2025

By Decision No. 915 of December 31, 2024 of the Council of Ministers, the List of Research Higher Education Institutions has been updated, and 12 universities have been designated as research HEI.

By Decision No. 896 of December 27, 2024 of the Council of Ministers, the National Map of Higher Education in the Republic of Bulgaria for 2024 has been updated. It determines the profile and territorial structure of higher education by professional fields and specialties of regulated professions in accordance with socio-economic development and the needs of the labor market. It identifies the needs for the development of higher education by regions and the available resource of teachers and potential student candidates, taking into account the opportunities for attracting foreign students and Bulgarians living abroad. The National Map supports the formulation of policies for the balanced development of the network of higher education institutions according to the needs of the regions and according to the real possibilities, as well as for the further development of the system of state-controlled subsidized admission to state higher education institutions in accordance with national and regional needs and with the forecasts for future development of the labor market. 

By Decision No. 770 of 13 November 2024 of the Council of Ministers, a National Program "Increasing Qualification in the Field of Nuclear Technologies and Nuclear Engineering" was adopted. The beneficiaries form a consortium of higher education institutions and scientific organizations that carry out scientific research and are accredited for training in the field of nuclear energy and directly related nuclear sciences. The institutions that meet this condition are the Technical University - Sofia, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" and the Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The main objective of the National Program is to reduce the risk of nuclear knowledge loss by maintaining and enhancing the scientific capacity of academic institutions, attracting young professionals to education, creating a new environment for scientific research and knowledge exchange, attracting leading world scientists and integrating the best European and global practices. The program is planned to continue until 2029.

The number of foreign citizens or stateless persons granted temporary protection on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria admitted for training in Bulgarian state higher education institutions during the academic year 2024-2025 was approved by Decision No. 665 of 30 September 2024 of the Council of Ministers, as students in Bulgarian state higher education institutions during the academic year 2024-2025, with places for a total of 400 students in various universities and specialties on the territory of the country.

2024

The amendments in this period in the Higher Education Act are:

The Higher Education Act provides a new order for the admission of students - foreign citizens or stateless persons who have received temporary protection on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria. The admission is carried out under reduced conditions and according to the procedure determined by an act of the Council of Ministers in places other than the approved annual number of admitted students. T

he number of students accepted for study is approved annually by the Council of Ministers. After the expiration of the period of temporary protection or after the grounds for granting it are no longer valid, the students an continue their studies in the relevant higher education institution under the conditions and according to the order set for Bulgarian citizens. 

These students pay fees for their studies in the amount determined for Bulgarian citizens. Decree No. 264 of July 25, 2024 on the acceptance of foreign citizens or stateless persons who have received temporary protection on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria for students in Bulgarian state higher education institutions was also adopted. It provides that the Minister of Education and Science annually offers the Council of Ministers for approval up to 400 places subsidized by the state for these students.

Resolutions of the Council of Ministers:

• Decree No. 85 of April 3, 2024 amended and supplemented Decree No. 44 of the Council of Ministers of 2019 on the provision of Bulgarian language and literature teachers in foreign higher education institutions (SG, No. 24 of 2019).

• Decree No. 168 of May 16, 2024 to supplement Decree No. 371 of the Council of Ministers of 2020 and Decree No. 274 of August 7, 2024 set the minimum salary for the lowest academic position and for persons under Art. 53, para. 1 of the Higher Education Act in State Higher Schools (SG, No. 108 of 2020)

• With Decision No. 478 of the Council of Ministers of 04.07.2024, the number of students and doctoral students accepted for study in the state higher education institutions and scientific organizations of the Republic of Bulgaria during the 2024-2025 academic year has been confirmed.

• With Decision No. 486 of July 5, 2024, the application and tuition fees in state higher education institutions and scientific organizations for the academic year 2024/2025 have been approved.

It is stipulated that with funds from the state budget, activities for the implementation of national programs are financed in full or in part for the development of state higher education institutions and for national programs for the acquisition of a degree of higher education in higher education institutions abroad by Bulgarian citizens with the aim of their professional realization on the labor market in the Republic of Bulgaria.

 The national programs are adopted by the Council of Ministers. It is also provided the funds from the state budget for financing higher education to be planned annually in an amount not less than 0.9 percent of the gross domestic product, and to follow the goals set in the Higher Education Development Strategy. 

Every year, with the preparation of the draft state budget for the relevant year, the Council of Ministers shall plan the transfer from the state budget in an amount that ensures the achievement of an average gross salary for the academic staff in state higher education institutions of not less than 180 percent of the average gross salary for the country for the last 12 months, for which official data has been published from the National Statistical Institute. The criteria for determining the minimum salary of researchers, specialists and experts in higher education are also specified. Scholarships for doctoral students, financed by the state budget, shall be determined of the Council of Ministers in an amount not less than 150 percent of the minimum wage for the country for the last 12 months.

There are also amendments in the admission of the students. Until now the higher schools, after a decision of the academic board, might admit also without competition exam applicant students, who have passed successfully the state matriculation exams and/or compulsory state examination for acquiring professional qualification - in theory and practice of the profession. From this year in these cases, higher schools shall recognize the result of the certificate for education instead of the result of the relevant state matriculation exam, if the former is more favorable to the person.

Decisions of the Council of Ministers

With Decision No. 10 of 11.01.2024 of the Council of Ministers, the national map of higher education in the Republic of Bulgaria for 2023 has been updated.

Decision No. 24 of 22.01.2024 of the Council of Ministers amended the National Program "Increasing the Competences of Lecturers from State Higher Education Schools Preparing Future Teachers"

With Decision No. 103 of 15.02.2024 of the Council of Ministers the programs for the expansion and improvement of the building fund and the material base in the education system for the period 2024-2026 have been updated. The period for the implementation and financing of a program for the renovation, repair and furnishing of the student dormitories, provided for the management of the state higher schools and "Student Chairs and Dormitories" EAD, has been extended by one year and the budget of the program has been increased.

2023

Modernization of higher education institutions

During the current period, the following were adopted:

• Ordinance No. 26 of November 17, 2022 on the Register of Higher Education Institutions. The register is kept and maintained as an electronic database by the Minister of Education and Science through the National Center for Information and Documentation. It is already built and functioning.
• Ordinance No. 1 of January 13, 2023 for the Register of all Active, Interrupted and Graduated Students and Doctoral Students by Degrees and by Professional Fields. A separate part is opened in the register for each student or doctoral student, in which contain data and circumstances identifying the person, data and circumstances for previously completed education degree, data and circumstances for training in the specialty/doctoral program, data and circumstances regarding the graduation process, as well as the changes in them. A person can verify whether he is a student or PhD student and can access scanned images of their graduate documents.
• The Action Plan until 2024 for the Strategic Framework for the Development of Education, Training and Learning in the Republic of Bulgaria (2021 – 2030), with the Decision of the Council of Ministers of March 22, 2023. It envisages providing support to vulnerable groups for access to higher education. In implementation of this measure, additional trainings will be provided to students from vulnerable groups from the second high school stage, with the aim of successfully passing state matriculation exams and applying to higher schools students from vulnerable groups for the first year in the university. Under the Erasmus + program, funds are provided for educational mobility for citizens, including in higher education.

The Three-year Plan for the Implementation of the Strategy for the Development of Higher Education in the Republic of Bulgaria 2021-2030 (for the period 2021-2024) for the current year foresees support for the development of the academic staff in higher schools and scientific organizations, including increasing interest and improving conditions for doctoral programs related to the needs of the labor market. This happens through the support of modular programs and through the implementation of the National Program "Improving the competences of teachers from public higher education institutions which prepare teachers". In the period 2021 - 2023, 18 projects under the procedure "Modernization of higher education institutions" were approved within the budget of OP SESG with the participation of 32 higher education institutions. The funds provide: 

• support for content creation and provision of technological resources for the development of quality distance learning, with interactive access and virtual classrooms, incl. for attracting foreign students and Bulgarian young people who lives abroad to study in Bulgaria
• Significant increase in e-distance learning programs, improvement and updating of e-distance learning curriculums and platforms, digitization of content and creation of new interactive digital resources
• Digitization of the educational process
• Stimulation of educational cooperation between the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Agricultural Academy and higher schools for the development of master's degrees and joint doctorates, for example through the adoption of a national program in the field of higher education
• Stimulating the creation and supporting the functioning of joint educational programs between Bulgarian and foreign higher schools, as well as new forms of educational exchange within the framework of European cooperation, such as double and joint educational degrees and others.