30 000 Young Bulgarians Study Abroad

Most Bulgarian high school graduates wishing to study abroad favor Germany or Great Britain. File photo

About 30 000 Bulgarians are currently studying abroad, according to the Head of the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, Rosen Ivanov.

Speaking in an interview for the Focus news agency, he said the above number would be true if claims that there are 10 000 Bulgarians being educated in Great Britain become confirmed.

At the moment, there is data for about 3 000 Bulgarian students in Great Britain and 24 000 all over the world. According to these figures, the most are in Germany – 7 997, which is 7% from the 95 956-strong Bulgarian community there.

Compared to 2004, however, the number of Bulgarian students in Germany is down by 66%, which is mainly attributed to new education fees. Nevertheless, Germany remains the most attractive for young Bulgarians, wishing to obtain foreign diplomas.

Ivanov confirms the trend in the last two years for a sharp increase of Bulgarian students in Great Britain, without discounting that it is possible they have reached 10 000 in 2012. The number of those in France is down 33% in the last 4 years.

2 000 Bulgarians are studying in Austria, 1 170 – in the Netherlands, 1 000 – in Italy and about 600 – in Spain.

1 957 young Bulgarians are enrolled in American universities, according to official data. Ivanov says 82% of them never return back home, while half find jobs during the course of their studies.

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