Depending on the faculty, applicants are ranked by:

their Bacalaureat or school-leaving grades, sometimes combined with school grades; this is the most common method;
an admission exam set by the faculty, typical for medicine, architecture, the arts and sport;
interviews or portfolios in some arts and design programmes.

There is no published national cutoff, so our Romania pages show no entry scores. Each university's admission rules explain how the ranking works.

The language of the programme

Most programmes are taught in Romanian. Our catalogue lists 168 programmes taught in English, and there are also programmes in Hungarian, French and German. See bachelor's degrees in English in Romania.

Programmes in Romanian. Non-EU applicants must show Romanian at level B1 at least, or the certificate of a Romanian preparatory year (an pregătitor) at an accredited university. Three consecutive years of schooling in Romanian also count.
Programmes in a foreign language. Each university sets its own language requirement, often an English test or an interview.

The preparatory year is a year of Romanian language before the degree, run by universities accredited for it. You apply for it through the same procedure for foreign students, and the certificate then gives access to Romanian-taught programmes.

When to apply

There is no national calendar. Admission sessions for EU and Romanian applicants are usually in July, with a second session in September for places left free; the University of Bucharest ran both in 2026.

Non-EU applicants apply much earlier, because the Ministry needs time to issue the letter. The University of Bacău, for example, took non-EU files for 2026/27 from 26 January to 15 February 2026 and sent them to the Ministry on 6 April. For autumn 2027, check the calendar of each university from the winter.

Non-EU applicants step by step

Choose programmes on Study in Romania, the Ministry's portal, and read each university's admission rules.
Prepare the file: passport, birth certificate, school-leaving certificate and transcripts, a medical certificate, and a language certificate if the programme asks for one.
Have the documents translated into Romanian, English or French, and apostilled or legalised. See document recognition for Romania.
Send the file to the university, usually online. Applications sent directly to the Ministry are not considered.
Take any exam or interview; Study in Romania says these are usually online.
The university sends the selected candidates to the Ministry, which has up to 30 working days to issue the letter of acceptance for complete files.
Confirm your place and pay the first year's fee; the university then sends you the letter.
Apply for the long-stay study visa. See student visa for Romania.

The letter is valid only for the university, programme cycle and academic year it names.

Medicine in English

Medicine and dentistry in English are offered by the public universities of medicine and pharmacy in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Timișoara and other cities, and by some private universities. Each university sets its own selection, so read the admission rules of the programme. Fees are among the highest in the country; see how much it costs to study in Romania and medicine in English in Europe.

Where to look next

Official sources

Study in Romania: Admission procedures: Ministry of Education portal
Order 5655/2024 on the admission of foreign citizens: Official Gazette 782/2024 (in Romanian, copy on the University of Bacău website)
Higher Education Law 199/2023: Portal Legislativ (in Romanian)
University of Bacău: non-EU admission calendar 2026/27

Always check current information on the official website of the university before you apply.