Transfer From Carol Davila to UPJŠ: Medicine Guide

Carol Davila is a serious school. Founded in 1857, around 10,400 students, ranked first among Romanian universities in the 2025 URAP rankings. People do not usually leave it because the teaching is bad. They leave because Bucharest was not the fit they hoped for, or the cohort sizes are enormous, or family moved, or they simply want a smaller city and smaller groups.

Whatever the reason, this is the part nobody explains properly: what actually happens to the years you have already done.

Transfers in the EU are really about recognition

There is no shared European "transfer" system for medicine. What exists is recognition of completed courses. A receiving faculty looks at each subject you finished, compares syllabus and completion type against its own curriculum, and decides individually what carries over.

That is why two people leaving Carol Davila in the same month can land in different years at UPJŠ. It depends on what they passed, how it was assessed, and how closely each syllabus matches.

The two UPJŠ routes, side by side

• Route 1, transfer request: for students currently enrolled who have met all conditions to continue into the next academic year. Submit the signed Request for Transfer in writing by 15 August. Not available if your studies were interrupted, terminated or you were expelled.
• Route 2, entrance exam then recognition: open to anyone who passes the UPJŠ entrance exam. After passing, apply for recognition of subjects by 15 September, submitting to the Study Department. The faculty then decides which subjects are recognised and which year you enter.
• The rule that catches people: you cannot both apply for a regular transfer and sit the entrance exam for the same programme in the same year. Pick a route and commit to it.

Which Carol Davila subjects tend to line up

Carol Davila's first year is heavy on the classic preclinical block: Anatomy and Embryology at 14 ECTS, General Biochemistry at 10, Physiology at 7, Cellular Biology at 7, Genetics at 5 and Biophysics at 4, making up the 60-credit year. Anatomy and Embryology, Histology, Physiology and Bacteriology continue into second year.

These are the same pillars UPJŠ builds its preclinical years on, which is why the early years are where recognition usually goes best. Both are six-year programmes on an ECTS-compatible system of roughly 360 credits, and both sit under the same EU framework.

The friction is rarely the subject name. It is the details:

• Completion type has to match. If a subject ends with an exam at UPJŠ but you completed it elsewhere with a credit test or a mark only, it may not be recognised.
• Graded means graded. A UPJŠ subject assessed by grade can only be recognised if it was also graded at your previous university. A subject you merely "passed" comes across as "passed, E, sufficient".
• Restructured courses complicate things. UPJŠ reorganised anatomy from three courses into two, so a student who completed all three elsewhere does not get a clean one-to-one mapping.
• Five-year recency rule. Only courses completed within the last five years, counted from the start of the academic year, are eligible.
• Same level, same field. The course must come from another Faculty of Medicine with the same or only slightly different study programme, and be compulsory or compulsory-elective in the UPJŠ curriculum.

How far into the degree can you still move?

UPJŠ accepts study transfers up to the fourth year, and at least 180 ECTS credits must be earned at UPJŠ itself. That second number is the one to plan around. If you are deep into your degree, the maths stops working, and it is better to know that in July than in September.

One more thing worth saying plainly: you cannot transfer credits from a degree you have already completed and been awarded. Recognition applies to unfinished studies only.

The exam you will probably still sit

Unless you qualify for the transfer route, you take the same entrance exam as everyone else. It is a written multiple-choice test in biology and chemistry: 200 questions total, 100 per subject, in one 2.5-hour sitting, scored up to 4 points per question for a maximum of 800. Questions come from published sets of 600 biology and 600 chemistry questions.

For someone already two years into medicine at Carol Davila, this is a revision exercise rather than new learning. The 2026 sitting in Košice is on 12 August, and registering roughly a week ahead is completely normal.

Money, both sides

Carol Davila's English-taught medicine runs around EUR 10,000 per year according to agency listings, though you should confirm the current figure on umfcd.ro. UPJŠ General Medicine is EUR 13,000 per year for 2026/2027 per the official Rector's Decision No. 3/2026.

So tuition is higher at UPJŠ. Košice is cheaper to live in than Bucharest for most students, which narrows the gap, and the recognition process itself costs almost nothing: EUR 2 per subject with a EUR 15 ceiling. Whether the total works for you depends on how many years you have left.

Your paperwork checklist

• For recognition: the Application for Recognition, original transcripts showing completion dates, course syllabi, and proof of payment.
• For transfer, additionally: the Request for Transfer, a Letter of Authorization, and proof that you are currently a student in good standing.
• On acceptance: a medical certificate less than three months old, passport or ID copy, high school leaving certificate, and a certified birth certificate.
• Translation: everything must be officially translated into Slovak or English. Incomplete requests get rejected rather than queried, so this is not a corner to cut.

Practical tip: request your stamped transcript and syllabi from Carol Davila before you tell anyone you are leaving. Getting documents out of a university you have already deregistered from is slower everywhere, not just in Romania.

Does switching countries hurt you later?

No. Slovakia and Romania are both EEA countries, and the GMC treats primary medical qualifications from either as relevant European qualifications for UK registration. The underlying framework is Directive 2005/36/EC, which requires at least five years and 5,500 hours of training. From 2024 all graduates, including EU-trained doctors, sit the UKMLA before full GMC registration.

A Slovak MUDr. and a Romanian MD are treated the same way. Where you start is not what matters, where you finish is.

FAQ

Can you transfer directly from Carol Davila to UPJŠ Košice?

If you are enrolled and in good standing, yes, via a Request for Transfer submitted by 15 August. Otherwise you apply as a new student, pass the entrance exam, then request recognition of your completed subjects by 15 September.

Will I lose a year moving from Carol Davila to UPJŠ?

Maybe, maybe not. The faculty decides your entry year case by case based on which subjects are recognised. Anyone who promises you a fixed answer before your transcript has been assessed is guessing.

Do I still have to sit the UPJŠ entrance exam?

On the recognition route, yes. On the transfer route for enrolled students in good standing, no, but you cannot do both for the same programme in the same year.

How much does recognition cost at UPJŠ?

EUR 2 per subject, capped at EUR 15 in total. Medently handles the process itself free of charge.

Up to which year does UPJŠ accept transfer students?

Up to the fourth year, and at least 180 ECTS credits must be earned at UPJŠ itself.

Sources

• UPJŠ Faculty of Medicine, Transfer and Recognition: both routes, the 15 August and 15 September deadlines, recognition rules, fees and documents.
• UPJŠ programmes in English and Rector's Decision No. 3/2026: six-year MUDr. programme and 2026/2027 tuition.
• Carol Davila (umfcd.ro) course catalogue: first and second year subjects and ECTS weights.
• GMC, EEA countries: relevant European qualifications and UKMLA from 2024.
• Directive 2005/36/EC: minimum training requirements for automatic recognition.