Good to know
Good to Know
- Chisinau's international-school market is very small compared to other European capitals: QSI International School of Chisinau (QSIC) is effectively the only well-documented, internationally accredited, English-medium option covering Pre-K through Grade 12.
- QSIC tuition is billed in US dollars, not Moldovan lei — if you're budgeting in leu, expect your actual cost to shift with the exchange rate rather than being fixed in local currency.
- Space at QSIC can be limited and the school notes it may prioritize placement by nationality mix, so apply with lead time rather than expecting a fast enrollment near the start of term.
- For families wanting a cheaper bilingual option, several public/private Romanian-medium lyceums in Chisinau offer intensive English, French, or German tracks at a fraction of QSIC's cost, but these are not internationally accredited in the same way and tuition data for named schools was not reliably verifiable at the time of research.
- Chisinau's international-school market is small: QSI International School of Chisinau is the main documented full PK-12 international option, with roughly 90 students total, so seats per grade are limited.
- QSI uses rolling admissions with no fixed deadline, but explicitly tells families to apply early because of limited space — treat 'as soon as your move is confirmed' as the real deadline.
- Expect to provide previous school transcripts, medical/immunization records, and to complete placement assessments; a non-refundable registration fee (about $300 / roughly 5,250 MDL) is charged once your application is reviewed.
- There's no formal ranked waitlist system publicized — it's more that a specific grade level can simply be full, so early contact with the admissions office matters more than in bigger nomad hubs.
- Homeschooling in Moldova sits in a genuine legal gray zone for foreign families: a specific 'home education' legal category exists but is built around medical/disability needs, not general elective homeschooling, and local homeschooling advocates themselves say elective homeschooling isn't yet formally legalized.
- A small, real homeschooling community does exist (Moldova Homeschooling Association, roughly 100-200 families nationwide), but it is niche — don't expect a large expat homeschool network on the ground in Chisinau.
Schools And Curricula
- Other Bilingual Options Context
- Beyond QSIC, Chisinau has various local Romanian-medium lyceums that run bilingual streams (e.g., with English, French, or German as a strong secondary language of instruction), but we were unable to verify specific current named schools with reliable, up-to-date tuition figures at the time of research.
Schools
QSI International School of Chisinau (QSIC)
- Type
- International day school, Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12
- Founded
- 1996
- Curriculum
- American-style outcomes-based / mastery-learning curriculum (not IB); instruction in English
- Student Body
- Students from over 27 nationalities, all-nationalities admission
- Accreditation
- Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools (MSA-CESS); administered by Quality Schools International
- Location Area
- Buiucani district, northwest Chisinau
Tuition
- Note On Currency
- QSIC bills tuition directly in US dollars; MDL figures below are a currency-conversion estimate for comparison only, not the school's actual billing currency.
Tiers
Ages 2/3–4, Half-day Preschool
- Ages 2/3–4, Half Day Preschool
- MDL 75,680
Ages 2/3–4, Full-day Preschool
- Ages 2/3–4, Full Day Preschool
- MDL 93,280
Kindergarten Through Grade 12
- Kindergarten Through Grade 12
- MDL 404,800
Additional Fees
Annual capital fund fee (per student, required)
- Annual Capital Fund Fee (Per Student, Required)
- MDL 28,160
One-time registration fee
- One Time Registration Fee
- MDL 5,280
Homeschooling
- Legal Status
- Decriminalized or tolerated
- Practical Implication
- Families planning to homeschool electively (not for medical/disability reasons) in Chisinau should treat this as a legal gray area rather than a clearly sanctioned path — the medical/disability 'home education' framework is well-regulated and monitored by the Ministry of Education and local authorities, but voluntary lifestyle/nomad homeschooling sits outside that specific regulated category.
- Legal Status Notes
- Moldova's legal picture on homeschooling is genuinely mixed and contested, not a clean 'fully legal' answer. On one hand, Moldovan law recognizes home-based instruction as a category and lets parents choose the place and language of their children's instruction. On the other hand, the officially regulated 'home education' framework under Moldova's Education Code is narrower than Western-style elective homeschooling: it is designed to ensure the right to education for a pupil unable to attend school, organized for a specific period for children who, due to health problems or a disability, are temporarily unable to attend. Reflecting this gap, homeschooling advocates in Moldova themselves have stated that general elective homeschooling is not yet legalized in Moldova, and have been lobbying legislators for clearer legal recognition.
Local Community
- Name
- Moldova Homeschooling Association
- Exists
- Yes
- Details
- A small but real homeschooling movement exists nationally, organized around the Moldova Homeschooling Association, which has engaged in public debates with government ministries and legislators pushing for formal legal recognition. Estimates of the number of home-educating families in Moldova have grown from a small handful to roughly 100-200 families nationwide over the past several years — still a very small community relative to the overall school-age population, and concentrated in the capital region.
- Coop Note
- Homeschooling advocacy sources note interest in strengthening home-school co-ops (small groups of parents sharing teaching responsibilities) as a way to support home educators, though this appears to be an emerging idea rather than an established, long-running network of co-ops.
Application Process And Timing
- Admissions Model
- Rolling admissions rather than a single annual application window: QSI accepts applications throughout the school year, but explicitly advises families to apply as early as possible because space is limited.
- Recommended Lead Time
- Given the small overall enrollment, families relocating to Chisinau should treat 'apply as soon as your move is confirmed' as the realistic rule rather than assuming a set admissions season — there is no published fixed deadline, but the school frames space as the binding constraint, not timing.
Fees
- Registration Fee
- MDL 5,250
- Fee Notes
- This registration fee is described by the school as non-refundable and is due once the application has been received and reviewed.
Steps
- Contact the school office directly to arrange a campus tour and discuss enrollment.
- Complete the online application (via OpenApply) and submit required documents.
- Undergo grade-level placement assessments.
- Pay a non-refundable registration fee once the application has been received and reviewed.
Required Documents
- Previous school records/transcripts for grade-level placement
- Results of required assessments (multiple assessments are used for placement)
- Medical/immunization records for all students
Waitlist Expectations
- Reality
- There is no published formal waitlist policy comparable to larger international-school hubs (Bucharest, Seoul, etc.) — Chisinau's market is too small for a structured waitpool system with priority tiers. In practice, the constraint is simply that a single small school (~90 students total) has limited seats per grade, so a grade that is already full can mean a real delay rather than a formal ranked waitlist.
- Practical Implication
- Families should not assume 'rolling admissions' means instant placement — it means no fixed calendar deadline, but also no guarantee of a seat if a specific grade is already at capacity when you apply.
Other Bilingual Options Caveat
Aside from QSI, Chisinau has Romanian-language lyceums with French- or English-bilingual streams, but we could not find documented, English-language admissions/enrollment processes for foreign families for these in the same detail as QSI, so they are not included here with specifics.
International Bilingual School Market
- Overview
- Chisinau has a very small true international-school market compared to most nomad hub cities. The main documented option offering a full international curriculum across the whole PK-12 range is QSI International School of Chisinau, a small, independent, coeducational day school located in the Buiucani district.
- School Size Context
- QSI International School of Chisinau serves a school of about 90 students, with children from over 21-27 different nationalities (sources vary slightly), which means grade-level sections fill up quickly relative to a larger international school.
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
This section has no cited sources.
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Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.