Suzanne
20-03-07, 06:32 AM
Foreign students in Bulgaria should have the same rights as their Bulgarian counterparts, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev told a forum on education held on March 11 in Varna.
“It is logical for foreign students to have equal rights in Bulgaria, although this raises issues about financing universities in the new environment,” Stanishev told university heads from all over the country.
By “new environment” Stanishev meant that as a European Union country, Bulgaria should offer equal conditions to Bulgarian students and students from other EU countries. This means ending charging Bulgarians and foreigners different tuition fees. Currently, foreign students can pay thousands of euro more than Bulgarian students. A year of study at Sofia University costs a Bulgarian an average of 250 leva, while a foreigner could pay up to 3300 euro.
On March 6, Sofia University vice rector Dimitar Gyurov told Bulgarian-language daily Standart that the university opposed reducing fees for foreigners. He said that equal fees would cost the university 1.5 million leva a semester.
On the same day, Plovdiv University Paiisi Hilendarski said that equal prices would cost them 250 000 leva a semester. The Government has not provided any state subsidies to compensate universities for introducing uniform tuition fees, as has been the case in other EU countries.
In Varna on March 10, Stanishev presented rectors with a new strategy for development of higher education. According to Stanishev, out of 240 000 students currently studying in Bulgaria, 20 000 were foreign students, with the number of Bulgarian students going down every year.
Education Minister Daniel Vulchev, who was also at the forum, said that Bulgaria’s education system had room for another 50 000 students. Vulchev said that about 40 000 Bulgarians were studying at foreign universities with a further 5000 ready to join them in the autumn.
Stanishev said that Bulgaria had committed itself during EU membership negotiations to set aside three per cent of GDP for science and research. The state’s share was one per cent so business circles should become more innovation minded, he said.
Vulchev said that a strategy for developing higher education would be tabled in Parliament before the summer recess in June. Some of its provisions could be put into practice as early as October with minor amendments to the law, according to Vulchev. “The practice of counterfeiting diplomas and academic certificates will be stopped with the introduction of electronic registers of diplomas and university students in the country. The strategy provides for universities to set the tuition fees they charge but the state will set a ceiling that they will have to take into account,” Vulchev said.
Universities should make it possible for there to be differentiation in fees or exemptions from fees according to students’ results.
Though public spending on higher education will increase from 2.2 million leva this year to 2.9 million leva in 2009, it was still insufficient, Vulchev said.
He said that the procedure for awarding doctoral degrees should be decentralised. Bulgaria’s academic staff was ageing. There were only 10 professors in the 35-44 age group with only 24 assistant professors aged over 65.
The strategy provides for setting up boards of trustees at universities to make their management more transparent.
Vulchev’s most radical idea was for rectors to be appointed by the Education Minister. Currently, the staff of universities elect rectors. Speaking on March 13 on national private commercial station Nova Televisia, Vulchev said that he was willing to drop the idea as long as rectors accepted everything else in the strategy.
Petar Kostadinov
www.sofiaecho.com
“It is logical for foreign students to have equal rights in Bulgaria, although this raises issues about financing universities in the new environment,” Stanishev told university heads from all over the country.
By “new environment” Stanishev meant that as a European Union country, Bulgaria should offer equal conditions to Bulgarian students and students from other EU countries. This means ending charging Bulgarians and foreigners different tuition fees. Currently, foreign students can pay thousands of euro more than Bulgarian students. A year of study at Sofia University costs a Bulgarian an average of 250 leva, while a foreigner could pay up to 3300 euro.
On March 6, Sofia University vice rector Dimitar Gyurov told Bulgarian-language daily Standart that the university opposed reducing fees for foreigners. He said that equal fees would cost the university 1.5 million leva a semester.
On the same day, Plovdiv University Paiisi Hilendarski said that equal prices would cost them 250 000 leva a semester. The Government has not provided any state subsidies to compensate universities for introducing uniform tuition fees, as has been the case in other EU countries.
In Varna on March 10, Stanishev presented rectors with a new strategy for development of higher education. According to Stanishev, out of 240 000 students currently studying in Bulgaria, 20 000 were foreign students, with the number of Bulgarian students going down every year.
Education Minister Daniel Vulchev, who was also at the forum, said that Bulgaria’s education system had room for another 50 000 students. Vulchev said that about 40 000 Bulgarians were studying at foreign universities with a further 5000 ready to join them in the autumn.
Stanishev said that Bulgaria had committed itself during EU membership negotiations to set aside three per cent of GDP for science and research. The state’s share was one per cent so business circles should become more innovation minded, he said.
Vulchev said that a strategy for developing higher education would be tabled in Parliament before the summer recess in June. Some of its provisions could be put into practice as early as October with minor amendments to the law, according to Vulchev. “The practice of counterfeiting diplomas and academic certificates will be stopped with the introduction of electronic registers of diplomas and university students in the country. The strategy provides for universities to set the tuition fees they charge but the state will set a ceiling that they will have to take into account,” Vulchev said.
Universities should make it possible for there to be differentiation in fees or exemptions from fees according to students’ results.
Though public spending on higher education will increase from 2.2 million leva this year to 2.9 million leva in 2009, it was still insufficient, Vulchev said.
He said that the procedure for awarding doctoral degrees should be decentralised. Bulgaria’s academic staff was ageing. There were only 10 professors in the 35-44 age group with only 24 assistant professors aged over 65.
The strategy provides for setting up boards of trustees at universities to make their management more transparent.
Vulchev’s most radical idea was for rectors to be appointed by the Education Minister. Currently, the staff of universities elect rectors. Speaking on March 13 on national private commercial station Nova Televisia, Vulchev said that he was willing to drop the idea as long as rectors accepted everything else in the strategy.
Petar Kostadinov
www.sofiaecho.com