site.btaPhD Students in State Institutions to Receive BGN 1,227 Monthly Stipend

The stipend for PhD students in state universities and research organizations will become BGN 1,227 starting April 1, 2024, the government decided on Wednesday. This increase is of BGN 227 guarantees the amount set in the Higher Education Act to be not less than 150% of the national minimum wage for the last 12 months.

The change will affect 3,405 PhD students studying full-time in state universities and 223 in scientific organizations, as the government allocated an additional BGN 7.5 million to increase their scholarships in 2024.

Among the reasons for the adoption are the continuously rising cost of living due to the inflationary processes of the last year and the inability of the monthly stipend to provide for the needs of PhD students.

In addition to responding to the changed socio-economic conditions, the increase is an expression of the government's policy to incentivize PhD students to achieve higher academic performance and to complete their PhD dissertations on time. The aim is to encourage more people to study for a PhD degree and to expand the academic staff in higher education institutions.