and ARACIS, the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, both coordinated by the Ministry of Education. In 2016, 531,586 students were enrolled in Romanian's 97 universities, in all three cycles, of which 464,642 were in public institutions. 76.3% of the students were enrolled in the first cycle (bachelor level), 20.1% in the second cycle (master level) and 3.6% in the third cycle (doctoral studies). Romanian universities have historically been classified among the best in Eastern Europe and have attracted international students, especially in the fields of medicine and technology. Foreign students accounted for 27,510 (5.1% of enrollment, as of 2016). Universities have full autonomy, in stark contrast from the pre-university segment. Each university is free to decide everything from their management to the organization of classes. Furthermore, many universities devolve this autonomy further down, to each department. The Ministry of Education established the National Authority for Scientific Research (Autoritatea Națională pentru Cercetare Științifică). This agency emerged from specific requirements designed to promote the development of a knowledge-based society. As in the other Eastern European countries, the Romanian higher education system has witnessed major transformations after 1990, in order to adapt its national educational framework to the European Union. Admission The admission process is left to the Universities, and there is no integrated admission scheme. As such, the admission requirements vary between universities and different fields of study. The admission process may include an "admission exam" in one or several high-school subjects that correspond best to the training offered by the university; a "competition of files" (concurs de dosare), that is entry based on the grades at Baccalaureate and/or the grades of the relevant subject(s) from high school; essays, interviews and other performance assessments. The process of academic selection is usually more rigorous at state universities than at private universities. International programs The professors have been trying to adapt curricula to that of their counterparts from North America or Western Europe. After 1990, Romania has started many projects supervised by countries from the European Union and also in collaboration with the US, obtaining some projects and bursaries. The main goal of the country has been to adapt to the European Higher Education System. Especially notable has been the effort for having their academic diplomas recognised by other European countries and for developing international programs such as: Tempus, CEEPUS, Socrates/Erasmus, Copernicus, Monet, and eLearn. With the US, Fulbright programs have