19.07.2020
Subject teachers, theologians, mathematicians, and Romanian philologists study for free. A total of 4,476 first-year students at 17 universities will not have to pay tuition fees. This will be paid by the state treasury, which will allocate 1,308,542 BGN. First-year students in 41 specialties will study at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" without paying fees. At the University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy in Sofia, free education will be provided for those studying in 14 courses. For this purpose, applicants must study in one of the eight professional fields or eight protected specialties with an expected shortage of specialists in the labor market, included in the list of the Ministry of Education and Science. "Exemption from paying tuition fees aims to encourage applicants to choose to study specific specialties and acquire knowledge and skills in professions necessary for the economic and social development of the country. This is another step by the Ministry of Education and Science from a consistent and targeted policy for reforming the higher education system through various impact mechanisms, including financial ones," explained the ministry. The most first-year students will be exempt from fees in "Pedagogy of Teaching in..." - 2,299. The other professional fields are "Religion and Theology", "Mathematics", "Physical Sciences", "Chemical Sciences", "Chemical Technologies", "Energy", "Materials and Materials Science". Free education will also be provided for new entrants in "Armenian Studies and Caucasian Studies", "Indology", "Iranology", "Neophilology", "Romanian Philology", "Hungarian Philology", "Hebraistics", and "Hydraulic Engineering", which belong to the protected specialties. 794 places for students with free education have been allocated at SU, explained the university. They are distributed in 5 priority professional fields and 7 protected specialties. Newly admitted subject teachers, theologians, mathematicians, engineering physicists, chemists, Iranologists, Romanian or Hungarian philologists are only part of those who will fill the labor market shortage against state-paid education. For this purpose, 258,420 BGN will be transferred to the SU budget. The University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy educates in two professional fields - "Chemical Technologies" and "Materials and Materials Science", for which first-year students will be exempt from tuition fees for the entire duration of their studies. The list includes "Bio-product Engineering, Paper and Packaging", "Perfumery and Cosmetics", "Clean Energy and Sustainable Development", "Chemical Engineering" (in German), "Glass, Ceramic and Binder Technology". 206 places are allocated in all 14 free specialties for those studying in them. From UCIM, they add that they will have the opportunity to receive both a state merit scholarship and a scholarship for a priority professional field and merit, and those among them who were among the graduates with the highest grades in the State Matura Exam will receive an additional 100 BGN monthly scholarship. The education of new entrants in three specialties of the Technical University - Sofia will be financed with 94,500 BGN. These are the bachelor specialties "Thermal Energy and Nuclear Energy" and "Thermal and Refrigeration Technologies and Systems" from the professional field "Energy" and "Applied Mathematics and Informatics" from the professional field "Mathematics". Future physical education teachers, who will start their studies in the specialty "Pedagogy of Teaching in Physical Education" at the National Sports Academy "Vasil Levski" - Sofia, will also not pay fees. At the University of Burgas "Prof. Dr. Asen Zlatarov", two specialties will be free - "Chemical Sciences" and "Chemical Technologies". Previously, students paid 720 BGN per year or 360 BGN per semester. From this academic year, newly admitted first-year students who choose these specialties will be exempt from fees and will study for free, at the expense of the state. "It is still too early to say how many students will be admitted in these fields and whether the interest of applicants will increase due to the removal of fees," commented the rector of the university, Prof. Magdalena Mitkova. 59 students at Trakia University - Stara Zagora will also study for free if they choose one of the four specialties falling under the list of the MES. These are "Pedagogy of Teaching in Information Technologies", for which there are 14 full-time places, "Pedagogy of Teaching in Visual Arts and Graphic Design" with 15 full-time places, "Heating and Gas Supply", for which 10 places are allocated for full-time and part-time, as well as the part-time specialty "Industrial Engineering" in Yambol. Thus, newly admitted students will save between 570 and 600 BGN annually. At Veliko Tarnovo University "Sts. Cyril and Methodius", there will be 13 pedagogical specialties for which no fee will be charged. There will be 30 newly admitted students in each.
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Mmonitor.bg, 19.07.2020
