"Go to Romania, but come back." Thousands of international students choose Romania and Bulgaria for medical studies, but they often return to their home countries to practice after graduation

Wednesday, Jan 21, 2026

Romania and Bulgaria attract many international students for medical studies, highlighting differences in specialization popularity and costs.

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[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]

Romania and Bulgaria are attracting many international students for medical studies; Romania is particularly sought after by future dentists, while its neighbor is popular for general medicine. Dental surgery is a highly sought-after specialty among foreign students at Romania’s six medical universities, with over 14,000 international students graduating in this field in 2022. Students like Chimène Mansour praise the teaching methods and direct communication from Romanian professors, despite planning to return to countries like Belgium after graduation. University de Carol Davila states that tuition fees are relatively affordable compared to other European nations. Tuition costs vary across Romanian universities, with state university rates around €10,000 per year for international students. Meanwhile, in Bulgaria, thousands of foreign students study general medicine, often preferring cities like Plovdiv and Sofia, though some express concerns about the language barrier and job prospects outside the country. Both countries offer comparable tuition fees to Romanian institutions.


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