Bulgaria

Partners situated in Bulgaria

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Bulgaria in a nutshell

Bulgaria (Bulgarian: България, transliterated: Balgariya), international transliteration Bălgarija, officially the Republic of Bulgaria (Република България, Republika Balgariya) lies in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe. It borders five other countries: Romania to the north (mostly along the River Danube), Serbia and the Macedonia (the country) to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south. The Black Sea defines the extent of the country to the east.

Bulgaria has a population of approximately 7.6 million.

Bulgaria functions as a parliamentary democracy under a unitary constitutional republic. It is a member of the European Union since 2007 and of NATO since 2004.

Education in Bulgaria

Context

Source: The Role of Transnational, Private, and For-Profit Provision in Meeting Global Demand for Tertiary Education: Mapping, Regulation and Impact 2004 by Commonwealth of Learning and UNESCO.

Following liberation from Ottoman rule in 1878 Bulgaria developed a modern European educational system, which lasted until the advent of communism after World War II. Under communist rule, the education system was restructured on ideological lines, with limited teacher autonomy, based on strictly centralised and hierarchical structures.

However, since the decline of communism, the Bulgarian higher education system has developed rapidly, in contrast to other levels in the education sector. Considerable changes took place in Bulgarian higher education in the 1990’s, both in terms of increasing access and in the structure of the system. The proportion of the 19-23-year-old age cohort enrolled in higher education increased from 7% to 27%, and the percentage of school graduates entering higher education reached 60%, compared to only 22-25% prior to 1989 (Georgieva, P. et al., 2002, p. 28). Most changes took place as a result of the December 1995 Higher Education Act, later amended in both June 1999 and in May 2002. Currently, a national debate is taking place on Government proposals for a series of amendments to the Act, which were due to pass through the National Assembly by June 2003. These changes deal mainly with the Bologna process and the need for the Bulgarian higher education system to improve its legal basis to achieve the objectives of the Bologna declaration.

The first major change after 1989 was the granting of academic autonomy to higher education institutions in 1990, after over four decades of state control and compliance with the ideology and needs of a centrally planned economy. In the early 1990s, HE institutions abolished ideological subjects and elements of course content that were ideologically biased, and began to expand their programmes and enrolments through setting up new specialities (spetsialnosti) in new faculties and affiliated units around the country. These new specialities were mainly in law, economics and management – areas where the labour market was experiencing skills shortages. However, established specialities such as engineering and sciences attempted to adapt themselves to the new context. In addition, institutions were given the ability to charge tuition fees to help fund increases in their student numbers, and private universities began to be established.

Between 1990 and 1995, the HE sector began to expand rapidly with the number of university students rising by 33% from 188,479 in 1990/91 to 250,336 in 1995/96 (Georgieva, P. et al., 2002, p. 108). Paid education, combined with a legal vacuum regarding regulation of admissions and academic standards (quality assurance and accreditation) led to suspicions of corruption and ‘diploma sales’ to paying students (Slantcheva 2000). However, the 1995 Higher Education Act provided a new legal structure for many of the activities of Bulgarian higher education institutions. This legislation recognised the private sector and new disciplinary areas. It also tried to address quality concerns emanating from historical university self-regulation, by introducing greater accountability as the state took control of quality assurance, course structures, and university finance.

By 1999, it was clear that the 1995 Act needed amendment in order to strengthen the legal context for higher education. There was a perceived need to control the (still) expanding enrolment level, and to reorganise institutional financing, course structure, and content. This need was also influenced by a need for changes in society and the economy, and a desire for increased harmonisation and integration with the rest of Europe. The amendment abolished fully self-financed places in higher education, increased competition in admissions, and set guidelines to bring standards in line with the rest of Europe (e.g. in line with the Lisbon, Bologna and Sorbonne declarations). As a result, the number of students enrolled in universities dropped from 270,077 in 1998-9 to 247,006 in 2000-2001 (Georgieva, P. et al., 2002).

In 2000, the World Bank funded a 3-phase US$82m Education Modernisation Project aimed at comprehensive reform of the Bulgarian education system. Its goals included improving (Transnational Report – Case Study: Bulgaria (October 2003) page 5 of 48) educational standards, upgrading the amount and quality of information about students and university administration, restructuring university and student finance, introducing the new ‘Matura’ admissions system, and supporting other quality improvement measures (Totomanova 2001). At the end of 2002 it appeared, however, that the project was not proceeding well since only 5% of the planned funded activities had been undertaken. According to a monitoring report, this was due to poor management and the lack of determination to fulfil the project aims and objectives on the part of the Ministry of Education and Science (Monitoring and evaluation of the activities under the World Bank Project on Modernization of Bulgarian Education. Interim Report, October, 2002. Association for Social Investigations and Applied Research Practices).”

Structure

The Bulgarian education system is divided into 5 stages:

1. primary
2. secondary
3. high school
4. post-compulsory education/upper secondary and post-secondary level
5. university

Policy

Source:

1. Ministry of Labour and Social Policy of Bulgaria: National Strategy for Lifelong Learning 2008-2013
2. Eurypedia: Bulgaria:Improving_the_Quality_and_Efficiency_of_Education_and_Training

Pre-school and school education cover the period from early childhood up to the high-school years. This period is related to obtaining initial knowledge, skills and competencies necessary for the working world, for employability, socialisation and active civil society. The skills and competencies acquired during childhood and adolescence are of crucial importance for the lifelong development of the individual. The Ministry of Education and Science, on a central level, and the Regional Inspectorates for Education, on regional level, support the implementation of state policy into the school education system and follow the common national priorities, synchronized with the EU priorities.

Improving quality of education is the primary strategic goal in the working programme of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Science for the period 2009-2013. The main principle in this direction is ensuring adequate indicators for measuring quality of education services at different levels. The programme envisages achieving European quality of education through various financial mechanisms supporting both the improvement of the material infrastructure of the education system and the level of qualification of teaching staff.

Training

Source: 2008; 2ND OECD Global Forum on Education: Improving the Effectiveness of Education Systems

There are three main teacher training initiatives being developed by the Ministry of Education. They are:

1. Provision of computer equipment and communication infrastructure with Internet connection,
2. Training teachers to acquire digital key competencies and
3. Creating e-contents to be included in education.

The enormous effort made by Bulgaria through their policy of in-service teacher training emphasises the importance of ensuring student competence during initial teacher training.”

Schools in Bulgaria

Source:

1. The Role of Transnational, Private, and For-Profit Provision in Meeting Global Demand for Tertiary Education: Mapping, Regulation and Impact 2004 by Commonwealth of Learning and UNESCO
2. Euridice: National system overviews on education systems in Europe and ongoing reforms, 2010 Edition

Primary education

Basic education in Bulgaria runs from the age of 6 or 7 through to 14 (forms 1 to 8) in two main stages”. Students learn some of the basic subjects like for example writing, reading maths, history etc.

It is up to parents to decide whether the child should go to school at the age of 6 or 7. The first stage takes place in Natchalno utchilischte in the four years from the age of 6-7 to 9-10 and leads to a Form IV Leaving Certificate on completion. The Second stage takes place in Progimnazialno utchilichte and runs from the age of 9-10 to 14, leading to a Basic Education Completion Certificate on completion.

Secondary School

The next step is secondary education where each student can choose some of the subjects. In this stage of the educational process a student is prepared enough to decide what he or she is interested in. There are mathematical, social, economic schools. This stage is mandatory.

The Upper Secondary level lasts for either 4 or 5 years following receipt of a Basic Education Completion Certificate. The providers are either general secondary schools (Gimnazii), technical and vocational-technical schools (Professionalni gimnazii and/or technikumi/ Professionalni utchilichta), or profile-oriented schools (Profilirani Gimnazii).

The profile-oriented secondary schools appeared after 1989 in response to market demand for a more flexible education that would combine a general and liberal education model with specialised training in a particular job field. Therefore, existing secondary comprehensive schools began a massive transformation into profile-oriented schools of Economics and Management, of English and other European languages. However, as they were obliged to follow the state recognised general curriculum, they did not prove to be as effective as the Technical vocational schools and the Professional Gymnasiums, which continued to provide the universities with the majority of their graduates.

All secondary institutions offer the Diploma za Zavurcheno Sredno Obrazovanie (Diploma of Completed Secondary Education) at the end of the upper Secondary Level, although the vocational schools also offer a Certificate of Professional Qualification. After graduating from secondary school most of the students take a special exam in order to study in special High School.

On their completing secondary education students receive diplomas (either school leaving certificates, or, if they intend to continue their education at a higher education institution, diplomas, after sitting for secondary school leaving matriculation examinations) required for admission to higher education.

Enrolment at vocational secondary schools after 7th grade takes place according to the students' results at external national exams and their preferences for schools, while after the 8th grade it is not necessarily subject to sitting for national external or any other exams, but based on the student’s successful performance during the course of their prior studies. However, there are vocational schools at which enrolment is exam-score based depending on the decision of the particular school at institutional level by the school principal and the Pedagogical Council of the school. Students need a primary education certificate to get access to a vocational school. However, admission may be granted also upon the final results from the completed successfully 7th grade.”

High School

This is the most important stage from the whole education system but it is not mandatory. Students cannot go to a university if they do not have the High School Certificate.

Students can choose in what kind of high school they want to study and they are obliged to take the corresponding exam. There are Maths High School(they are the most popular), Language High school and so on.

Post-compulsory education/upper secondary and post-secondary level

Source:Euridice: National system overviews on education systems in Europe and ongoing reforms, 2010 Edition

There are institutions (kolezhi), which provide post-secondary education for secondary school graduates who have a diploma. Post secondary education is not compulsory and is delivered by vocational colleges. It lasts at least one year and the candidates must have turned 16 years of age in order to be granted access to post-secondary education. The graduates are awarded 4th degree professional qualification and are considered prepared for the labour market. Those who wish to embark on post-secondary education may have graduated from either vocational or any other type of secondary school.

Private schools

In Bulgaria there are also some private schools but only a small percentage of the students can afford to study there because they are very expensive.

Further and Higher education in Bulgaria

The biggest step for students in the whole educational system is University. In order to have the ability to study in university students must have the High School Certificate with good to excellent result and also they must take one or more exams. There are almost all kinds of universities - some of them are national and other are international-class. All the universities require fees to be paid.

Universities in Bulgaria

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_in_Bulgaria

1. American University in Bulgaria
2. National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts
3. Medical University of Pleven
4. Medical University of Plovdiv
5. Medical University of Sofia
6. Medical University of Varna
7. National Sports Academy
8. National Military University
9. Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy
10. New Bulgarian University
11. Plovdiv University
12. Rakovski Defence and Staff College
13. Rousse University
14. Sofia University
15. South-West University "Neofit Rilski"
16. Technical University of Sofia
17. Technical University of Sofia - Branch Plovdiv
18. Technical University of Varna
19. Technical University of Gabrovo
20. Trakia University - Stara Zagora
21. Veliko Tarnovo University
22. Civil engineering university "Lyuben Karavelov"
23. University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy
24. University of Forestry
25. University of National and World Economy
26. University of Economics Varna
27. University of Shumen Episkop Konstantin Preslavski
28. University of Mining and Geology

Education reform in Bulgaria

Source: e-Learning in Bulgaria – the State of the Art – Daniela & Georgi Tuparov, eLearning Papers, May 2007

Researchers and academic staff are trying hard to implement ICT in the educational process. The eEurope index ranks Bulgaria last in the list of 28 European states. To bridge the gap in the sphere of ICT the Bulgarian government undertook serious initiatives. The national programme i-Bilgaria was started in 2004. The objective of this programme is for the average levels of the European indicators of development of the information society to be reached at a faster rate. Within this large-scale programme several educational projects were started under the supervision of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the Government Agency for the Development of ICT:

Schools

• i-Centers – a project aimed at establishing a network of public telecenters throughout the country, based mainly in smaller towns and villages
• i-Class – a project for computerizing Bulgarian schools

The e-Class project created the pre-conditions necessary for the use utilization of the electronic teaching and learning materials at the secondary-school level. It provided hardware equipment and Internet connection for schools. Each school in the country received at least one computer class, video projector and a laptop. By June 2006 nearly all Bulgarian schools had computer networks. (e-Bulgaria 2006, 2007)

Post-Secondary

• i-University – a project for setting up computer laboratories and e-learning sites in the state universities;
• i-Net – a project establishing a high-speed information highway connecting the universities, research institutions and European research networks;
• i-Zone – a project assuring WiFi access for academic staff and students on campus

As a result of the i-University programme at the end of 2004 equipment was provided for over 100 computer laboratories for e-learning at universities and research institutions. The Bulgarian Virtual University was established.

The Bologna Process

Source: Eurybase, The Education System in Bulgaria 2005/2006

Within the Bologna process and under the conditions of applying European dimensions in tertiary education, all study plans in Bulgaria are include compulsory modules for training in ICT and foreign languages.

Quality assurance in Bulgaria

Schools

Source: Eurybase, The Education System in Bulgaria 2005/2006

The National Strategy and Action Plan for Introducing ICT to Bulgarian schools envisage the following concrete actions to be taken in order to achieve the improvement of teaching methods through the use of ICT:

• Providing broad-band internet connection at every school – this is planned to happen by the end of 2007.
• Construction of a National educational portal – its aim is to support the process of school education in an up-to-date manner. The portal will give lots of opportunities to all participants in the study process – pupils, teachers, head teachers, parents – with the option for 1,000,000 users to work simultaneously. It will provide different electronic courses of study, tests (to be used in internal and external assessment), electronic school documentation and a wide range of information. The users will be able to communicate through various thematic forums; they will have access to the web pages of all schools in the country as well as to the registers of the Ministry of Education and Science and will be able to use different search engines. Teachers will be able to communicate with pupils and their parents, who, in turn, will be able to communicate with the school. The portal was launched at the beginning of the 2006/2007 school year and gradually is gradually becoming the basis of a national electronic network of knowledge.
• Development of electronic study courses – they will not replace the traditional paper based textbooks but because of their greater potential (interactivity, cross-referencing, many versions of tests, etc.) they will support pupils in acquiring better the study material. Such courses will be gradually developed for use in the primary and lower secondary stages.
• Providing a multimedia projector in every Bulgarian school – until the end of 2006 every school in the country should have at least one multimedia system. This will lead to additional opportunities to use contemporary teaching methods.”

Bringing teaching methods up-to-date at upper secondary level is done in two ways:

• Giving ‘ready-made knowledge’ will be replaced with more active methods, provoking independence, creativity and developing students’ skills to make independent decisions;
• Greater use of the possibilities of ICT in education (for more detail see point 4.14.) According to the plan during the new school year of 2006/2007 every 100 students will have 11 computers at their disposal. The national educational portal will be equipped with electronic courses in all compulsory school subjects at the secondary level.

Information society

Bulgaria's HEIs - Towards the information society

Most information published in this entry, is based and copied out of a document, received on 24/08/2009 from Assoc. Prof Angel Smrikarov, Vice Rector University of Rousse And Coordinator of Bulgarian Virtual University . This information is also available in Bulgarian at: http://www.bvu-bg.eu/index.php?Clip=proekt

In 1992 in response to the initiative for “Electronic education” of the European Commission, THE NATIONAL PROGRAMME FOR CREATING VIRTUAL EDUCATION SPACE was started in Bulgaria. The Programme was funded chiefly by the Ministry of transport and Communications, as well as The Ministry of Education and Science. The PILOT VIRTUAL DEPARTMENT IN COMPUTING “JOHN ATANASSOV” was established, which a year later extended into the VIRTUAL FACULTY OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES. At the end of 2004, under the initiative of the Chairmen of the Council of Rectors, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Higher Certifying Committee, The Union of Teachers, the Federation of the Unions of Scientists, the Bulgarian Association of information technologies and other educational, research and business organisations the BULGARIAN VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY was established. The founding agreement of this formation was signed by the Rectors of 37 Universities and the Directors of 27 Institutes of the BAS.

Information society strategy

Source: The Role of Transnational, Private, and For-Profit Provision in Meeting Global Demand for Tertiary Education: Mapping, Regulation and Impact 2004 by Commonwealth of Learning and UNESCO

The rapid development of the PC and Internet market in Bulgaria highlights a need to encourage the use of ICTs in education, particularly in higher education....Educational policy makers in Bulgaria believe that educating young people in the use of Internet improves the quality of services, reduces the costs, and creates conditions for the greater employability of graduates (Georgieva et al., 2002).

ICT in Education - initiatives

Source: Eurybase, The Education System in Bulgaria 2005/2006

The whole of the educational system has been invaded by ICT. The registered lagging behind of Bulgaria in this sphere brought about quick measures to implement ICT in education on a wide basis. In 2005 a National Strategy and Action Plan for the implementation of ICT in all Bulgarian schools was accepted. The basic aims and trends in the Strategy are as follows:

• Training of teachers in using ICT, development of teaching skills based on ICT
• Development of European educational services and software
• Quick construction of a unified network serving school, teachers, learners
• Using ICT for in-service training and re-qualification in answer to changed personal needs and changed requirements for education and training brought about by the current situation
• Training oriented towards a higher qualification degree allowing one to take up a more demanding position
• Better cooperation among all concerned parties - teachers, professional organisations, institutions determining the policy with regard to ICT in education on a local, regional, national and international levels
• Equipping schools with computers and internet connection. Reaching a ratio of 12/1 (students/computer) in 2007
• Inclusion of ICT in study programmes and programmes for teacher training
• Changes in the study material and organization of education.

Virtual initiatives in schools

Alongside the National Strategy and Action Plan for the implementation of ICT in all Bulgarian schools, there are 2 Bulgarian Virtual Schools available to students. These are:

1. First Bulgarian School (http://www.bulgarian-online-school.com/)
2. Elika Virtual School (http://elikabg.sharepoint.com/Pages/aboutus.aspx)

Virtual initiatives in HE in Bulgaria

Bulgarian Virtual University

The Bulgarian Virtual University (BVU) was launched in 2004 as a a nation-wide portal to Bulgarian higher education institutions and their online learning environments. It followed naturally from the establishment of a nationwide "iUniversity" programme, funded by Bulgaria's Ministry of Transportation and Communications, designed to help Bulgaria implement ICT more effectively in its educational processes. The iUniversity first established 100 computer laboratories for e-learning at Bulgarian universities and research institutions, then established the Bulgarian Virtual University.

Other Initiatives

Source: e-Learning in Bulgaria – the State of the Art – Daniela & Georgi Tuparov, eLearning Papers, May 2007

In the last 7 years research project teams in most Bulgarian universities have been working on the design of e-learning information systems with Bulgarian interface, which undoubtedly contributes to the popularization of e-learning among academic staff, students and teachers. Some of these systems are listed below in alphabetical order:

• ARCADE – Sofia University (System Arcade, 2007)
• eОбучение – Sofia Technical University (E-learning at Technical University, 2006)
• DeLC – Plovdiv University (Stojanov, 2003)
• Didact@Net – Southwestern University (Tuparova &Tuparov, 2002)
• ELSE- University of Rouse, e-learning Shell (2001)
• FLAME – Military Academy/Sofia Technical University (Nenova 2004)
• IALMS – Mining and Geological University (Ivanov & Zabunov, (2004)
• MUS-portal – Medical University of Sofia (Kosekova, 2004)
• PeU – Plovdiv University (Totkov & Somova&Sokolova, 2004)
• VEDA – New Bulgarian University (Asenova, 2004)

At present about 70% of the universities in Bulgaria use e-learning environments. As a result of the development of open-code e-learning environments many universities adopted such environments for their electronic tuition.

References

Eurydice National Overview on European Educational Systems (2011)

Eurybase, The Information Database on Education Systems in Europe: The Education System in Bulgaria, 2005/06

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