Bucharest - Education

Education

There are 16 public universities in Bucharest, the largest of which are the University of Bucharest, the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, and the Politehnica University of Bucharest. These are supplemented by 19 private universities, such as the Romanian-American University and Spiru Haret University, the latter being the largest in Europe with some 302,000 enrolled students in 2009. Overall, there are 159 faculties in 34 universities. Private universities, however, have a mixed reputation due to irregularities in the educational process as well as perceived corruption. As in the rest of Romania, universities in Bucharest are lower rated internationally, in comparison to their American and Western European counterparts.

Nevertheless, the University of Bucharest was included in the 2012 QS World University Rankings Top 200 universities of the world (151-200 band). Also, in recent years the city has seen increasing numbers of foreign students enrolling in its universities.

The first modern educational institution was the Princely Academy of Bucharest, founded in 1694 and divided in 1864 to form the present-day University of Bucharest and the Saint Sava National College, both of which are amongst the most prestigious of their kind in Romania.

There are over 450 public primary and secondary schools in the city, all of which are administered by the Bucharest Municipal Schooling Inspectorate. Each sector also has its own Schooling Inspectorate, subordinated to the municipal one.