Some 1,400 French students study at the universities in Cluj-Napoca, central Romania, and most of them are enrolled at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy (UMF), French Ambassador to Romania Francois Saint-Paul said on Wednesday.

Around 2,200 of the total of 9,000 students who go to UMF Cluj are foreigners, and 900 of them are French.

The Ambassador participated on Wednesday at the opening of the new academic year for French and Francophone students at UMF Cluj. According to him, the students who come from France and study in Cluj-Napoca represent a quarter of the French citizens in Romania, reports local Agerpres.

The French Ambassador also announced the establishment of a Maison de France in Cluj-Napoca, which will be opened with the support of the French Institute in Cluj, the institution that will also host it. The francophone business community and the French students in Cluj-Napoca will also contribute to this project.

After announcing this project, the Ambassador was the first to pay the membership fee to the person in charge of coordinating the French Institute in Cluj.

Cluj-Napoca is one of the biggest university centers in Romania. The Babes-Bolyai University in the city is one of the four Romanian universities included in the 2016/17 QS World University Ranking, which features just over 900 of the top universities in the world.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com