← Back to the rankingMark Twain International School
Voluntari, Romania · est. 1995 · Private
Illustration · Voluntari
Mark Twain International School (MTIS) is a private, independent, co-educational school in Voluntari, on the northern edge of Bucharest near Băneasa forest, for children aged 2 to 19. It has operated since 1995 and calls itself one of the oldest private schools in Romania. It has two divisions: the International Division, where all teaching is in English, and the Bilingual Division, teaching in English and Romanian on the Romanian national curriculum. The school is authorised by the IB for all three programmes (PYP, MYP, DP), accredited by the Romanian Ministry of Education (ARACIP) at every level, lists Cambridge accreditation, and is a Cambridge English exam preparation centre. The school reports more than 700 students from 50 plus countries and 6 students per teacher. In 2024 the investment funds Morphosis Capital and Vybros Capital Partners entered the school; it is opening a third campus in Cosmopolis (Ștefăneștii de Jos) and since 2022 has run the Blue Lighthouse Academy kindergarten network.
Key facts
Tuition
≈ $16 776–21 295 a year
14 850–18 850 EUR
Programmes
IB · PYP, MYP, DP · Cambridge · Primary, Lower Secondary · National programme
Admits from
2 years · Pre-School
Languages of instruction
English, Romanian
Students per teacher
6 students per teacher
About the fees Fees for 2026-2027 in the International Division (all inclusive: annual registration, educational resources, tuition, complete meal plan, uniform pack, standard extracurriculars): Primary 14850 euro, Middle School 15850 euro, Grades 9-10 16850 euro, IB Diploma Programme 18850 euro per year; tuition is paid in two instalments and the services contract in full at registration. The Romanian-language Bilingual Division is cheaper: 12850, 13850 and 14850 euro per year for primary, middle and high school. The kindergarten runs a year-round full-day programme from 8:00 to 18:30, paid monthly: 738 euro per month for ages 2-3, 821 euro for ages 3-4, 823 euro for ages 4-5, 889 euro for ages 5-6.
Admissions The school says it admits students aged 2 to 19 from around the world; families abroad can meet the admissions team online. Steps: a campus tour or online meeting, a placement test to choose the programme, signing the documents and payment. Kindergarten admits children aged 2-6 able to benefit from the school's programme. Transfers into primary take a test, with priority for children with solid English; the recommended age for the preparatory class is 6. Middle and high school require a high level of English (International Division) or of English and Romanian (Bilingual Division); applicants take diagnostic tests in English and/or Romanian and mathematics. The school may hold an interview and an aptitude test and gives new students time to adapt. The school recommends the national bacalaureat for students whose native language is Romanian.
Stages and year groups Grades Preschool, clasa pregătitoare, I-XII. Kindergarten (ages 2-6): IB PYP from age 3, Cambridge Primary from age 5, ARACIP accreditation. Primary (preparatory class to Grade IV): IB PYP and Cambridge Primary. Middle school (V-VIII) and Grades IX-X: IB MYP and Cambridge Lower Secondary. Grades XI-XII: two pathways, the IB Diploma Programme (exams can be taken in English, French or Spanish) or the Romanian national bacalaureat in the Filologie, Științe ale naturii or Matematică-Informatică profiles. Students choose at the end of Grade 10; in Grades 9-10 they follow the national curriculum and the MYP together. Both the International and Bilingual divisions are ARACIP-accredited and offer the full IB continuum.
Accreditations and programmes verified against official registries
IB · PYP, MYP, DP · authorised programmeCambridge · Primary, Lower Secondary · authorised programmeThe IB register lists the Primary Years, Middle Years and Diploma programmes at the school, and the Cambridge register names it as its centre. In the bilingual division the IB runs alongside the Romanian national programme.
school is in an official registryconfirmed by a school document, by membership or by taking part in a networkclaimed by the school, no confirmation, not counted in the scoreGuide to all organisations → What stands behind each entry
IBInternational Baccalaureate
A Swiss non-profit, working since 1968. Its programmes are among the most widely recognised school programmes in the world. Authorisation is granted stage by stage, so a school with the final stage does not necessarily run the younger ones; which stages this school holds is set out in the line below.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: PYP (ages 3-12), MYP (ages 11-16), DP (ages 16-19). PYP is the primary stage, ages 3 to 12. It is not a set of subjects but a frame for the whole school: learning is built around lines of inquiry, and there are no exams at the end. MYP is the middle stage, ages 11 to 16. There are no exams here either; at the end an optional electronic assessment of pupils' work is possible. DP is the final stage, ages 16 to 19: six subjects plus a compulsory core of theory of knowledge, an extended essay and CAS. The diploma is accepted by universities all over the world, and in a number of countries it counts for admission on the same footing as the local leaving certificate.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →CambridgeCambridge International Education
Part of the University of Cambridge. It allows a school to teach the Cambridge programmes and to enter pupils for the exams. There are four stages and they are authorised separately: primary, lower secondary, IGCSE and A Level. If the stages are known they are named in the line below; if that line is missing, the school does not publish them, and the Cambridge registry does not show stages either - it gives only the name of the centre, the country and whether private candidates are accepted. Cambridge calls what it does registration rather than accreditation, and the network holds about ten thousand schools.
What the badge means for this school. The school is allowed to run this programme and to award its certificate. This is a confirmation of the programme, not a judgement on the school as a whole. The entry stands in the organisation's public register - anyone can check it. At this school: Primary (ages 5-11), Lower Secondary (ages 11-14). Primary is the primary stage, ages 5 to 11: English, mathematics and science to Cambridge syllabuses. At the end of the stage a school may run the optional Checkpoint test, which is marked in Cambridge. Lower Secondary is the middle stage, ages 11 to 14, with the same optional Checkpoint test at the end.
Register to check for yourself, and the full guide →National programme
The state school programme of the country the school stands in: it is set by that country's ministry of education, which also licenses the school and awards the leaving certificate. That certificate is used for entry to local universities, and abroad it is matched to the local one.
What this means for this school. This entry does not count towards the score, and that is deliberate. Every lawful school in a country works to the national programme, so on its own it tells one school apart from no other - unlike the French, German or Russian programmes, which are carried abroad and confirmed by the register of their organisation. We show it because a parent needs to know what programme their child is taught and what certificate the child will get. Counting it would lift the whole ranking at once and still tell nobody apart.
Exams and destinations from the school's official website
Average IB score
34 (world average 30.88)
Exam results According to the 2024-2025 prospectus the school's IB average is 34, 98% of graduates are accepted to university, and graduates hold more than 160 university offers in total; the home page cites a 100% IB passing rate, and the results page a 100% university admission rate.
Where leavers go: University of Oxford · University of Cambridge · London School of Economics (LSE) · University College London (UCL) · King's College London · University of Warwick · University of Manchester · Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Facilities from the school's official website
✓Swimming pool
·Sports hallnot stated on the website
✓Laboratories
·Theatre or assembly hallnot stated on the website
·Librarynot stated on the website
✓Catering
✓School transport
·Boardingnot stated on the website
Also on site: Sports ground or field
Clubs and activities: STEM-Robotics · Future Architects-LEGO Design · Photography · Carpentry · Pottery · Fashion & Design · Rock Band · Musical Theater · Choir · Ballet · Karate Kyokushin · Fencing · Swimming · Basketball · Chess · Journalism · Coding · GO Training
Teaching staff from the school's official website
·Teachers listed by namenot published
·Teacher qualificationsnot stated
·Number of teachersthe school does not say
✓Students per teacher or class sizein the key facts above
The school reports 6 students per teacher; its 2024-2025 prospectus cites more than 80 trained teachers and 3 IB programme coordinators. Teaching follows 12 essential elements of high-quality international education, and the school trains its teachers in-house.
Safety and wellbeing from the school's official website
✓CCTV
✓Security staff
·Access controlnot stated on the website
✓Nurse or medical room
·Counsellornot stated on the website
·Child protection policynot stated on the website
·Staff trainingnot stated on the website
·Anti-bullying policynot stated on the website
Each campus has round-the-clock video surveillance; security staff are trained in first aid, CPR, AED use, fire and traffic safety. The on-campus clinic is always open: it assesses students, gives simple over-the-counter treatment, calls parents or arranges a hospital visit.
Reviews
No reviews yet. The community rating counts towards the score once a school has five verified reviews - until then we do not show a zero, so as not to mislead.
Criteria breakdown criterion weight in brackets
Academics and programmes (16%)97 Community rating (16%)no dataparent reviews are needed: the criterion switches on at the fifth verified one Exams and destinations (12%) scored on disclosed data80 Safety and wellbeing (12%) scored on disclosed data75 Accreditation and verifiability (10%)90 Teaching staff (10%) scored on disclosed data55 Facilities (10%) scored on disclosed data75 Clubs and activities (8%) scored on disclosed data78 "Scored on disclosed data" stands where we count only what the school has written about itself on its own site: exams and destinations, safety and wellbeing, teaching staff, facilities, clubs and activities. A low score here means the school does not write about this, not that the school does not have it: a school with good security and a sparse site will score low. A school can fill in its profile, and the score will be counted again.
The score is counted from 8 of the 9 criteria.Only those with checkable data count: programmes and accreditations from official registers, the fee from a published price list. Where it says "scored on the median", the school has no data and the middle of the list is put in its place, so that a gap gives no advantage. Admissions, teaching staff and reviews come in as their data arrives.
The full methodology → Similar schools in the country