NEW TRENDS IN BULGARIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

The process of reform in higher education in post‐1990 Bulgaria is briefly presented. The first step was a law in 1990 mandating academic freedom and university autonomy. Other legislation led to the creation of private higher education institutions and the charging of tuition fees for certain course programmes offered by the state institutions. A serious problem has been the decline in the quality of higher education and research, this due to the economic difficulties resulting from the period of transition and to too much laissez‐faire in higher education in general. In reaction, the state has taken steps to lay down basic requirements for admission to higher education; nationally mandated standards for state certification in certain subjects including medicine, economics, and engineering; and the development of a national quality assessment system for higher education. There has also been the influence of certain international programmes, most notably, TEMPUS. Everyone understands that higher education has a major role to play in order to guarantee the success of the transition process.