Representatives of 40 elite western universities will have personal meetings and consultations with Bulgarian applicants in the frameworks of the World Education international fair in Sofia on February 15 – 16. Statistics says that each year 6 – 7,000 applicants opt for a study at a foreign university. Currently the 2013 – 2014 application campaign marks its peak in some of the most preferred destinations, such as the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Sweden, Switzerland etc. The fair will also provide a second opportunity for the applicants for Great Britain, although the term there has expired. Some British universities have declared an “application at the spot” procedure for Bulgarians. “The policies of the British universities haven’t changed and cannot be affected by the political events around,” said Mr. Svetlan Danev, coordinator of the World Education project. 13 UK universities will be presented at the forum, Nottingham, Coventry and Middlesex among them. Those are all included in Britain’s Top 20 list of schools with the greatest number of foreign students. Data of the UCAS centralized system for accession to British universities says that the number of Bulgarian applicants has went up by nearly 14 percent for 2013 – 2014 on the previous school year.

“Data on Bulgaria marks a sustainable interest towards GB and an increasing of the applications, which places Bulgaria among Top 10 of the EU member-states with students, attending British universities. There were 4,600 Bulgarian students there in 2012. The specialties preferred are business administration, engineering, technologies, IT… No university has changed its policy, regarding Bulgarian students. They offer different kinds of financial support, or even take additional steps as a sort of a response to the politicians’ attitude towards Bulgaria. For instance the Salford University grants once GBP 1,500 to each Bulgarian or Romanian student that signs up for a bachelor’s programme this year. This sum covers the initial expenses for food and accommodation. The university also has an additional scholarship of GBP 2,000 for bachelors, showing excellent results, as well as a discount of GBP 4,000 for the future masters in business administration’s fee.”

12 of the best Dutch universities will be presented at the fair too. The Bulgarians remain very interested in this country, its data shows an over 5 fold increase in the number of Bulgarian students there over 2012. Those were 1,600 in September last year.

“Due to the great interest the Dutch universities will invite during the fair Bulgarian students to visit them during the so-called days of open doors,” voiced Irina Hristova, owner of the consultant company that organizes the fair. “The idea is those to get acquainted with the Dutch way of life, to see the campus and the university. One of the applicants will win a free trip to Holland. Some of the universities even cover the expenses during the stay.”

World Education presents for a first time French state universities that offer some of the cheapest programmes in Europe. Data of the French Cultural Institute says that currently over 2,000 Bulgarian students study in France. The most preferred specialties are economy, political sciences, law, engineering, medicine, architecture, biology and communications. The new thing at the fair will be the specialized consult center for applications in Germany and Austria. There will also be workshops for students, pupils and parents, as well as consultations with a licensed career consultant.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev