Bulgaria is a country on the Balkans in South East Europe with land borders to the N-S-W, and the Black Sea to the East.
At the end of 2006 the calculated resident population of Bulgaria was 7,68 million people. Compared to 2005 its number has declined by 0.5 percent of the total population. The decline is entirely due to the negative natural increase of the population, i.e. the significantly greater number of deaths compared to that of live births.
The present percentage of the population that lives in urban areas is 70.6 percent . The mean age of the population in Bulgaria in 2006 stood at 41.4 years. The life expectancy at birth for the period 2004-2006 was 72.6 years.
The country has a well developed cultural life, and has signed bilateral agreements with a number of countries. Many international cultural centres have local representations.
On 1 January 2007 Bulgaria became an EU member state. The EIU forecasts a slowdown in annual real GDP as domestic demand growth eases. One-off factors will push annual average inflation above 6 percent in 2006 and unfortunately inflation went up to 11.5 percent in 2007. The current account deficit is also growing up to 3.3per cent from GDP in 2006.
The main economic policy challenge facing the government is to ensure that rapid growth in domestic demand does not destabilise the economy by fuelling unsustainable current-account deficits and putting pressure on the currency board arrangement.
Bulgaria is ruled by a three-party coalition formed by the Bulgarian Socialist Party, the Simeon II National Movement and the ethnic Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms. It was elected in 2004 and therefore has to be in office until the end of 2008. With accession to the EU though the main priority of forming the coalition would have been fulfilled and currently there are speculations regarding the future of the government as of 2007. The government will remain under pressure to continue with reforms, especially of the judicial system.
Education and self-development are the utmost priority for Bulgarian young people in recent primary survey on Educational and Infotainment Needs.
Tertiary education is critical to the higher skills needs of a knowledge-based economy and is particularly important in the context of higher labour productivity requirements of the future workforce. Today, the share of 30-34 year old Bulgarians with tertiary qualifications compares favourably to EU countries. However, the flow of graduates from the tertiary system has stagnated in recent years.
In contrast to public universities, private universities have experienced a sharp increase in enrolments (by nearly 50 percent between 1997/98 and 2004/05) and in 2004/05. In fact, by 2004/05 only Poland and Latvia among the NMS had a larger private higher educational sector. This suggests unmet demand, but also a greater role for private provision and finance.
Basic education comprises two stages, the first stage from form one to form five and basic education second stage from form five to form seven. School children who have successfully completed the first stage of basic education are awarded a Form Five Leaving Certificate. Completion of basic education is attested by a final certificate for the completion of basic education at the end of form eight.
Upper secondary education lasts for four or five years after completion of the basic education course and is provided in three types of schools: comprehensive (general secondary) schools, profile-oriented schools, vocational (technical and vocational-technical) schools. From 2008 onwards studies will finish with school-leaving examinations. Successful students will receive Diploma za Zavurcheno Sredno Obrazovanie and/or a certificate of professional qualification awarded by professional schools
Higher education is provided by universities, institutes and academies. Higher education is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Science. Some universities are private. Education is based on the Law on Higher Education (1995) and the Law on Scientific Degrees and Scientific Titles (latest amendments 1996). Post-secondary institutions have academic autonomy. In 1995, the National Assembly approved five new private higher education institutions.
There are valid concerns about quality and relevance of higher education. One indicator is the balance of subjects studied in Bulgarian universities which reveals striking differences with the EU: for example with a significantly higher share of students in social sciences, business and law in Bulgaria (41 percent in 2003 compared to EU average of 34 percent) and significantly lower share in mathematics, sciences and computing (5 percent in Bulgaria compared to 11 percent in the EU and 15-17 percent in UK and Ireland). Another concern relates to the adequacy and quality of research conducted in universities and thus their limited contribution to innovation and productivity – indicators are the comparatively low proportion of young people with doctoral degrees in science and engineering majors, and the much lower proportion of scientific publications per million population (only Lithuania, Latvia and Malta are lower). In part this is a result of the separation of teaching and research and still significant concentration of limited research funds in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
In Bulgaria UK qualifications considered very highly and the media feature UK study opportunities frequently. The number of students in the UK (over 1000 in 2006) is considerable. Bulgaria's accession to the EU in 2007 allows students from this country to pay home fees and be able to apply for a student loan towards their tuition fees from the commencement of academic year 2007/08. This is a factor which will lead to increased interest and demand for UK courses.
British Council office is well positioned in educational sector and there is permanent growth of UK examination candidates registered by our Exams Services. Major national universities and schools are located in capital city, and with largest alumni numbers.
Preferred areas of study in Bulgaria are business studies, politics, economics, management studies, and finance. UK qualifications are internationally recognised and perceived as high quality. Bulgarian educational reform is closely linked to the UK system and good relationships between government departments, brokered by the British Council are very positive.
The British Council has one office located in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. The office provides general information on study in the UK through the Knowledge and Information Centre, Customer Services Unit and the local website.
In 2006 we completed a project for the training of local education agents who set up Prospera - the professional association of Bulgarian education agents. It has 12 members at the moment. We have supported Prospera to complete their website which serves the needs of the local public and UK institutions. Nine agents, representing companies, members of Prospera, followed the British Council online course on Promoting UK Education and Training and sat the final exam in November.
Several education exhibitions are organised annually in Sofia. Some focus on local education and have small sections or separate stands representing study abroad. Local agents organise events to promote the services of their own partner institutions and these are well attended. Information on these events can be obtained from the agents.
The level of service for local enquiries is described above and will be organised along the same lines based on capacity and demand.
| 
