Studying in Romania

liviu_lungu wrote:

Hy Priscilla,

I suggest you to attend Polytechnic University. It is free of charge if you subscribe to Govern scheme but you have to attend examination for admission. There are many foreigners in universities. Main language is Romanian but also English is accepted.

All the best Priscilla from Liviu.

Liviu, there are several Polytechnic universities across Romania.  Which one are you talking about, and why would you recommend it, besides that it is free?  You know the saying about free; it holds true a lot of the time in this country......you get what you pay for 

Also, it's good to note that in many universities in the country, programs/courses can be taken in Romanian, French, or English.

MGBalive wrote:

Additionally, my student friends have told me that the course is usually taught in English or Romanian, and sometimes people get pass marks, even if they don't understand the language, and therefore don't understand the course content at all. As I mentioned before, there seems to be some bribery and unprofessionalism in overlooking the lack of competence of the students.

Unfortunately, bribery, unprofessionalism and lack of competence exist in all areas of society here; not surprising since the Romanian education system breeds and promotes it from kindergarten on.

liviu_lungu wrote:

I suggest you Priscilla in priority order ; Bucharest Cluj, Timisoara and Iasi. Perhaps you can tell from what country you are to understand your cultural necessities.

All the best.

Liviu, Priscilla is merely a moderator of the site who proposes questions and topics to stimulate the forum and put forward questions that an expat in general may have about life in Romania.  She is not specifically looking for the information for herself

Have you attended any of these universities? What do you think of the bribe culture in schools here?

Romaniac

liviu_lungu wrote:

The education system now in Romania is based money as capitalism system is, but residue of communism society persist in education. The communist education is based on co-operation and community goals and science progress as final of education target. Romanian mental is based in collaboration and not competition, which is good.

If you return in "capitalist world" with Romanian education, you will be frustrated because you will be expert cause of problem in stead of finding effect of problems. That mean that you will have possessing a superior education which nobody needed and understand it in capitalist world.

This happen to me in Australia where I made an invention who ruin my life being almost kill. So, as Master of Science Degree from Bucharest Polytechnic University, made me more trouble in the inferior cultural Australian system.

Liviu, I find your post very odd, and find fault with several things you are claiming, though I'll address only some of them which are on topic Your claim that a Romanian education is a superior one for example.  Superior to whom?  Romania has nearly the worst education system in Europe according to most independent organizations.  According to this study,  Romanian kids near the end of compulsory education ranked 49th in reading, 45th in Math, and 49th in Science.  It's not terrible overall, but worse than most European countries, which is significant given that many Romanians leave to live and work in the EU.  Australia by comparison, ranks 13th/19th/16th worldwide respectively. 

Your claim that Romanians are more collaborative rather than competition oriented? Well, it's your opinion and that's ok, but I could not disagree more based on my observations and even based on Mrs. Romaniac's own experiences.   I've seen that competition is stressed from the earliest ages here.  People in schools are told to be the best, or you're nothing and I've personally seen teachers here say this and publicly humiliate children who don't perform "the best".  A better educated teacher would never do such a thing.  I could go on much further to support my viewpoint, but I think it's sufficient. 

If Romanians truly collaborated and worked together more instead of keeping each other down and competing against each other, this country would be much farther along than it is.  Instead, people learn to reach a false sense of achievement and status by buying their way through the system with bribes and shirking the rules when they don't suit them.  I do see collaboration when it comes to getting around rules and breaking the law though.  As a result of these practices, many think they are an expert and superior, yet they generally don't actually perform nearly as well as peers of other countries.  I recently tutored a recent B.S in Computer Science graduate who was starting her Masters degree, and she didn't understand concepts I learned in my first year of undergraduate studies, I was rather surprised to say the least.  I don't mean my comment to paint all Romanians as the same, obviously that is not true.  There are hard working and knowledgeable people with integrity and values, but overall the system is not geared for generating such individuals as a majority.

You are correct though in saying the communist society persists in education, quite unfortunate.

inorog wrote:

My son takes medicine english stream in Targu Mures and expectations are very high. Students are struggling and class is divided between those with really good marks and those who fail consistently. Students have contact with the patients and are present in the OR from the first year. I would rather be treated by a doctor graduating in these conditions than a doctor who is only book smart, with no hands on.

Perhaps you should inform yourself better before making inappropriate comments.  If you followed the news, you might have been aware that just this month, an official at UMF Iasi was handed a 3 year suspended sentence and 60 days community service for accepting bribes.  That was a court action, not slander.

There are many more publicized instances of this happening across the country at all levels of the education system.  Please inform yourself.

If you still aren't convinced, look at this Romanian website (www.piatadespaga.ro), dedicated to advising people of how much to bribe someone, based on first hand accounts.  The linked page shows the education sector.