Bulgaria to Implement Priority University Funding Mid-2011

Bulgarian universities will be financed differently from mid-2011, the Education Minister, Sergey Ignatov, said while presenting the new ranking system for universities.

"The financing for "good" universities will be increased with priority and will be decreased for the ones that produce permanently unemployed people. The tendency is to stop paying to those who have bad results," Ignatov said Thursday.

He presented the new ranking system for universities, which will be available from Friday. It is based online and provides a standard ranking, as well as a ranking on 52 different indicators. It is an initiative of the Education Ministery and the Open Society Institute.

Ignatov explained that the decrease of state subsidy will happen step by step, beginning with a 10% cut. In his words, Bulgaria has to align its standards for higher education with the European ones.

"This is a food chain, supported by the state. At some places we have majors and departments that are useless. Reforms would be useful to universities themselves," Ignatov said.

He added that his recommendations are for more majors in the science, mathematics and engineering field because "in order for Bulgaria to be strong and independent, it needs to produce."

The new ranking system for universities will be connected to data from all official records and will be constantly updated. People will have the opportunity to make their own chart, according to the 52 indicators.

"The system does not aim at putting in a chart all the universities or at saying which is the best school in Bulgaria. Its basic task is to help prospective student in their choice of a higher education," said Boyan Zahariev, director of Open Society Institute.

The system will include 52 fields and 50 universities. Ignatov has stated that the Sofia University, which is Bulgaria's oldest institution for higher education, offers education in 24 fields and on almost all of them has leading positions in the ranking.

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