Previous version of our website: old.vfu.bg/en
ASSOC. PROF. ELEONORA TANKOVA, PHD TO BGNES: VARNA FREE UNIVERSITY PRESERVES THE SPIRIT OF FREEDOM
02 June 2026
31.05.2026, BGNES
Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar" celebrates 35 years since its establishment and 30 years since the graduation of its first class. On this occasion, BGNES spoke with Assoc. Prof. Eleonora Tankova, PhD, Vice-Rector for Institutional Cooperation and Development, about the beginnings of the university, the relationship with the first graduates, today's students and the partnerships that open new opportunities for the academic community.
BGNES: Assoc. Prof. Tankova, this year Varna Free University celebrates its 35th birthday. This is an occasion to look at both the history of the first class, as well as the significance of the university today and the prospects ahead of it. But before we talk about the educational institution itself, let's start with your personal story. Do you remember the first time you crossed the threshold of the university? Did you imagine then that in 2026, when this anniversary is celebrated, you would be a vice-rector?
Assoc. Prof. Eleonora Tankova, PhD: This is a question that I have often asked myself over the years. This anniversary, in which we celebrate the university's holiday, brought me back to the emotions and feelings of the distant 1991.
Like every young person, shaped by the educational system of that time, finding myself in this new place, I suddenly felt what the change was and how strongly it was desired by young people at that time. At the heart of the creation of our university was precisely this desire to create something new, something different from the then existing educational model.
The good thing is that this desire for change, which was the leading direction 35 years ago, continues to be leading today.
Did I imagine what my professional path would be? No. I did not think about it at all then. With pure youthful energy and enthusiasm, I began my work. Perhaps fate destined me to connect my professional, and to a certain extent, my personal life, with the university. Most of my life is now connected to it. And, of course, I don't regret it.
BGNES: The location of the conversation is also important in this context. Tell us more about it.
Assoc. Prof. Eleonora Tankova, PhD: We are in one of the most favourite places of our entire academic community, of students, faculty and staff. This is our academic park, created in 2012.
The interesting thing is that it is an entirely student project. This was an idea that very quickly found support and a desire for implementation from the university management. The students who developed the projects were subsequently appointed as technical consultants in the implementation of this idea.
As you can see, the park has become something truly wonderful and is a favourite place for all of us.
BGNES: Let's go back in time once again, to the 1990s. The graduation of the first class is a historic moment for any Alma Mater. Do you and the faculty still keep in touch with these first graduates? How did their professional successes pave the way for the university's prestige?
Assoc. Prof. Eleonora Tankova, PhD: Your question immediately brings me back to something we have been considering for a long time, how to celebrate this anniversary of the university. Although 35 years is not a milestone anniversary in the classical sense, our desire was to return to the first students, to the people who believed in us and shared the difficult path the university had taken in the first years.
The main reason was to show them how much the value of their diploma has increased. We also wanted to show how much they have contributed to our university, to express our respect for them, but also to show them how much we have achieved together. They should continue to be proud of the fact that they trusted us 35 years ago.
This year marks 30 years since the graduation of the first class. To our great joy, we gathered the students of this first class at the university celebration. The meeting was extremely emotional, filled with many memories. We went back in time, but what was even better was that this meeting laid the foundation for what we can do together from now on.
BGNES: As Vice-Rector for Institutional Cooperation and Development, how do you assess the network created by the university over these three and a half decades, including internationally? How does it help in the development of today's students?
Assoc. Prof. Eleonora Tankova, PhD: Over the years, establishing partnerships was more difficult. Today, the environment is much more favourable. Perhaps because society already perceives the role of education differently and realises the need for business and practice to partner with educational institutions.
On the other hand, this process is easier because over the years our graduates have become part of this partnership network. They are current and future employers of our students, representatives of various businesses and public institutions.
That is why our partnership network today is extremely rich. We now place emphasis not so much on the quantity, on the number of partnerships, but on their quality.
In every respect, we are looking for partners with whom we share common goals and have a common understanding of what is valuable and important for the development of society. We are looking for partners with whom we can implement socially significant causes and who can support the development of our students and graduates.
BGNES: The first graduates had been entering a very different economic and social reality, a different Bulgaria. How does the synergy between the university, state institutions and business, of which your graduates are a part, help the next specialists to pursue a career?
Assoc. Prof. Eleonora Tankova, PhD: Our first students were the young people of change. They consciously chose the university because they expected to find an environment where something new was happening here. An environment with a different model, with the opportunity to develop innovations and entrepreneurial initiatives. Something that was absent in state universities at that time.
If we have to compare these first students with the current ones, the generations are different, which is completely natural. The main difference is that today the horizon of young people is much more global. They are more informed, more demanding, more searching and at this time much more active.
One of the main things we're trying to create, and I think we're succeeding at, is not just turning the focus of everything we do towards the students.
The students are extremely active and very engaged. They themselves are the drivers of much of the innovation that happens at our university.
This spirit is built over the years. The partnerships that we have already created and in which a significant number of our former graduates participate, carry precisely this spirit and this desire for something new, innovative and different.
We are talking about a huge academic community. Just a few days ago we awarded the diploma to our 48,000th student. Imagine, in 35 years this is a huge community of our graduates, who are in all professional fields, law, architecture, construction, psychology, management, economics, art. They are scattered all over the world.
Continuity is one of the things we are trying to achieve. Also the constant two-way commitment. Not only from our side to them, but also from them to the university.
BGNES: In the spirit of this double celebration, on the one hand 35 years since the establishment of the university, and on the other 30 years since the graduation of the first class, what is your message to those graduating today and to those pioneers who first believed in Varna Free University?
Assoc. Prof. Eleonora Tankova, PhD: I think that just as 35 years ago the pioneers, the people who created this university, did so with the idea of seeking freedom of expression, the new and the modern, so today we must preserve this direction.
They created an environment in which everyone has the opportunity to develop their potential. I think we are managing to preserve this today.
If I have to send a message, it is not a one-time one. I try to convey it every day in my work with young people in the auditoriums: to preserve the spirit of freedom, search and irreconcilability. To be free in their expression, in expressing what they want to say, regardless of what professional field they are in.
We must be a searching, creative community. It is no coincidence that the motto of our university is "Learn and seek", words of Chernorizets Hrabar. I think that they correspond to the philosophy of the university to a very large extent. | BGNES
Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar" celebrates 35 years since its establishment and 30 years since the graduation of its first class. On this occasion, BGNES spoke with Assoc. Prof. Eleonora Tankova, PhD, Vice-Rector for Institutional Cooperation and Development, about the beginnings of the university, the relationship with the first graduates, today's students and the partnerships that open new opportunities for the academic community.
BGNES: Assoc. Prof. Tankova, this year Varna Free University celebrates its 35th birthday. This is an occasion to look at both the history of the first class, as well as the significance of the university today and the prospects ahead of it. But before we talk about the educational institution itself, let's start with your personal story. Do you remember the first time you crossed the threshold of the university? Did you imagine then that in 2026, when this anniversary is celebrated, you would be a vice-rector?
Assoc. Prof. Eleonora Tankova, PhD: This is a question that I have often asked myself over the years. This anniversary, in which we celebrate the university's holiday, brought me back to the emotions and feelings of the distant 1991.
Like every young person, shaped by the educational system of that time, finding myself in this new place, I suddenly felt what the change was and how strongly it was desired by young people at that time. At the heart of the creation of our university was precisely this desire to create something new, something different from the then existing educational model.
The good thing is that this desire for change, which was the leading direction 35 years ago, continues to be leading today.
Did I imagine what my professional path would be? No. I did not think about it at all then. With pure youthful energy and enthusiasm, I began my work. Perhaps fate destined me to connect my professional, and to a certain extent, my personal life, with the university. Most of my life is now connected to it. And, of course, I don't regret it.
BGNES: The location of the conversation is also important in this context. Tell us more about it.
Assoc. Prof. Eleonora Tankova, PhD: We are in one of the most favourite places of our entire academic community, of students, faculty and staff. This is our academic park, created in 2012.
The interesting thing is that it is an entirely student project. This was an idea that very quickly found support and a desire for implementation from the university management. The students who developed the projects were subsequently appointed as technical consultants in the implementation of this idea.
As you can see, the park has become something truly wonderful and is a favourite place for all of us.
BGNES: Let's go back in time once again, to the 1990s. The graduation of the first class is a historic moment for any Alma Mater. Do you and the faculty still keep in touch with these first graduates? How did their professional successes pave the way for the university's prestige?
Assoc. Prof. Eleonora Tankova, PhD: Your question immediately brings me back to something we have been considering for a long time, how to celebrate this anniversary of the university. Although 35 years is not a milestone anniversary in the classical sense, our desire was to return to the first students, to the people who believed in us and shared the difficult path the university had taken in the first years.
The main reason was to show them how much the value of their diploma has increased. We also wanted to show how much they have contributed to our university, to express our respect for them, but also to show them how much we have achieved together. They should continue to be proud of the fact that they trusted us 35 years ago.
This year marks 30 years since the graduation of the first class. To our great joy, we gathered the students of this first class at the university celebration. The meeting was extremely emotional, filled with many memories. We went back in time, but what was even better was that this meeting laid the foundation for what we can do together from now on.
BGNES: As Vice-Rector for Institutional Cooperation and Development, how do you assess the network created by the university over these three and a half decades, including internationally? How does it help in the development of today's students?
Assoc. Prof. Eleonora Tankova, PhD: Over the years, establishing partnerships was more difficult. Today, the environment is much more favourable. Perhaps because society already perceives the role of education differently and realises the need for business and practice to partner with educational institutions.
On the other hand, this process is easier because over the years our graduates have become part of this partnership network. They are current and future employers of our students, representatives of various businesses and public institutions.
That is why our partnership network today is extremely rich. We now place emphasis not so much on the quantity, on the number of partnerships, but on their quality.
In every respect, we are looking for partners with whom we share common goals and have a common understanding of what is valuable and important for the development of society. We are looking for partners with whom we can implement socially significant causes and who can support the development of our students and graduates.
BGNES: The first graduates had been entering a very different economic and social reality, a different Bulgaria. How does the synergy between the university, state institutions and business, of which your graduates are a part, help the next specialists to pursue a career?
Assoc. Prof. Eleonora Tankova, PhD: Our first students were the young people of change. They consciously chose the university because they expected to find an environment where something new was happening here. An environment with a different model, with the opportunity to develop innovations and entrepreneurial initiatives. Something that was absent in state universities at that time.
If we have to compare these first students with the current ones, the generations are different, which is completely natural. The main difference is that today the horizon of young people is much more global. They are more informed, more demanding, more searching and at this time much more active.
One of the main things we're trying to create, and I think we're succeeding at, is not just turning the focus of everything we do towards the students.
The students are extremely active and very engaged. They themselves are the drivers of much of the innovation that happens at our university.
This spirit is built over the years. The partnerships that we have already created and in which a significant number of our former graduates participate, carry precisely this spirit and this desire for something new, innovative and different.
We are talking about a huge academic community. Just a few days ago we awarded the diploma to our 48,000th student. Imagine, in 35 years this is a huge community of our graduates, who are in all professional fields, law, architecture, construction, psychology, management, economics, art. They are scattered all over the world.
Continuity is one of the things we are trying to achieve. Also the constant two-way commitment. Not only from our side to them, but also from them to the university.
BGNES: In the spirit of this double celebration, on the one hand 35 years since the establishment of the university, and on the other 30 years since the graduation of the first class, what is your message to those graduating today and to those pioneers who first believed in Varna Free University?
Assoc. Prof. Eleonora Tankova, PhD: I think that just as 35 years ago the pioneers, the people who created this university, did so with the idea of seeking freedom of expression, the new and the modern, so today we must preserve this direction.
They created an environment in which everyone has the opportunity to develop their potential. I think we are managing to preserve this today.
If I have to send a message, it is not a one-time one. I try to convey it every day in my work with young people in the auditoriums: to preserve the spirit of freedom, search and irreconcilability. To be free in their expression, in expressing what they want to say, regardless of what professional field they are in.
We must be a searching, creative community. It is no coincidence that the motto of our university is "Learn and seek", words of Chernorizets Hrabar. I think that they correspond to the philosophy of the university to a very large extent. | BGNES