How Romania came to train Switzerland’s future doctors

Georgeta Gheorghe 27/02/2018 | 17:35

With teaching available in French and English and qualifications are recognised in Switzerland and European Union (EU) countries, Romania has become the place where many medical students have come to “follow their dream,” swissinfo.ch writes.

According to the website, gaining university places in medicine and veterinary science in Switzerland is notoriously difficult and the country’s education system has a cap on the number of student who can study medicine every year. “In Switzerland, a so-called numerus clausus (“closed number” in Latin) limits the number of students who may study medicine at university. Applicants with the relevant academic qualifications must score well in a test that assesses logical and spatial reasoning and textual comprehension skills. This is carried out in all universities in German and Italian-speaking regions of Switzerland, though there are no restrictions at the Universities of Geneva, Lausanne and Neuchâtel; instead, they carry out a selection during the first year of study.”

What would have seem pretty exotic a few years back, has become a common sight in the campuses in Cluj, Romania’s fourth most populous city in the northwestern part of the country, which, the article notes, has seen an explosion in the number of students attending. Currently, 50 students from western Switzerland alone are enrolled in classes. While studies themselves are not easier, entrance requirements are more relaxed, the article argues.

Out of all doctors trained in Romania, close to 15,700 work abroad, according to a report by the Romanian Association for Health Promotion (ARPS).  The main reason for which Romanian doctors leave the country, the study shows, are lack of professional development opportunities, career promotion not based of professional qualities, the bureaucracy between the public institutions, the low incomes and the lack of infrastructure.

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