Page 28 - THE ROMANIAN HEALTH CARE

Chapter 4: Romanian health education, scientific research and R&D

4.1 Health Education

Romanian education has been under pressure in the last years. The quality of high school

students is one of the lowest in the EU. The PISA study by the OECD investigates the quality of

15 year olds in science, reading and mathematics. On all three subjects Romanian high school

students score below the EU average. The reducing qualities of students are also seen in

university education. However, there is a relatively small portion of students that scores

excellent in international competitions. Many universities have dropped their standards and

bribing is a common phenomenon. For example bribes to pass an exam, to get documents in

time from the student administration etc. Total enrolment of Romanian students is around

400,000, of which 33,4000 in universities abroad. Parents are losing faith in the Romanian

education system and send their children – in increasing numbers -

to universities outside

Romania. The Ministry of National Education 10 is in charge of all education in Romania.

The level of medical university education is not suffering from this general drop in the quality

of academic education. Main reason for this is the nation-wide entry exam for medical

schools, that is compulsory for all Romanian students, foreign students are exempted. The

exam is meant to select only the best students and is the sole selection instrument for

admittance into medical school. The best admitted students will also receive a government

scholarship for the first year. The scholarship will be prolonged another year if the student

has sufficiently high grades. The system is highly performance focused.

Romania has 10 universities offering medical education; six are medical universities, only

offering medical education; the other four offer a broader range of subjects. All universities

have faculties for medicine, pharmacy and dentistry (see Annex B: Medical faculties). The

medical schools with the best reputation are:

1. Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest

2. Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iași

3. Iuliu Hațieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Cluj Napoca

The medical schools are mainly involved in teaching, the training is of a professional level and

has an upward trend. The high level of training is also due to internationally recognised

curricula and university teaching staff who circulate among foreign medical schools. Medical

schools receive a fee per student from the government. Another source of income are

students from abroad who pay a tuition fee that is above the fee from the government. This

resulted in programs not only in Romanian but also English and sometimes French . Grigore
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10 Ministerul Educației Naționale, www.edu.ro

11 Foreign students are not uncommon in Romania, during communism, students from friendly “communist”

countries studied in the country. For example students from Asia and Africa.

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