IB Diploma and University Admission in Romania: Recognition, Grades and Deadlines

Fee figures: catalogue of 6 October 2026.

Romania has no separate admission route for the IB Diploma and no national formula for IB points. The diploma is treated as a school-leaving qualification from an international system, it is recognised through the national recognition centre or the university, and each university then ranks you under its own rules. Because many Romanian faculties rank applicants by their school-leaving grades, how your IB grades are converted matters more here than in countries with entrance exams.

Is the IB Diploma accepted?

Yes. Universities admit graduates of "international systems accredited and recognised by the Ministry of Education", the wording used in the 2026 procedure of Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest. Recognition depends on your citizenship:

Romanian citizens with an IB obtained abroad, or at a school in Romania that teaches a foreign system, apply to CNRED, the national recognition centre, for an equivalence certificate. CNRED decides within 30 working days of a complete file; you can apply online through ROePAS.
EU, EEA and Swiss citizens have their school-leaving certificate recognised by CNRED, usually as part of enrolment.
Non-EU citizens send the diploma with their admission file to the university, which checks it before the Ministry issues the letter of acceptance.

Documents in English need no translation for CNRED. The procedures are in document recognition for Romania.

Minimum requirements

There is no national IB threshold, Higher Level rule or language rule. You need a diploma that gives access to university, so take the full Diploma. Each faculty publishes its own conditions, at least six months before admission, in its admission rules.

How IB grades become a Romanian score

Many faculties rank applicants by their Bacalaureat average, sometimes combined with school grades, on the Romanian scale from 1 to 10. For a foreign or international diploma, universities convert the grades themselves:

they use the grade equivalence grid annexed to Order 3223/2012 and CNRED's guide to foreign grading systems, as Carol Davila University's 2026 procedure says;
the national grid lists countries, not the IB, so there is no official IB table. Each university applies its own method. The University of Bacău's procedure (2020), for example, maps the IB pass and maximum onto the Romanian range from 6 to 10 on a straight line.

Ask the faculty's admission office how it converts IB points before you apply, especially where the ranking is close.

Applying in the year you graduate

IB results for the May session come out in early July, close to the main Romanian admission session in July. Carol Davila University's 2026 procedure shows how universities handle this:

you can apply in the year you finish school, uploading a certificate of provisional results from your school and your transcripts for all years;
you sign a declaration that you will bring the IB Diploma and the CNRED equivalence certificate within six months of admission, and no later than the end of the first semester, or you lose the place;
if the final average differs from the provisional one, your admission average is recalculated;
for graduates of the June–July 2026 IB session the equivalence certificate was not required at application.

Non-EU applicants face earlier dates: their files often close in winter or spring, before results, so they usually apply before the results with their school transcripts; ask the university what it accepts in place of the diploma.

Medicine

Selection differs by language and citizenship. Romanian-taught medicine for Romanian and EU applicants usually has an admission exam set by the university. English-taught medicine is often selected on documents:

Iuliu Hațieganu University (Cluj-Napoca). In 2026 a committee evaluated the files of EU and non-EU applicants in two sessions. The first was for applicants who already had final results from previous years, the second for those with this year's final results, which is where a May-session IB student fits. Places were paid places only, with a processing fee of €300. Applicants needed English at level B2, but those who completed secondary school in English did not need a certificate.
Carol Davila University (Bucharest). The 2026 IB procedure above applies to all its bachelor's programmes, medicine included.

Language

For English-taught programmes, an IB taught in English often covers the language requirement, as at Iuliu Hațieganu University. For Romanian-taught programmes, non-EU applicants need Romanian at B1 or a preparatory year. Our catalogue lists 168 programmes taught in English; see bachelor's degrees in English in Romania.

Where to look next

Official sources

CNRED: equivalence of a Bacalaureat obtained abroad (in Romanian)
Carol Davila University: procedure for graduates of international systems, 2026 (in Romanian)
Iuliu Hațieganu University: admission methodology for international candidates 2026
University of Bacău: procedure for grade equivalence (in Romanian)

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