Romanian Students in the Soviet Union (1948-1964)

Student exchanges have a long history since the Middle Ages. After the Second World War, they became even more popular, aiming to increase education, tolerance of different cultures, improve language skills and broaden social horizons. Like other socialist countries, Romania intensified student exchanges with the USSR because the country needed specialists and staff for the national economy and the new communist government. At that time, Russian became the first foreign language taught in Romanian schools. The quality of studies in the USSR was good, and later, many graduate students became significant political leaders and held important positions in the state. Starting with the 1960s, Romania gradually began to distance itself from the USSR, eventually leading to a significant reduction in student exchanges. Currently, the international student exchanges between Romania and the Russian Federation are pretty low, and it would be a pity not to continue the established tradition.

Romanian People’s Republic, the Soviet Union, international students