Bulgaria has good hopes about the operational programme” Science and Education for Smart Growth”, because there is a huge political will for its implementation”, said the Bulgarian Minister of Education Sergey Ignatov at the presentation of this concept to the scientific and academic community in Bulgaria. The biggest aim of the new operational programme for the period 2014-2020 is to bring smart growth in Bulgaria and to establish a society, based on knowledge, through an increased quality of the scientific researches and better education. The programme is expected to bring considerable benefits to the people, to create new jobs, boost the competitive power of the Bulgarian work force and lead to higher birth rate.
“The project has many good features, of which the biggest one is that it gives the overall concept of how education and science in Bulgaria should be developed, starting from the kindergarten period, through the system of the secondary and University education all the way to the top: the Bulgarian scientific centers”, says Minister Ignatov. “This was presented as one integral system, where no gaps between the different phases can be seen. So, even if we do not manage to make any other big achievements, the fact that we now have clear overall vision of how the system should be developed until 2020 is surely a great success. This concept not only teaches us how to spend European funds, but shows us the overall concept of an integral system, which includes education and science.”
According to Minister Ignatov, Bulgaria is prepared to absorb over EUR 2 billion under this European programme. In his view, the system generated many problems over the years. He said that the bad infrastructure and the lack of information system in all sectors, schools, universities and scientific centers were among the biggest problems. “One of our short-term goals is to boost the competence of the university lecturers and the teachers. We can only dream of absorbing such a huge amount of European money, because in times of financial crisis there will be less money given under various programmes. However, Bulgaria will try to absorb as much money as possible. The Ministry of Education, Youth and Science is prepared to start some major projects in the very beginning of the next programming period 2014-2020”, Minister Ignatov further said.
“One of the most important projects is the construction of training centers in some of the major scientific fields, the transformation of the scientific, cultural and historic content in digital form and better professional training oriented towards effective access to the labor market. We are well prepared in terms of the student practice and the school and preschool programmes for easier access to education, municipal programs for personal development, school and university bursaries. Other projects are linked with the reconstruction and the building of kindergartens and schools and the application of all modern technologies in the educational process. We have a full concept about the construction of the infrastructure and the development of the intellectual environment. Our goal is to complete the process of implementation of this system by 2020”, Minister Ignatov said in conclusion.
The operational programme envisages the development of the scientific fields set in the National Strategy of Scientific Research. These are health, vitality, quality of life, new materials, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT sector), cultural and historic heritage.
English version: Kostadin Atanasov
