Students are getting ready for protests
Student organizations in Romania have announced a series of protests nation-wise on September 29, when the university year is supposed to kick off
Sorin Iordan, 19.09.2025, 13:50
The onset of a new school year in Romania was marked by a series of protests mounted by the teaching staff disgruntled with the latest measure package endorsed by the government with a view to curbing the country’s excessive deficit and for which the government assumed responsibility in Parliament.
On September 8, some schools in Romania boycotted the beginning of a new school year and teachers refused to attend festivities marking the event, in an attempt to show their dissatisfaction with the government’s decision to increase their working hours, number of students in classrooms and also with the pay cuts imposed.
Students followed suit to also protest the austerity measures endorsed this year, which also include cuts in scholarships and subsidies for local and rail transportation.
The National Alliance of Student Organisations in Romania has announced large-scale protests all over the country on September 29, when the university year is supposed to kick off.
The organization said that many students might abandon studies this year and has pointed to the chronic underfunding of the sector of scholarships and social protection in the past decade.
The aforementioned fund cuts could have a negative impact upon the students’ academic development as dropouts have already reached 40%. The president of the Romanian Students Union, Cristian Ghiurcă, said the university environment has been significantly affected by the latest austerity measures imposed by the government.
According to him, fund cuts are leaving about 44 thousand students without scholarships.
Cristian Ghiurcă: “The scholarship fund drops by 40% for all the universities in Romania, and that translates either into lower amounts of money for all students or into simply cutting some scholarships altogether. There are some pledges that things are going to improve hopefully, but we haven’t seen anything in this direction yet. We are still having talks with the Ministry representatives though. However, we realize that we cannot solve this issue only diplomatically, so we must take some action for our cause, namely to stage some protests.”
According to Ghiurcă, the scholarships should remain at a decent quantum and keep the number they were available in 2024. He said students are disgruntled with the decision that scholarships be granted only during the teaching activities, and the 90% transport discount be granted only on the route linking the student’s hometown and the university.
Their representatives have this week attended a meeting with the Education Ministry in an attempt to identify solutions to the effects produced by the latest legislative amendments. Field Minister, Daniel David, says that talks with the Minister of European Funds, Dragoş Pîslaru, have already started with a view to transferring sums of money to the programme of preventing school dropouts and that a solution is expected in a couple of months. He added that if they want and can afford, universities can complete the scholarship funds and expand their period. The University of Life Sciences in Iasi, north-eastern Romania, has resorted to such a solution, and announced that in the new university year, scholarships will be granted from the institution’s own funds and from partnerships concluded with various private operators.
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