Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca opened the new 2026-2027 academic year on Monday in the Aula Magna. Rector Daniel David announced that over 16,000 first-year students enrolled at all study levels, an increase from last year, both at budget and tuition.

Almost 5% of the new students are international, 46% are tuition-paying students at bachelor's level, approximately 30% at master's and 22% at doctoral level. The increase in the number of students is reflected across all three study lines of the university: Romanian, Hungarian and German.

Starting this year, UBB introduces a free artificial intelligence course, open to all students regardless of specialization, along with access to an artificial intelligence system through the institutional email address. The university is also developing the Health field at bachelor's level, including the Podiatry specialization, as well as a new Doctoral School of Medical and Health Sciences, thus bringing medical fields back into UBB's structure that were separated from the university 78 years ago.

The rector also spoke about eliminating mandatory conditions between university cycles - bachelor's, master's, doctoral - and about relaunching double specializations, after approximately 20 years, considered an advantage for graduates on the labor market.

For Cluj residents who left the country, the figures show a university in expansion, extending its educational offer and consolidating its status as a comprehensive institution, with new programs in fields such as health and artificial intelligence.