Proposals for changes in the Higher Education Law hailed by rectors

Boyko Borisov with the Education Minister Sergei Ignatov (left) and the Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov.

Universities will have the right to collaborate with other institutions, if the new Higher Education Law passes through Parliament, announced the Prime Minister Boyko Borisov at a meeting with rectors and members of the Education Commission in the Council of Ministers today.

They will also be allowed to form partnerships and sell and develop programmes with other universities and colleges not only from Bulgaria, but other countries as well.

Other amendments to the current law would enable HE institutions to validate the education that their applicants have previously received and to decide how much they would charge for their Masters programmes. At the moment students, who had received all or part of their education abroad, had to have their studies validated by the Ministry of Education. The state also sets the maximum amount the institutions could charge for postgraduate courses.

The Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov said that the changes are aimed at facilitating the intake of foreign students at Bulgarian universities and building up their reputation abroad. With a growing number of students choosing to study in other EU countries, the rectors at the meeting hailed the amendments as "timely" and "necessary".

The date for Parliament to vote on the changes, however, hasn't been set yet.

The Bulgarian Prime Minister - a criminal?

The Prime Minister Boyko Borisov

Wikileaks has published an alleged report by the former US Ambassador in Bulgaria John Beyrle from 2006 in which the current Prime Minister Boyko Borisov is described as a promising leader with a shady past.

According to the document, Borisov been linked to drug trafficking, illegal deals, involving the Russian petrol magnate LUKoil and oil-siphoning scandals. He is also alleged to have close ties to "influential Mafia leaders"and to have "used his former position as head of Bulgarian law enforcement to arrange cover for criminal deals, and his common-law wife, Tsvetelina Borislavova, manages a large Bulgarian bank that has been accused of laundering money for organized criminal groups, as well as for Borisov's own illegal transactions."

The report goes on to reveal the PM's relationship with the Bulgarian branch of LUKoil: "Borisov has close financial and political ties to LUKoil Bulgaria Director Valentin Zlatev, a vastly influential kingmaker and behind-the-scenes power broker."

In a statement, made in front of Bulgarian journalists in The Hague, Borisov said that he doesn't read Wikileaks and that the allegations for close ties with LUKoil are speculations. He added that he has been to the US embassy a number of times, but cannot recall a visit to the Russian embassy in the last 5-6 years.


The Wikileaks report in full: https://www.balkanleaks.eu/06sofia647.html