New money spinner with non-EU students

“Romanian universities are poised to up tuition fees for non-EU students in Romania,” Evenimentul Zilei warnson its front page. The Romanian daily concedes that “new levies are needed for new times” and reminds us that the ceiling on tuition fees was set by the education minister back in 1994. From January 2010 the fees will be calculated in euros, not in US dollars any more, and will jump from $3,800 (about €2,660) a year to €5,000 p.a. for medical school – and to as much as €9,500 for Romania’s highly-reputed film school. At present, counts Evenimentul Zilei, over 10,000 students from outside the EU are enrolled in Romanian universities. They will have to fork out more than in Austria or Italy, to be sure, “but still less than in Switzerland”, where a year’s tuition comes to a whopping €11,000.