site.btaUniversities Threaten Closures, Road Blocks over Pay Grievances

The Council of Rectors of higher educational establishments in Bulgaria on Tuesday addressed an open letter to the President, to the caretaker Prime Minister, government ministers, the Bulgarian EU Commissioner, the National Ombudsman, the chairpersons of parliamentary committees and the floor leaders "in connection with non-fulfilment of commitments assumed by the State in the Higher Education Act".

The letter, received at BTA, states that "over the last three years, the financial resources from the gross domestic product allocated for financing Bulgarian universities have plummeted". "The salaries of lecturers, assistant professors, associate professors and professors are paltry and uncompetitive compared to those of holders of positions requiring lower educational and intellectual qualifications (and incomparable to the salaries of colleagues from European educational institutions)," the Council of Rectors argued.

They note that the Higher Education Act was revised with tremendous effort in March 2024 at the insistence of the entire system to adopt rules setting a minimum percentage [of the GDP] for the State budget funds allocated for education and science. The remuneration of state higher schools' teaching staff at public universities is fixed as a proportion of the average gross national wage.

"Bulgaria's most talented young people have long opted out of a research career. Academic degree holders tend to migrate to teaching professions and careers in the secondary education system and other spheres unrelated to education. At the same time, the system is undergoing positive internal transformations. According to official data of independent rating rankings, the publication activity and citation rate of Bulgarian scientists in prestigious international refereed and indexed journals over the last five years has increased not by percentages but by multiples," the letter reads.

"The commitments to the academic community that the State formally declared by the revisions of the Higher Education Act were followed by its tacit refusal to fulfil its obligations and provide the requisite funds. The State, in the person of the executive, refuses to fulfil its obligations that the legislature has imposed on it," the Council of Rectors stated.

"For weeks now, the higher schools' managements and the Council of Rectors that represents them have been lost in the labyrinthine bureaucratic internal relations of the State in an attempt to procure what the law itself guarantees," the letter reads.

"On account of the State's failure to fulfil the obligations assumed to us and to comply with the Higher Education Act, on May 20, 2024, all Bulgarian State universities and part of the private universities will remain closed as a sign of warning, exception being made only for emergency and urgent activities," the letter says.

The Council of Rectors sets May 20 as the starting date for staggered protest actions of all universities until the end of the semester (the protests will consist of a staggered increase in the days on which the higher schools will be closed). These actions may include physical blockading of key road arteries in the country.

"We express our full support for the protests organized by the Higher Education and Science Branch Trade Union affiliated to the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria and the Higher Education Trade Union affiliated to the Podkrepa Confederation of Labour, which have identical grievances to those of the academic community, and which will take place on the same day," the rectors write.

All lecturers, researchers and employees of Bulgarian higher schools will join the processions marking the Day of Bulgarian Letters and Culture on May 24 wearing protest ribbons on their lapels as a token of dissent with the complete divergence between Bulgarian politicians' and statesmen's words and deeds, the letter says.

The rectors are intransigent in their demands for an average salary for the teaching staff at State higher schools equivalent to not less than 180% of the gross average national wage and for a minimum basic salary for the lowest teaching position at State higher schools equivalent to not less than 125% of the gross average national wage. "We call on the entire Bulgarian society and above all on undergraduates and doctoral students for understanding and support," the rectors write.

The letter is signed by the rectors of 44 State and private higher educational establishments (out of a total of 51 accredited institutions), starting from Prof. Dr Miglena Temelkova, Rector of the University of Telecommunications and Posts and Chair of the Council of Rectors.