The 2018/2019 academic year began on Monday, October 1, in Romania for about 500,000 students, a number similar to that of last year.

There are 54 state universities in Romania, seven of which are military, local Mediafax reported. In most higher education institutions, the 2018/2019 academic year has 32 weeks of courses, six weeks of exam sessions and four weeks of vacation.

President Klaus Iohannis attended the ceremony marking the start of the new academic year in Iasi, a university city in Eastern Romania. In his speech, the president also touched a sensitive subject for the Moldova region, namely the lack of a highway to connect it to the rest of the country and the pan-European network of highways.

“In addition to education, in order to exploit its full potential, the city of Iasi also needs the infrastructure to turn it into an important European city. A highway linking Moldova to the rest of the country and the pan-European highway network is therefore absolutely necessary,” the president said.

“Moreover, neglecting the existing infrastructure must stop. It is unacceptable that the distance between Bucharest and Iasi is traversed by train in about six and a half hours, significantly more than 20 years ago,” he added.

Iohannis also said that, although the times change and “we should be prepared to do the same,” the country takes steps backwards when it comes to research and innovation through “changes that may block performance and economic competitiveness, with long-term negative impact on social welfare.”

Meanwhile, prime minister Viorica Dancila participated in the opening ceremony of the academic year at the Faculty of Medicine at UMF Craiova, where she held a speech in which she talked about the measures taken by the Government to increase doctors' salaries and develop the medical system, local News.ro reported.

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Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Pixabay.com)