Conditions and requirements for university studies in Bulgaria

Conditions and requirements for university studies in Bulgaria

It was interesting to find out that plenty of young people from the Republic of Macedonia would like to follow up their higher education in Bulgaria.

From what I understood, most of the candidate - students would be interested in specialties such as Medicine or Tourism.

Here is an extract from a short research made by the Bulgarian National Television, regarding the candidate-students from the Republic of Macedonia for the year 2017, cited by the site news.bg:

“More than 300 young people from the Republic of Macedonia want to study in Bulgarian universities, BNT reported.

Bulgaria's Embassy in Skopje organizes a five-day campaign to submit applications for admission to Bulgarian higher education institutions to young people from the neighboring country.

Between 16 and 20 June 2017, 198 candidates submitted their application documents to the diplomatic mission.

Documents of foreign youth of Bulgarian origin, including citizens of the Republic of Macedonia, will be accepted in Sofia on 5 and 6 July 2017 in the building of University of Transport “Todor Kableshkov”.

According to preliminary information, it is expected that within this campaign, some 130 candidates will be presented.

The admission of foreign citizens of Bulgarian origin is governed by Decree 103 and 228 of the Council of Ministers.

Students trained under these two regulations receive a monthly scholarship of 150 leva for the first year of training, and if they succeed over 4.00 score, this scholarship is reserved for the next stages of study.

The preferred specialties are medicine and dental medicine. The Bulgarian diplomatic mission in Skopje is organizing free courses for the preparation of Macedonian candidates for Bulgarian language and history through the National Program “Mother Language and Culture Abroad” of the Ministry of Education and Science, in which more than 200 young people participate. “

To summarize all the information a bit - here are provided some useful links to some of the official pages of the universities in Sofia and the overall rules of admission to them for foreign candidate - students:

University of Sofia

University of National and World Economy

Medical University - Sofia:(As of lately there was a huge scandal with some particular foreign students with UK citizenship in the Medical University - Sofia, so probably some disturbances in the processes, that regard international students are to be expected, yet you can find all the relevant and up-to-date info at this link.)

New Bulgarian University (private university)

In order to be able to stay in Bulgaria for prolonged periods of time for non - EU citizens, in order to study, you will have to obtain a status of continuous residence. Here’s a link to a site with the information needed by future eventual candidates. There are also contacts provided with some legalization companies and relevant institutions and offices that might help you.

The Migration Directorate is a structure under the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior and its address in Sofia is “Knyaginya Maria Luiza -48”.

Here is also a link to the directorate’s page, where you can find more info. (Look for the Administrative Services section of the page.)

Here is the overall information on accommodation for foreign students as presented on the studyinbulgaria.com online page, which might be of great help for future foreign students, who would like to study in Bulgaria.

 “Student accommodation in Bulgaria: most of Bulgarian universities offer student hostel accommodation (student hostel) on a first come, first served basis! Students are eligible to apply for hostel accommodation once they are admitted at the University and enrolled at the relevant Faculty. The monthly student hostel accommodation rent varies from university to another and the accommodation comfort from 35 to 70 Euros per months.

Even if the student hostel accommodations are very cheap, most international students prefer to rent or share a private flat near the University’s main building. The monthly private apartment rent start from 150 EUR and run up to 300 EUR.

We recommend new students who choose private accommodation to share an apartment with their colleagues at least during the first semester. This allows them to reduce drastically the accommodation expenses and to avoid them to remain isolated in new country till they get used to the new way of life. Students should use their first year to become familiar with the city they are living in as this will help them with eventually future accommodation choices.

Signing a contract with the landlord/landlady is mandatory for all international students in Romania, since it is one of necessary documents for the issuance of a long staying visa permit (for non EU/EEA students) and a proof of residence for the issuance of the Residence Permit at the local Migration Office (for EU/EEA students). For those staying in student hostel accommodation, this document is automatically given by the university.

Student accommodation in Bulgaria is not at all expensive for international students. We recommend all students to get accommodation in the area of university.”

However, a further research of the press also showed that there are signs of shortage of available private accommodation in the general areas of the main universities in Sofia, including the general areas of bоulevards Bulgaria, Tsarigradsko Shose as well as the general areas of the Medical university and the Sofia University, which may result in a significant increase of the average prices. I personally would recommend, making your own research, and plan well in advance if it’s your intent to use the private accommodation option, because as sources suggest, this might become a strong inconvenience, and a worry later on - in the process.

I would strongly recommend visiting this page, as where it seems that they have the largest volumes of information gathered, with approximate estimates of the living costs, tuition fees for the programs, full list of universities, possibilities to study the disciplines in different languages, and offer information and a lot of recommendations for the international candidate - students. This and much - much more. The initiators of this informational page also offer some optional personal advice. Contacts included.

To conclude, if you seriously consider about continuing your studies in Bulgaria, you will be able to enjoy all the advantages of the relatively low costs of living, a good quality of education, recognized in all of Europe and beyond, whilst living in a modern and tolerant society. Definitely prepare yourself for some serious studying, but some very good times as well.

 

Written by: Velin Nedkov


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