The process of admitting Romanians living outside the country to study in Romania has become more difficult

The process of matriculating Romanians who live outside the country in Romanian schools and universities has become non-transparent and difficult in the last two years, the Romanian Ziua newspaper reads. According to the publication, the Romanians who live outside the borders of the country have found themselves in a new situation – the pompous statements are in fact accompanied by a slow but steady withdrawal of the promised support. Those 500 young people from Moldova who applied for admission at Romanian faculties and institutions have not yet received an answer. As the academic year in Moldova starts on September 1, high-school graduates who seek studies in Romania are completely overthrown by the procedure. Furthermore, there is the visa problem – processing of applications lasts longer than a month, if students are accepted; otherwise they will be late for their university courses, will not be able to enrol, nor receive accommodation in halls of residence for students. According to the source, Romania preferred to introduce a visa system which blocks any type of communication between the two sides of the Prut River – in spite of the example given by Hungary, which grants multi-entry, free of charge, 5-year long visas to Hungarian ethnics residing in non-members of the EU. 850 places were reserved for students from Moldova, with only 522 applications filed. Last year, for 850 existing scholarships, there were submitted 2500 applications.