With a long tradition of excellence in higher education, the “Iuliu Hatieganu” University of Medicine and Pharmacy has had a lively and supportive scientific research culture. Trying to provide the best medical education for current and future students, the University offers only its finest professors and lecturers.

The beginnings of the University of Cluj-Napoca can be traced back to the middle ages, when the Diet of Transylvania convened in Cluj in 1565 and decreed the foundation of a College. Attempts were made to bring scholars from Switzerland and France to secure its organization. It was the time of the offensive of the Counter-Reformation, a movement which was gaining ground in Transylvania, especially after the ellection of Stefan Bathory as Prince in 1571. A decree signed on 12 May 1581 obtained the founding of the University of Cluj, to be led and administered by the Jesuits. The existence of this University was ephemeral. In 1774, the Jesuit College was replaced by another, organized and directed by the religious order of Piarists. In 1781, the German language replaced Latin. This was the time of the enlightened absolutism of the emperor Joseph II. The University underwent several transformations which reflect the socio-political unrest of Transylvania. Under the dual compromise, the emperor Franz Joseph founded the Universty of Cluj on October 12, 1872. Initially, the Faculty of Medicine was part of the Franz-Joseph University. In 1919, Iuliu Hatieganu was named Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. He gave his first lecture in Romanian, thus founding the higher Romanian Medical education system in Cluj. The faculty continued to develop its curriculum and increase its number of disciplines so that in 1948 the Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy was created, with the faculties of General Medicine, Hygiene, Pediatrics, Dentistry and Pharmacy. In the academic year 1990, the Institute became the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, with the following faculties: Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy, and in 1993 the University was designated as the Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy, after its first Romanian Professor of Clinical Medicine, who was also the first Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. Since then, the University has aquired many colleges: the College of Radiology, Medical Imaging and Radiotherapy, College of Nursing from Cluj, Bistrita and Hunedoara, the College of Medical Techniques for Clinical Laboratories, the College of Physio-kinethoterapy and Rehabilitation, the College of Dental Technicians, the College of Pharmaceutical Laboratory Techniques from Cluj and Hunedoara.

Throughout the challenging history of Romania’s academic education, the University has ceaselessly imposed new and higher goals, keeping scientific research and medical and pharmaceutical institutions in a permanent struggle to overcome

themselves. In 1996, the University participated in a contest organized by PHARE for the selection of primary level university institutions (LOI), and was the only Medical University in Romania designated as a Primary Level University. In 1997 the English section started and in 2000 the French section, where lectures and practical activities are carried out exclusively in English and French respectively. The University management is committed to strive for academic excelence and performance. Our Charter defined academic freedom and university autonomy according to the principles stipulated in the Lima Declaration on Academic Freedom and Autonomy of Institutiond of Higher Education, and the Magna Charta of European Universities.

Today, the Iuliu Hatieganu University is a reputable institution, where research and teaching have remarcable results. At the moment, our graduates occupy top jobs all accros the best hospitals in the country and abroad.

If you wish to find out more about the University, please visit www.umfcluj.ro.