Moldovan graduates from Romania upset with scholarship allocation

Young Moldovans studying in Romania are upset with how the Romanian Government allocated scholarships for 2011-2012. Alexandru Risneac, head of Basarabenii Media Grup, told Info-Prim Neo that few scholarships were allotted to graduates from Romanian lyceums. According to him, 1000 students from Moldova graduated from Romanian lyceums this year and the Romanian Government allotted them only 300 scholarships. “About 700 young people will remain without a scholarship. If Romania invested in pre-university institutions so many places, why didn’t it allot the same number of places for universities?”, asked Risneac. Students without scholarships will have to pay a tuition fee of €600-€700. The number of master’s degree scholarships was reduced from 150 to 50. “Considering the thousands of university graduates, 50 scholarships just aren’t enough”, said the Basarabenii Media Grup leader. According to him, the biggest problem is that graduates from Romania cannot compete with those from Moldova. Moreover, the places left unoccupied by the later cannot be used by the former. The problem wasn’t solved despite several meeting between student organizations and Romanian officials. Romanian Global News informs that the Romanian Government offers 2,150 scholarships for Moldovan students in 2011-2012. 950 are for secondary education, 1,100 for license studies, 300 of which are allotted to graduates of Romanian lyceums. The rest are for master’s degree studies (50), residency (25) and doctorate (25).