site.btaEducation Ministry: Number of Students Should Be Nearly Halved

Education Ministry: Number of Students Should Be Nearly Halved

Sofia, March 29 (BTA) - Addressing a roundtable on higher education organized by the Civic Council of the ABV party, Deputy Education and Science Minister Nikolay Denkov said the number of students in Bulgaria should be nearly halved. This will make it possible to increase spending per student and improve the quality of education.

Denkov summed up the main problem as quantity over quality. The State finances 80 per cent of the graduating students, while the EU target is 40 per cent. Fifty per cent of Bulgarian students cannot find a job five years after graduation, said Denkov.

He noted that the Higher Education Act was amended to finance better quality education. Universities can be graded according to their scientific and research activities, the students' ability to find jobs related to their field of study, and the criteria applied by the National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency.

ABV Floor Leader Borislav Borissov commented that 10,000 to 12,000 places are allocated for students every year but they are not filled in. He noted that 92.7 per cent of businesses are micro- or mini-enterprises, 7 per cent are medium sized, and just 0.2 per cent are large companies. There are no businesses to provide jobs for nuclear or chemical engineers, he said.

Prof. Lyubomir Halachev, Chairman of the ABV Civic Council, said the only way to improve education is by focusing on the human factor. Improving the quality of teaching should be a priority, and it should be linked to remuneration.

Prof. Atanas Gerdjikov, Rector of St Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia, said the shortage of teachers due to low pay is a serious problem, and it is even worse in higher education.

Teodosii Teodosiev, who teaches physics at the secondary school of natural sciences and mathematics of Kazanluk (Central Bulgaria), said education had been derailed in the last 20 years. Student absenteeism is increasing, education is not stimulating, and school subsidies depend on the number of students and not on the quality of education, he said, stressing the need of external evaluation.