By Nick Clark, Assistant Editor, WENR

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Legal Frameworks

Since 1989, Bulgarian higher education has undergone several phases of reform. Two laws affecting higher education have been adopted: The Higher Education Act (1995) and the Amendment to the Higher Education Act (1999). These two sets of legislation legalized previous reform efforts initiated by higher education institutions since the collapse of the Soviet Union. In particular, a new system of academic degrees was introduced, and an agency for quality assessment and accreditation of postsecondary school activities was created. Efforts were undertaken to impose major restrictions on educational institution finances and to develop and adopt new curricula, especially in the social sciences. The 1999 amendment abolished free education and introduced tuition fees at all public universities, increased competition in admissions and started the process of bringing standards in line with Bologna Declaration. The European-related (Bologna) context of Bulgaria’s legislative reform will be discussed below.

1. Easily Readable and Comparable Degrees

• Bulgaria has signed and ratified the Lisbon Convention on the Recognition of Qualifications.
• The procedures for the recognition of foreign credentials is carried out and organized by the Bulgarian Ministry of Education, and decisions on recognition are made by a commission established by the ministry. The National Information Center for Academic Recognition and Mobility (ENIC/NARIC) supports the activities of the commission on the recognition of higher-education study periods and qualifications.
• Activities related to the implementation of the diploma supplement are oriented towards the development of an adequate legal basis for its official use, as well as towards wide promotion of the document itself. There have been a number of educational campaigns on the use and introduction of the supplement, which were organized by the ENIC/NARIC office and targeted towards students and representatives from institutions of higher education and the ministry of education. Proposals for the implementation of the supplement and the recognition of foreign-issued supplements are currently being drawn up, along with the necessary legal framework.
• A majority of Bulgarian institutions have expressed their willingness to introduce the diploma supplement.
• The national Academic Assessment Commission recognizes doctoral degrees awarded by foreign institutions. The Bulgarian ENIC/NARIC is responsible for the certification of all national qualifications destined for external evaluation by foreign institutions.

2. Degree Structure

• The 1995 Higher Education Act brought considerable changes to the structure of higher education in Bulgaria by introducing a two-tiered system. After the completion of 12 years of elementary and secondary education, students are eligible to enter the higher education system, which is organized as follows:

Non-University Higher Education

• Colleges, which are generally incorporated into the structure of universities, offer relatively short, vocationally oriented programs (usually 3 years in length) leading to the award of Spetsialist (specialist). Holders of this qualification are eligible for bachelor-level studies or for entry into the labor market.

University Higher Education

Stage I: Four-to-five years of study is required at this level leading to the Bakalavar (bachelor’s degree).

Stage II: The second level of higher education requires one-to-two years of additional study after the bachelor’s degree, and leads to a Magistar (master’s degree). The new magistar is currently offered in parallel with the traditional, integrated master’s-level degree known as the Diploma za Visshe Obrazovanie (diploma of higher education). Both qualifications possess the same academic value.

Stage III: The third level requires a minimum of three years of study after the master’s or four years year of study after the bachelor’s, and leads to the Doktor (doctoral degree).

• In developing the bachelor- and master-level qualifications, the ministry of education tailored the courses of study to increase both the adaptability and mobility of the system so as to be in compliance with the changing conditions of the market and the student. The curricula at the bachelor level provide for basic comprehensive training, thus facilitating direct access to the labor market. Master-level programs are oriented towards profile-oriented studies in a given interdisciplinary specialty.
• Only universities and specialized higher education schools offer a master’s degree of one year, building on a bachelor program of four to five years. There are still some long, integrated master’s programs of five-to-six years in subject areas such as architecture, law, pharmacy and medicine.

3. Credit Transfer

• The Law on Higher Education foresees the implementation of the modular structure of the curricula and of credits for the evaluation of study periods, although it does not explicitly require the implementation of ECTS (European Credit Transfer System).
• In Bulgaria, ECTS mainly facilitates academic harmonization and student mobility and functions less as a tool for assessment.
• The 2003 draft of the Higher Education Act foresees the adoption of ECTS by all higher education institutions.
• According to a 2002 report by the European University Association, ECTS has been implemented within the ERASMUS framework in 14 of 42 Bulgarian universities. The American University in Bulgaria and New Bulgarian University use a different credit system, although the latter is also implementing ECTS.
• The credit system is student workload-based. It is not used as an accumulation system. Sixty credits per semester constitute a full-time workload; the system is fully compatible with ECTS for credit transfer.
• Although the ECTS grading scale is not used in Bulgaria, some institutions provide equivalencies with the Bulgarian scale for mobility purposes. The Bulgarian equivalency differs slightly from institution to institution. The table below displays grade equivalencies suggested by Plovdiv University.

** Source: Plovdiv University

4. Mobility

• Bulgaria has been a participant in many of the different European mobility programs. Bulgaria first participated in the PHARE and TEMPUS programs, which promote institutional development and education quality. It also has been a recent participant in such programs as SOCRATES-ERASMUS, CEEPUS and the Leonardo Da Vinci program.
• The number of Bulgarian institutions of higher education participating in the SOCRATES-ERASMUS programs has risen from 10 in 1999-2000 to 29 in 2002-03.
• With its integration into many of the European education programs, Bulgaria recognizes the need to adapt its system of education to the changing European environment and to work towards eradicating barriers to mobility.
• In Bulgaria, very few courses are taught in a foreign language. Subsequently, there is an imbalance of outgoing/incoming students to/from Bulgaria in exchange programs because of a perceived language barrier. In 2001-02, the total number of outgoing students through the ERASMUS program was 605 while the number of incoming students was 51.
• Other impediments to greater mobility highlighted by the ministry are: insufficient financial resources and lack of adequate equipment; insufficient motivation to participate in educational and scientific development; and a lack of well-established mechanisms for the coordination of transnational activities at the regional and European levels.
• Bulgaria has stated its readiness – from the date of the country’s accession to the European Union (EU) in May of 2004 – to adopt the terms and conditions of the Bologna agreement to admit students from EU member states to institutions of higher education in Bulgaria.

5. Quality Assurance

• Institutional evaluation and accreditation was required by the Law on Higher Education (1995), but was first introduced in practice by the National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency in 1998. This was made possible mainly by the PHARE Program funding a one-year National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency Project. For that project, several pilot institutional accreditation tasks were carried out, and national guidelines for developing quality assurance and quality management systems were developed. In July 1999, amendments to the Law on Higher Education were adopted, which require institutional accreditation to precede the accreditation of programs. The law defines 13 aspects of evaluation, which should be reflected in the evaluation reports but does not distinguish between program and institutional accreditation.
• The National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency is the governmental authority for quality assessment and accreditation of higher school activities. The agency develops and updates criteria and standards for accreditation; develops and approves the procedures and documentation for the accreditation process; evaluates projects for the establishment or transformation of higher schools; and assesses the conditions and activities of higher schools and their faculties on the basis of which accreditation shall either be given or refused.
• Institutional accreditation is valid for five years if a top rating is awarded and for a maximum three years if an “average” rating is awarded.
• Among the difficulties expressed by the ministry are: insufficient harmonization between the amendments to the system and administration of the system, slow adaptation of the staff and faculty toward new requirements of quality assessment and insufficient development of the system of information exchange.
• While setting specific qualitative criteria for the key structural units of universities, the law assigns institutional accreditation merely as a procedure for state licensing of higher education institutions, rather than being an instrument for encouraging the development of institutional systems for quality management. This is motivated by the dominant belief among academics and politicians that the current state of Bulgarian higher education results from the system’s structural inefficiency. It is therefore assumed that a refined structure would create better conditions for improving the quality of education and academic research.
• Over the last year, one of the main tasks of the Bulgarian Ministry of Education has been to establish reliable systems of internal assessment. Toward this end, the Center for the Competitive System for Training and Management of Higher Education was established. Focus is also being placed on the necessity for transparent qualifications, study courses and curricula.

6. Promotion of European Dimensions in Higher Education

• Bulgaria has no specific legislation concerning the development and award of joint degrees, meaning that bilateral partnerships, rather than multilateral joint degrees, result in the award of two separate degree certificates (“double degree”), in most cases.
• The Bulgarian/Romanian Interuniversity Europe Center (BRIE) in Rousse, Bulgaria, and Giurgiu, Romania, has been founded with Germany’s support. BRIE offers master’s programs in European studies and business informatics leading to a double degree awarded jointly by the University of Rousse and three German universities: the Center for European Integration Studies at the University of Bonn; Chemnitz University of Technology; European University Viadrina Frankfert.

References

• Survey on Master Degrees and Joint Degrees in Europe, Christian Tauch and Andrejs Rauhvargers, September 2002
• The State of Implementation of ECTS in Europe, European University Association, October 2002
• Diploma Supplement – State of Implementation, European Commission, June 2003
• Lisbon Convention Status Reports, Council of Europe, Aug. 29, 2003
• A Review of Higher Education Reform, International Higher Education (Boston), Popov, N. (Spring 2001)
• Report on Bulgarian Implementation of the Bologna Declaration, Ministry of Education, August 2003
• Economics and Management Department – ECTS Grading Scale, Varna Free University