Studying Medicine in Cluj: Costs, Structure and Recognition

Studying medicine in Cluj at a glance

The Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Cluj-Napoca has been training doctors since 1776 and today teaches around 9,000 students in Romanian, English and French. Human medicine takes six years and costs 10,000 euros per academic year. The key facts are gathered here.

Which university is behind the medical programme in Cluj?

The University of Cluj is a purely medical university with three faculties: medicine, dentistry and pharmacy. In the 2025/2026 academic year around 9,000 students were enrolled there, more than 3,300 of them international, from 96 countries. Germany is among the largest countries of origin alongside France, Switzerland and Italy.

The history goes back a long way. On 7 November 1776, Empress Maria Theresa ordered the founding of a medical faculty in Cluj, the first medical school in Transylvania. In 1817 it became the Medical-Surgical Institute, and in 1872 the university. After the union of Transylvania with Romania, the Romanian-language faculty was established in 1919; its first dean was Iuliu Hatieganu. The institution has borne his name since 1990. The English- and French-language programmes were added between 1997 and 2000.

The most important teaching hospital is the County Emergency Clinical Hospital Cluj-Napoca. The Romanian Ministry of Health lists it as the largest hospital unit in Transylvania: 1,542 inpatient beds, 100 day-clinic places, 43 clinical and non-clinical departments spread across 33 buildings. More than 3,500 staff work there, and each year it handles more than 50,000 inpatient cases and around 35,000 emergency admissions. Clinical teaching takes place at this hospital and at further specialised clinics in the city.

In the QS subject rankings of 26 March 2026, the University of Cluj sits in the 301 to 350 band in medicine and in the 351 to 400 band in pharmacy and pharmacology. In both subjects that is the best Romanian result. Rector Anca Dana Buzoianu commented on the outcome with the words: "Congratulations to the academic community of UMF Iuliu Hatieganu Cluj-Napoca on these results."

For later recognition, accreditation counts for more than the ranking. In the European Quality Assurance Register EQAR, the institutional evaluation by the Romanian agency ARACIS of 30 June 2021 is entered; the dentistry programme is recorded there with a programme accreditation of 24 February 2022 running until 24 February 2027. The university itself reports the highest level of confidence for the ARACIS evaluation. The medical programmes were internationally accredited from 2019 to 2024 by ASIIN and the Association of Medical Schools in Europe; the on-site visit for the follow-up accreditation by the Independent Agency for Accreditation and Rating took place from 20 to 22 May 2024, and the accreditation runs until 2029. That agency is recognised by the World Federation for Medical Education – which is exactly what the US ECFMG has required since 1 January 2023 of every medical faculty whose graduates want to apply in the USA.

Since the 2025/2026 academic year, the University of Cluj has also taught human medicine in English in Novara in northern Italy, 45 kilometres from Milan and with nine clinics on site. It is the first overseas branch of a Romanian medical faculty. In the same academic year, a military medicine programme and an English-language nursing programme began. Of the roughly 1,800 first-year students, around 680 came from abroad.

Which programmes does the University of Cluj offer, and in which language?

The University of Cluj runs human medicine, dentistry, pharmacy and nursing. Human medicine is taught in English, French and Romanian, dentistry in English and French, and pharmacy exclusively in French. There is no German-language programme in Cluj, nor at any other Romanian university.

Two subjects are missing at the University of Cluj itself but are available in the city. Veterinary medicine is taught at the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, six years, 360 ECTS, in English, French and Romanian, and accredited by the European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education. Psychology belongs at Babes-Bolyai University, one of Romania's large comprehensive universities. That puts five medicine-related fields of study in the same city – rare among the locations we place students at.

The distribution of languages has an inconvenient side. Anyone wanting to study pharmacy in Cluj needs French at degree level, because there is no English-language pharmacy programme there. For international applicants without French, Cluj is therefore not a pharmacy location. Which alternative fits in that case is something we clarify in a free consultation.

What does a medical degree in Cluj cost?

The University of Cluj charges 10,000 euros per academic year, i.e. 5,000 euros per semester. The amount applies equally to human medicine, dentistry and pharmacy. EU citizens confirm their place with the first half of the annual fee. On top of that come living costs in a city that is among the most expensive in Romania.

Rents are the reason Cluj works out more expensive than other Romanian locations. For August 2026, Numbeo puts a one-bedroom apartment in the centre at 3,089 lei and outside the centre at 2,554 lei, so around 590 and 487 euros respectively. Anyone who wants to live alone pays as much in Cluj as in many a mid-sized German city. A room in a shared flat brings the amount down considerably.

Our calculation for six years of human medicine, flagged as an estimate: 60,000 euros in tuition, 50,400 euros in living costs at 700 euros a month, plus around 3,000 euros for study materials and trips home. That gives around 113,000 euros. Dentistry, with the same duration and the same fee, is at the same level; pharmacy, over five years, comes to around 95,000 euros.

Within Romania, then, Cluj is not the cheapest route. Against Timisoara the difference adds up over six years to about 13,000 euros, caused by annual fees 1,000 euros higher and by higher rents. Anyone making price the most important criterion should know that. Anyone looking at ranking, hospital size and city gets something in return.

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How is the medical programme in Cluj structured?

The 2025/2026 human medicine study plan of the University of Cluj distributes 360 ECTS across six years of study at 60 credits each, plus 10 ECTS for the final examination in the sixth year. The first two years are pre-clinical; from the third year, teaching at the bedside begins. Every year of study includes a 160-hour placement.

Romanian teaching is not a formality. The study plan prescribes it for international students in the first three years of study, 84 hours each at three hours a week, concluded with a colloquium. After the third year comes a test with eliminatory effect. The reason is practical: from the clinical stage onwards, students face Romanian-speaking patients, and a patient history cannot be taken in English.

Where may you work as a doctor with this degree?

Romania has been an EU member since 2007. The Romanian medical diploma is listed in Annex V number 5.1.1 of Directive 2005/36/EC, in the version of Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2023/2383 of 23 May 2023, applicable since 9 October 2023. The reference date entered is 1 January 2007, and the Annex does not require an accompanying certificate for Romania.

One point that is often misrepresented: the general language examination and the technical language examination do not apply if school or vocational training was completed in Germany in German. Both examinations concern applicants without a German-language school or training background. Anyone with German citizenship, or who went to school in Germany, applies for the Approbation without this intermediate step. For Switzerland, the language certificate at B2 level applies correspondingly.

Important for anyone planning a transfer to a German faculty: since 2023 the Romanian interim examination is no longer recognised in Germany as the preliminary medical examination. After two semesters, one subject semester is usually credited; after three to four semesters, two. Anyone completing the degree in Cluj is not affected by this.

Dentist, pharmacist, psychologist, veterinarian: what is the legal position?

Four of the five health professions are harmonised at European level; one is not. For dentists, pharmacists and veterinarians the same automatic route applies as for doctors, each via its own point in Annex V. Psychologists fall outside this system, because the profession is not regulated sectorally.

Dentistry: the Romanian diploma "Diploma de licenta de medic dentist" appears in Annex V number 5.3.2 with the reference date 1 October 2003 and is automatically recognised in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The University of Cluj teaches dentistry in English and French, six years, 360 ECTS.

Pharmacy: pharmacy diplomas run via Annex V number 5.6.2 and are likewise recognised without an equivalence assessment. In Cluj this programme exists only in French, five years, 300 ECTS. For pharmacists too, the technical language examination does not apply if school or vocational training was completed in Germany in German.

Veterinary medicine: the diploma falls under Annex V number 5.4.2. In Cluj, the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine runs the six-year programme in English and French, accredited by the European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education.

Psychology: here there is no automatic recognition, because Directive 2005/36/EC does not treat the profession as a sectoral one. In Germany the route to licensure as a psychotherapist runs via the reformed Psychotherapists Act, and the state examination offices assess every foreign degree individually for equivalence. Anyone wanting to take this route should have the course content compared beforehand.

Career paths after graduation

A Romanian medical diploma is a European entry ticket, and the labour market for it is larger than Germany. According to FMH statistics, Switzerland counted 44,612 practising doctors in 2025, 43 percent of them with a foreign diploma. In Germany, around 446,000 doctors were practising at the end of 2025; by the OECD count, which is based on place of training, 15.0 percent completed their studies abroad. The OECD average for this share is 19.6 percent, in Norway 44.0 percent and in Ireland 43.4 percent.

Anyone staying in Germany begins specialist training under the model specialist training regulations of 2018 in the version of 3 July 2025: 48 months in the theoretical subjects, 60 months as the standard, 72 months in the surgical subjects. In the first year of specialist training, the collective agreement of the federal states provides for a basic salary of 5,792.90 euros per month from 1 April 2026. In Austria, the basic training period was shortened from nine to six months on 1 August 2026. In Sweden, since 1 July 2021 the Bastjänstgöring of at least six months has replaced the former AT phase, including for EU graduates with Swedish licensure.

Further afield it becomes more demanding but not impossible. For the USA the route runs via ECFMG certification with USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK; in the 2026 NRMP match, 44,344 posts faced 53,373 registered applicants, and the match rate for non-US graduates trained abroad was 56.4 percent. In Canada, the 2026 CaRMS match placed a total of 931 internationally trained doctors, up from 851 the previous year. According to the GMC workforce report, the United Kingdom registered 328,149 licensed doctors in 2024, 42 percent of them with a qualification obtained outside the United Kingdom. Which of these routes realistically fits your plan is set out in detail in the guide career paths with an EU medical degree worldwide.

What is student life like in Cluj-Napoca?

Cluj-Napoca has around 330,000 inhabitants, lies in the heart of Transylvania and is Romania's second-largest city after Bucharest. With Babes-Bolyai University, the Technical University and the medical university, Cluj is the country's densest university city. The average age in the city centre is correspondingly low.

Economically, Cluj lives from the IT sector, which is why the city is often described as Romania's technology hub. That has two consequences for students: a good range of cafés and coworking spaces, and precisely those high rents. Avram Iancu Airport handled its best year to that point in 2023, with 3,240,750 passengers, and connects Cluj directly with several German cities. A monthly pass for bus and tram costs 146 lei, around 28 euros.

Romanian is a Romance language. Anyone bringing French, Spanish or Italian from school progresses faster than expected in the compulsory courses, because a large part of the vocabulary feels familiar. That is an advantage of the location which becomes noticeable in everyday study – and on the ward at the latest.

Who is Cluj the right choice for?

Cluj suits applicants looking for an English-language EU degree without an entrance examination and willing to learn Romanian for three years. Anyone who also speaks French has more choice in Cluj than at almost any other location, because human medicine, dentistry and pharmacy also run in French.

There are three situations in which another location fits better. First, if budget is the decisive criterion: over six years Timisoara comes in around 13,000 euros lower. Second, if an early transfer to a German faculty is firmly planned, because since 2023 the Romanian interim examination no longer counts in Germany as the preliminary medical examination. Third, if pharmacy in English is the goal.

We have been placing students in Romania for years and know the difference between the locations from our students' feedback. Which of them fits your grades, your budget and your timetable is something we discuss in a free consultation.