Concern as Bulgaria scrambles for students

Universities in Bulgaria are struggling to fill student places in a crisis that some researchers feel is fatally undermining academic integrity.

The country’s most prestigious institution, Sofia University, announced on 23 August that 850 places went unclaimed in the 2018-19 intake. The university is reopening admissions in an attempt to fill the vacancies. Applicants will be required to sit entry exams to prove their abilities, it said.

The Bulgarian government funds public universities based on the number of students enrolled. Ivaylo Ditchev, a professor of cultural anthropology at Sofia University, says this has corrupted the system. “As a university professor I have no interest in failing a student,” he said. “If I fail him, I’m choosing to limit my university’s subsidies.”