site.btaPresident Attends Meeting for Anniversary of Plovdiv Higher School

President Rumen Radev Saturday took part in a solemn meeting on the occasion of 20 years since the establishment of the Higher School of Security and Economics in Plovdiv. In his speech, the head of State congratulated the establishment's leadership on the professional field chosen. "You have managed to select specialties that are topical today because, I can assure you from experience, the words most used in all high-level political and expert forums, in all strategic documents and programmes are: security, economy, good governance," Radev said.

Bulgaria needs not just strategic documents and programmes but also prepared people to analyse and understand the complex processes. "In the conditions of never before seen problems in the geopolitical sphere, worsening security environment, shocks in the economy, crises of various nature, we need prepared people like you," Radev addressed the students at the meeting. According to him, national security is a complex and all-encompassing field, and that means having not just adequate Armed Forces and police bu also commitment, coordination, and interaction between all state institutions, local authorities, businesses, and citizens.

The President commented that the war in Ukraine has become a war of exhaustion, logistics, a global economic clash, which is why it is crucial to have good governance of all processes in national security and economy.

The solemn meeting was also attended by Plovdiv Regional Governor Iliya Zyumbilev, Plovdiv Mayor Zdravko Dimitrov, and business representatives. Higher School of Security and Economics President Georgi Manolov and the establishment's leadership conferred the degrees on the class of 2023.

The Higher School of Security and Economics is the successor of the College of Economics and Administration in Plovdiv. The idea to establish it was born in early 1999 in a group of notable lectures and scientists working in the field of private higher education in Bulgaria. They set up the College in light of Plovdiv's and the region's need of education for specialists in the field of governance, economy, finance, and tourism, among other fields. In 2015, the College transformed into a specialized higher school with the right to teach students in Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes. The Higher School now has two accredited PhD programmes in the professional field of national security: Countering Crime and Safeguarding Public Order, and Organization and Management of Anti-terrorist Activity.