site.btaEC's Education and Training Monitor 2015: Share of University Graduates in Bulgaria Aged 30-34 Increases

EC's Education and Training Monitor 2015: Share of University Graduates in Bulgaria  Aged 30-34 Increases

Sofia, March 11 (BTA) - The share of university graduates in Bulgaria aged between 30 and 34 has been increasing steadily in the last two years. In 2014 it reached 30.9 per cent, getting closer to the national goal of 36 per cent set in the Europe 2020 strategy. The share of female graduates significantly exceeds that of male alumni: 39 per cent compared to 23.4 per cent in 2014. There are some of the key findings for Bulgaria made in the European Commission's Education and Training Monitor 2015, which was presented to journalists at the Education without Borders international exhibition here Friday.

European Commission experts Francesca Crippa and Florin Popa presented the report, which includes data from Eurostat, the National Statistical Institute, the PISA 2012 international assessment of students, and Bulgaria's higher education rating system collected in 2015 and previous years.

Popa said that the annual Education and Training Monitor  is aimed mainly at ensuring equality when choosing education and at helping students from minorities receive better education. He told journalists that it is very important to increase the number of secondary education graduates who apply for higher education, but that the quality of higher education is also important.

The report quotes data from the PISA 2012 study, which show that Bulgaria is the EU Member State with the highest percentage of pupils with low grades in reading, mathematics and natural sciences. Asked about the reasons for these low results, Popa said that the education in various unrelated subjects is to blame.

"Bulgaria  has  recently  adopted  the  Pre-primary  and  Primary  Education  Act, and  increased its  tertiary education  attainment and  the  employment  rate  of  recent  graduates. However, the overall quality and efficiency of its school education system,  the quality of  vocational education and training, and the  labour market relevance of higher education  need further  improvement. Access  to  quality  education  for  disadvantaged  children,  in  particular  Roma,  remains  a challenge.  The  rate  of  adult  participation  in  learning  is  among  the  lowest of the EU," the country report on Bulgaria reads.

According to data from the higher education rating system in Bulgaria, used in the Education and Training Monitor, around half of all students study in six out of the existing 52 professional fields: economy, administration and management, law, information and communication technologies, pedagogy, and tourism. In 2014, the percentage of employed university graduates dropped to 74.5 per cent, which is far below the EU-28 average of 80.5 per cent. Bulgaria is among the EU countries with the highest percentage of people aged between 20 and 34 who have higher education but the job they have does not require such a level of qualification, the report reads.

Popa outlined as a problem in Bulgarian education the lack of re-qualification for adults, as well as for those employed in health care, social services and the food industry.