site.btaHigher Education Act Amended on First Reading
Bulgaria's 240-seat National Assembly Wednesday voted unanimously 115 in favour to adopt on first reading amendments to the Higher Education Act setting the average salary of lecturers in higher education establishments at no less than 170% of the country's gross average wage for the last 12 months.
The minimum basic salary for the lowest academic position in state higher education establishments will be no less than 125% of the national gross average wage for the last 12 months. Doctoral students will get grants of no less than 125% of the country's minimum wage.
The bill was backed by MPs from all parliamentary groups.
Vazrazhdane said they would propose that doctoral students get grants of at least 150% of the minimum wage.
Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria said this financial support had been long awaited and they would back the amendments.
Rumen Gechev from BSP for Bulgaria said that in many cases the state supports doctoral students who do not finish their studies or go abroad on completing them. He asked: "What guarantee do we have that a graduating PhD student will not go abroad?"
Krasimir Valchev from GERB-UDF argued that it is very difficult to retain the best student in an engineering specialty when a company offers a much higher salary; this is even more difficult in information technology. They get a monthly salary of BGN 2,000 at the university and BGN 5,000 in a private company, that's why it was so important to regulate the minimum salaries for academic positions, he added.
/LG/
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