Rankings: The 21 best universities in Romania for 2025/2026
Romania, located in South-East Europe, has a lot to offer: exciting history, beautiful landscapes, medieval castles, sunny beaches - and high-quality education at a number of modern universities.
Romania has been a member of the European Union (EU) since 2007. In recent years, its universities have made a lot of progress at offering English-language degree programmes, which is great news for those who want to study abroad in Romania. Following the Bologna system, Romanian Bachelors and Masters degrees are recognised across Europe and the rest of the world.
Among the best universities in Romania are the University of Bucharest (in the country’s capital), Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi (UAIC – the oldest university in Romania) and University Babes-Bolyai. The table below shows which Romanian institutions are represented in international university rankings. Interested? Just follow the links to learn more!
| University | QS Ranking 2026 | THE Ranking 2025 | ARWU Ranking 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of Bucharest | 761 | 1001 | – |
| Babes-Bolyai University | 761 | 1201 | – |
| Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi (UAIC) | 1001 | 1501 | – |
| Technical University of Cluj-Napoca | 1201 | 1501 | – |
| University Politehnica of Bucharest | 1201 | 1501 | – |
| Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iaşi | 1201 | 1501 | – |
| Transilvania University of Brașov | 1201 | 1201 | – |
| West University of Timisoara | 1201 | 1201 | – |
| University of Oradea | 1401 | 1501 | – |
| Stefan cel Mare University of Suceava | 1401 | 1201 | – |
| USAMV Cluj-Napoca | – | 1201 | – |
| University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova | – | 1201 | – |
| George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology of Targu Mures | – | 1501 | – |
| Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy | – | 1501 | – |
| Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu | – | 1501 | – |
| Ovidius University of Constanta | – | 1501 | – |
| Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca | – | 1001 | – |
| Politehnica University of Timisoara | – | 1501 | – |
| Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy | – | 801 | – |
| University of Craiova | – | 1501 | – |
| Bucharest University of Economic Studies | – | 801 | – |
The QS World University Rankings are among the most important, most-referenced rankings. The QS ranking relies heavily on its academic survey, asking thousands of academics worldwide about the reputation of universities.
The Times Higher Education World University Rankings (or the THE Rankings for short) compile a wide range of statistics. Equal weight is put on teaching quality, research excellence, and research impact through citations (meaning how often a university’s research is referenced elsewhere).
The Academic Ranking of World Universities by Shanghai Jiao Tong University (often just Shanghai Ranking, or ARWU) focuses on research output and quality, for example measured by the number of published and cited scientific papers and the number of staff or alumni winning the Nobel Prize or Fields Medal.
Located between Central and South-East Europe, Romania makes for an exciting study-abroad adventure. Romanian universities have been increasing their offer of English-taught programmes for international students, with many options to choose from.
Read more about studying in Romania
