The Iuliu Haţieganu Medicine and Pharmacy University in Cluj-Napoca issued a reaction to a France 2 feature that claimed that the French students who had studied at the Romanian university were poorly trained.

The Cluj-Napoca university said it understood that “the educational services market is a competitive one, and this should determine an increase in the quality of services not the labeling of one university as being underperforming,” local daily Adevarul reported. The university also emphasized that its educational process, curricula and practical training was evaluated by international bodies such as the EUA (European University Association), CIDMEF (Conférence Internationale des Doyens et des Facultés de Médecine d'Expression Française), or CIDPHARMEF (Conférence Internationale des Doyens des Facultés de Pharmacie d'Expression Française), and it was deemed to perform at European standards. The university also received the CIDMEF Label.

The French TV station aired a documentary that featured eight medical school graduates that had been suspended for incompetence. Six of them were coming from the Cluj-Napoca school. A French doctor featured in the documentary commented on the situation saying that the graduates lacked basic skills and had never had the opportunity of examining a patient.

The Iuliu Haţieganu University expressed however its surprise that “its image was associated with the lack of professional success of some young residents in a French hospital, not all of whom were graduates of the university.”

The Iuliu Haţieganu University is the Romanian university enrolling the highest number of foreign citizens. Over 2,200 foreign students coming from 64 countries study here, according to the university’s own data, quoted by Adevarul. The French-language program was established in 2000 and more than 900 French students currently study at the Cluj-Napoca university.

Ambassador: A quarter of the Frenchmen who live in Romania are students in Cluj-Napoca

editor@romania-insider.com