After the fall
of the totalitarian regime in 1989, the system of higher education
in Bulgaria experienced significant changes including increased academic
autonomy, appearance of market-influenced programs, introduction of
the bachelor-master-doctor educational structure, incorporation of
the professional higher institutes - now colleges - into the overall
higher education system, establishment of a national agency for evaluation
and accreditation of higher education and the appearance of a private
sector. In the first decade after the political changes, the higher
education system expanded fast, with student numbers rising by roughly
40 percent. Since 2000, the government has initiated a gradual decrease
of student enrollments, justified by demographic predictions.
As of academic
2003/2004, 228,468 students are in 92 universities and colleges, of
which 78 are state and 14 private. Circa 70 percent of all students
are enrolled full-time, and 52 percent are female. The Bulgarian system
of higher education has a hierarchical binary structure with universities
and specialized institutes in the university sector and colleges in
the non-university sector. Most of the 30 institutions from the university
sector that existed before 1989, of which three were comprehensive
universities and the remaining were institutes of higher education
specializing in one or two particular fields, are still functioning.
After the political changes, many of these institutions adopted university
status. Higher education degree programs include specialist (a professional
degree offered at colleges), bachelor, master, doctor and doctor of
sciences.
The history of
private higher education in Bulgaria predates the communist period:
in 1924 the first private Free University for Political and Economic
Studies was established. The communist regime eliminated private initiatives
and placed higher education under the control of the state. Shortly
after 1989, the private sector grew quickly although not to the same
size as in other post-communist states. Of the five private universities
and six independent colleges established initially, one - the Slavic
University in Sofia - existed for four years before being closed by
Parliament in 1999. In 2003/2004, students in the private sector accounted
for approximately 14 percent of all students in the country.
In Bulgaria, the
state regulates higher education through Parliament and the Council
of Ministers. The development of the whole sector is guided by the
1995 Higher Education Law and its consequent numerous changes and
amendments, and the 1972 Law on Academic Degrees and Titles which
still dates from the communist period. Issues concerning university
staff follow the Labour Code. Financing of state institutions of higher
education is directed by the Law on the Construction of the State
Budget and the annual Law on the State Budget. State policy is executed
through the Ministry of Education and Science. A specialised state
organ for the evaluation and the accreditation of the quality of education
is the National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency created at the
end of 1996.
The major source
of funding for the overall state sector of higher education is the
state budget. Since 1999/2000, annual student tuition fees, determined
each year by the Council of Ministers, have become a second major
source of revenue. State institutions of higher education may also
rely on finances from the regional authorities. A very small portion
of their funds comes also from donors and sponsors as well as from
research, consulting, art, medical, and sport activities and ownership
rights. The private sector is financially autonomous from the state.
Private institutions have the responsibility to raise funds from tuitions
fees - which are their major source of funding and which are higher
than those in the public sector - and from foreign donors and programs.
Although private institutions do not receive state funding, the state
approves of the total number of students to be admitted there. State
subsidy is dependent on accreditation - non-accredited institutions
or programs lose their right to admit and educate students.
