site.btaNational Student Council Representation Leadership Confers with Education Minister

Representatives of all leadership bodies of the National Representation of Student Councils (NRSC) held their first meeting Monday with Education and Science Minister Galin Tsokov as member of the regular cabinet elected by the 49th National Assembly, the NRSC said.

NRSC participants in the meeting included the organization's Chairman, Daniel Parushev, Deputy Chair and representative of Varna Free University Doroteya Nikolaeva, and members of the Executive Council.

Tsokov and Deputy Minister Genka Petrova-Taskova discussed a variety of topics with the visiting young people. A case in point were the costs for higher education, including the fac t that to date 0.4% of GDP are set aside for education, NRSC said. The students requested this amount to be raised to at least 1.0% of GDP and demanded that student and doctoral grants be raised and funds be allocated for rehabilitation of student lodgings.

The representatives of the Bulgarian students want at least a 12% increase in the subsidy for grants to doctoral and undergraduate students, respectively by BGN 2.5 million and BGN 5.5 million. The organisation reminded that two years ago they had asked for an increase in the doctoral grants and, thanks to the consistent policy, these are currently BGN 1,000 - a BGN 500 increase in the last two years. The leadership of the NRSC believes that the grants of students and doctoral students should be linked in proportion to the minimum wage, and consequently be raised when the minimum wage is raised.

The young people also want the state subsidy for sports to be increased from BGN 5 to BGN 7 per regular student. The state should compensate for the extreme shortage of funds for sports at universities, they argue.

The sides also discussed the Ministry's policies regarding the quality of education at universities and the role of students in the process.

In conclusion, the sides agree to operate as partners at the formation of education and science policies within the current ministerial term in office.