Prof. Anna Nedyalkova for Darik Radio: The ranking of the Ministry of Education and Science and Open Society Foundations is subjective, it contains a conflict of interest
The rating system of the universities in Bulgaria is burdened with a high dose of subjectivity and it lacks objective measures, said the President of Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar" in an interview for Darik Radio. According to Prof. Anna Nedyalkova there is a conflict of interest in the preparation of the ranking.
"I am highly mistrustful of the rating system. I can not say that weare not satisfied by the results in terms of the formal ranking because there is no area in which we are outside the top 10. But this system can not be motivating for the development of the universities. The way of assessment is through indicators that have very high specific gravity, but they do not depend on the academic community and of its desire for quality. 35% of the weight of the assessment is given by the beginning of a career, the specialty and the levels ofsocial-security contributions and payment. These are indicators that depend on the economic and the social security system, the degree of regional development and at least on the university. This indicator does not take into account the level of career development of students abroad," said Prof. Nedyalkova.
The President of VFU does not approve that the rating system is drawn up by the Ministry of Education and the Open Society Foundations, which is connected with New Bulgarian University and the American University in Blagoevgrad. "The conflict of interests is very clear. These two universities in all indicators are right after Sofia University and the University of National and World Economy. The ranking must be objective and independent evaluation – it is not logical the administrative participation of the Ministry and an organization that is partial to a particular model of education and to certain of its offspring in Bulgaria", said Prof. Nedyalkova. She also criticized the proposed reforminlegal education, which she called "imitation".
"I would like to be put an end to this project with its presentation and its overall implementation not to be requested, because we will cause the further trouble in education. I see no reasonable argument not to permit part-time training in law. There are no grounds and it is virtually impossible the Minister of Justice to approve any curriculum. This is overall nonsense. If the proposals are approved, all faculties of law which are 9 now will be closed. Even the most reputable faculty of Sofia University will not be able to implement the concept envisaged in the project."
"The easiest and most wrong is to say – there are too many universities, we should close down them. After several years we will lament loudly, as we lament now over the closed down plants and agricultural cooperatives. The educational capacity should not be measured by the needs of Bulgaria. If we have to compete and defend quality, we should do it on a global scale. Given that there is interest in us to educate students from abroad and to open branches in Asia and Africa - what is the measure, are the universities too many or few? Let allow them to work on a global terrain and to compete in a real competitive environment. The demographic problem first hit Western Europe, but Europe decided not to close down universities but enable them to work in the international field. Some of the countries wisely reduced the social cost of the training of foreigners to keep its academic capacity. "
7,000 full-time and part-time students on a regular basis and 1,200 Master’s students study this year at Varna Free University. The greatest career developments have those who have completed computer science, law, internal security and architecture.