Macedonians might be able to Study and Go to University Free of Charge in Bulgaria

Students from the Republic of North Macedonia might start studying higher education completely free of charge in Bulgarian universities. They might be freed from paying not only for tuition fees but also application fees. This is foreseen by the changes proposed by the Acting Minister of Education Prof. Sasho Penov in Government Decree No. 228 of 1997.

Until now, the students accepted under this decree (up to 300 people per year) paid the same fees as Bulgarian students by state order. The amount depends on the specialty.

What will be the organization for the acceptance of Macedonian students and doctoral students will be determined every year by order of the Minister of Education after coordination with a permanent interdepartmental commission for the implementation of educational activities among Bulgarians abroad.

The admission of the candidate students will be organized by the Ministry of Education and Culture in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the same commission. It will be done through documents or through one or more competitive exams, depending on the specialty applied for. The exams will be conducted by the Ministry of Education and Science. Admission of doctoral students will be based on documents. The ranking will be carried out by the committee after the agreement of the respective higher schools. Those accepted as students will be issued a certificate of enrollment by the Ministry of Education and Culture.

The funds necessary for the education of students and doctoral students - which may be up to 5 people per year - are provided by the state through the state budget through the budgets of the respective higher schools.

The purpose of the proposed changes is to standardize the regime by which...