site.btaLifelong Learning as a Matter of Survival

Lifelong Learning as a Matter of Survival

Sofia, November 3 (Silvia Simeonova of BTA) – Lifelong learning has become a matter of survival in Bulgaria. Many qualified specialists, especially in areas such as IT, medicine, the agrarian sciences and rare languages, are making successful career abroad and whole professional communities back home have a bad problem with ageing or even become extinct.

On this backdrop, it is imperative to have a serious debate on how Bulgarian universities and businesses can cooperate, say university leaders who will be participating in a roundtable “Education as a Cause and Business”. The event will be held during the 11^th World Meeting of Bulgarian Media in Athens November 4-8 which is being co-organized by the Bulgarian News Agency and the Association of Bulgarian Media Abroad.

Students rarely care about the labour market trends and forecasts, and pick a career for its prestige, say educators.

Prof. Dimiter Grekov, the Rector of the Plovdiv Agrarian University, says young people and their parents should listen more to university professors who see the trends and the prospects. “And the Education Ministry, too, should prioritize programmes where qualified experts will be needed 4-5 years from now,” he said.

The Agrarian University is working hard to stay tuned to the needs of agribusiness in the near future. As a result, the programmes it is now putting in the focus include information technologies in agriculture, organic farming, agrarian engineering, landscaping, agricultural and eco-tourism. The university works in partnership with some of the large companies in the agricultural and tourist sector and during their studies students have internship opportunities and improve their career prospects.

In medicine, the exodus of medical professionals from Bulgaria has caused a situation where demand is high for all medical professions and specialties, says Prof. Dr. Karolina Lyubomirova, Deputy Rector at the Sofia Medical University.

She adds that Bulgarian medical education is recognized elsewhere in Europe and attracts foreign students for the affordable tuition fees and living standards in Bulgaria, the quality training and strong career prospects.

Veliko Turnovo Rector Prof. Hristo Bondjolov says that demand is disappointingly weak for programmes which train specialists for whom demand is high on the labour market. “One example are the rare language programmes, including the Slav languages, which are very popular with employers. Surprisingly, there is not much interest in French and German, too.”

He says that outsourcing companies are showing huge interest and want to work with the university right now. “They offer jobs and ask for qualified labour. This is an extra opportunity for our students to work part-time while they study and then be hired full-time right after graduation if they prove to be good professionals,” the Rector says.

The Veliko Turnovo University has a policy of combining any programme with foreign language study. “A degree in law or economics with two foreign languages is an excellent combination for a young person who is new on the labour market. He won’t have to be looking for a job: employers will be asking after him,” Prof. Bondjolov says.

Prof. Dr. Lyudmil Georgiev, Deputy Rector of New Bulgarian University in Sofia, says that despite their complaints of shortage of qualified labour, the business community does not make sufficient investment in education and research. “The Bulgarian Industrial Association has developed successfully a catalogue of competences for a long list of professions to provide guidelines to universities but, overall, businesses remain critical of universities for failing to provide education that is practice-oriented. What happens is that neither side is very active in cooperating in preparing new programmes,” Prof. Georgiev says.

He adds that his university has always been open to cooperation with businesses. “We have developed a system of practical courses and we expect the business community to come forward with an offer for joint preparation of programmes that we will use to train our students.”

He says that there is no such thing as completed education and those who believe that once they have a degree, they are forever done with education, are very wrong. “In the current economic reality, many people have to work multiple jobs and never stop studying. To cater to their needs, we offer various programmes for continued and distance education. Those who study throughout their life are better at adapting to the requirements of the labour market. The rest see their competitiveness deteriorate with time,” says the New Bulgarian University Rector.