site.btaBGN 139 Mln More Allocated for Education of 140,000-Plus Undergraduate and Doctoral Students

An extra BGN 138.8 million will finance the education of 140,615 undergraduate and doctoral students by a government decision. The state-owned higher education institutions are getting an increase in funding for the training of undergraduate and doctoral students in specialities important for the economy in line with the needs of the labour market. Increased funding is also available to universities that provide higher quality education.

The government Wednesday amended the decrees on differentiated standards for the maintenance of training per student by professional field and on the state budget funds for the maintenance of training in state-owned higher education institutions depending on a complex assessment of the quality of training and its compliance with the needs of the labour market.

The amendments raise the coefficients by which the standard for the maintenance of training per student in 47 professional fields is multiplied. These include Mathematics; Computer Science and Informatics; Biological Sciences; Chemical Sciences; Public Health; Health Care; Veterinary Medicine; Physical Sciences; Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Automation; Pedagogy; Crop Science; Animal Husbandry; and General Engineering, among others.

The amendments also improve the mechanism for differentiated financing of higher education according to the comprehensive quality assessment. It is based on indicators including the graduates' employment, the teaching process and research at the higher education institution.