Ovidius University

🏛️ Overview

Ovidius University of Constanța is the youngest of the Romanian medical faculties hosting an international stream. The parent university has existed since 1961 (initially as a Pedagogical Institute), but the Faculty of Medicine was only created in 1990, in the post-revolutionary period. It bears the name of the Latin poet Ovid, exiled to Tomis — ancient Constanța — in the first century AD.

It is a fast-growing faculty, carried along by the modernisation of Romania’s Black Sea coast. With around 15,000 students across all faculties and more than 800 international medical students, Ovidius has carved out a real place in the Romanian medical landscape.

Its positioning is clear: tuition fees well below the large traditional UMFs, seaside quality of life (Black Sea beaches ten minutes away), and a Mediterranean setting that contrasts with the continental climate of the rest of the country. The university is investing heavily in its facilities, notably through a partnership with Ovidius Clinical Hospital (OCH), the largest private hospital in south-eastern Romania (53 beds, 3 operating theatres), certified by Siemens Healthineers — the German manufacturer’s first reference and training centre in Romania. An agreement signed in 2023 provides for the clinical training of 654 faculty students at that hospital.

Young though it is, the Ovidius medical faculty benefits from the development of Dobrogea, a region growing strongly thanks to tourism, the port of Constanța (the largest on the Black Sea) and European infrastructure investment. It is worth considering for applicants looking to minimise costs without sacrificing quality of life.

Worth knowing, and it is decisive: Ovidius offers no French-language programme — not in medicine, not in dentistry, not in pharmacy. The university’s entire international offering is in English, the rest being in Romanian. It is the only one of the six universities in our panel in that position. Constanța therefore does not address applicants set on studying in French, but European applicants willing to study in English — the majority profile among its 800+ international students, who come notably from France, Scandinavia, Greece and the Middle East. The English requirement is B1 minimum (one of the lowest thresholds in Romania), evidenced by a certificate, by a test run by the university, or waived if your secondary education was in English.

📊 By the numbers

📋 Programmes available by language

🛑 Correcting a widespread error. Many sites — including, until this update, this very fact sheet — advertise pharmacy in French at Constanța. Having checked with the Ovidius Faculty of Pharmacy and the university’s international admissions portal: it does not exist. The Faculty of Pharmacy offers only two programmes, Pharmacy and Medical Cosmetics, both in Romanian. The Ovidius international portal lists, for the whole university, only “programmes in Romanian”, “programmes in English” and a preparatory year of Romanian. No mention of French, anywhere.

What Constanța really is: Romania’s cheapest English-language route into medicine — €8,000/year, with no written entrance exam, and an English requirement set at B1 only. If you are open to studying in English, it is a serious option. If you are set on French, cross Constanța off your list: there is nothing here for you.

Veterinary: Ovidius has no veterinary faculty. Romanian veterinary training sits exclusively with the life sciences universities (USAMV / USV) of Bucharest, Cluj, Iași and Timișoara.

Structure of the medicine programme (6 years): The programme follows the harmonised Romanian medical curriculum:

• Years 1–2: preclinical cycle — anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, biophysics, histology. Being by the sea makes for a pleasant study setting.
• Year 3: medical and surgical semiology, pharmacology, immunology. First clinical placements.
• Years 4–6: clinical cycles — internal medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, paediatrics, psychiatry, neurology, emergency medicine. Placements in the Constanța hospitals.

Distinctive features:

• Ovidius Clinical Hospital (OCH): a private hospital with 53 beds and 3 operating theatres, Romania’s first Siemens Healthineers reference and training centre. An agreement signed in 2023 covers the clinical training of 654 students.
• The university is investing in digitalisation and new medical technologies.
• Smaller cohorts than at the long-established universities, allowing more personal supervision.
• Specialisms in tropical and infectious medicine, relevant given Constanța’s port and tourism context.

📝 Admission

Type of admission: on application

International students are admitted on assessment of their school record, with no written exam. Applicants must submit their documents through the university’s online platform.

Documents required (likely):

• School-leaving certificate, legalised and translated
• Secondary-school transcripts
• Birth certificate
• Valid passport
• Medical certificate
• Proof of language: B1 English minimum — a recognised certificate, a test run by the university, or a waiver if your secondary education was in English
• Motivation letter
• Application form

Typical timetable:

Additional fees:

• Application fee: ~€100 (non-refundable)
• Place confirmation: a percentage of the annual fee [to be verified]

⚠️ The definitive 2026–2027 timetable for Ovidius had not been published at the time of writing. Contact the admissions office to confirm: admissions@univ-ovidius.ro.

🏥 Clinical placements

Ovidius medical students do their placements across several hospitals in Constanța and the region:

• “Sfântul Apostol Andrei” County Emergency Clinical Hospital — the main public hospital, all specialties
• Ovidius Clinical Hospital (OCH) — the reference private hospital, modern equipment, Siemens Healthineers certification
• Constanța Emergency Clinical Hospital
• Clinical Hospital of Pneumology
• Clinical Hospital of Infectious Diseases
• Constanța Emergency Military Hospital

From which year: placements begin conventionally in year three with semiology, then intensify through to year six.

Quality of placements: variable depending on the institution. OCH offers modern conditions (advanced imaging, minimally invasive surgery), but access is limited by the hospital’s capacity. The public hospitals are sound without being exceptional — the patient population is smaller than in Bucharest or Cluj, but the student-to-patient ratio can be more favourable, which means more hands-on practice. The tourist season (June–September) brings an interesting variety of emergency cases (seaside medicine, water accidents, tropical conditions imported via the port), a distinctive feature you won’t find at the inland UMFs. The port of Constanța, a hub of international trade, also exposes emergency departments to travel medicine and rare infectious disease.

🏠 Student life in Constanța

Constanța (300,000 inhabitants) is Romania’s largest port city and the capital of the Black Sea coast. Life here is radically different from the inland cities: a mild climate, beaches, a summer atmosphere. Winters are noticeably gentler.

Housing:

• Hall of residence: ~€100–200/month
• Flat share: €150–250/month per person
• Studio flat: €200–350/month

Estimated monthly cost of living: €500–700 — below Cluj and Bucharest.

Transport: city buses, with the centre walkable. Constanța airport (Mihail Kogălniceanu) 25 km away — seasonal flights. Bucharest is 2.5 hours by train or motorway.

Atmosphere: a relaxed seaside city. In summer, tourism brings the place alive (beaches, terraces, festivals). In winter, activity drops off considerably. For students it’s a pleasant setting, but you have to accept a narrower cultural and nightlife offering than in the big student cities. Note: intense summer heat (35–40 °C in July and August).

✅ Recognition

The degree from the Ovidius Faculty of Medicine is recognised automatically throughout the EU under Directive 2005/36/EC. The university is accredited by ARACIS and the programme conforms to ECTS standards.

Graduates of the Ovidius English-language medicine stream enjoy the same recognition as graduates of any other Romanian UMF.

⭐ Strengths and things to watch

✅ Strengths:

• Among the lowest tuition fees in Romania for medicine (€8,000/year, 2026–2027)
• Moderate cost of living (housing cheaper than in Cluj or Bucharest)
• A Mediterranean climate with mild winters — seaside quality of life
• Smaller cohorts: potentially more personal supervision
• OCH brings modern facilities to the table
• Less selective admission than at the long-established UMFs — a good plan B
• By the sea: water sports, beaches

⚠️ Things to watch:

• No French-language programme, in any discipline — English is compulsory
• No international pharmacy: pharmacy exists only in Romanian
• A young faculty (1990): less prestige, a less developed alumni network
• A modest hospital network compared with Cluj, Bucharest or Iași
• Clinical exposure is narrower, especially outside the tourist season
• A city less culturally and socially active than Cluj or Bucharest
• A limited local airport (largely seasonal flights)
• The English-language dentistry quota is unpublished: ask the international office
• Some public hospital departments are underfunded

🔗 Official links

• University website: univ-ovidius.ro
• Faculty of Medicine: medicina.univ-ovidius.ro
• International admissions: admission.univ-ovidius.ro
• Faculty of Pharmacy: farmacie.univ-ovidius.ro
• Admissions contact: admissions@univ-ovidius.ro
• Romanian Ministry of Education: edu.ro

🧭 To place this university against the other five: see the comparison table of every route — every programme, in every language, at every UMF, with 2026–2027 places and fees.

📚 Sources and methodology

Our method: this fact sheet previously stated that a French-language pharmacy programme existed at Constanța. We checked it programme by programme on the university’s and the Faculty of Pharmacy’s websites, and the claim turned out to be false. We corrected it and we flag the correction openly rather than quietly rewriting history: a guidance sheet that won’t tell you when it was wrong hasn’t earned your trust on anything else.

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Last verified: July 2026.