Varna Free University supported the Ideal Candidate initiative

In the coming days and weeks, we will present to you the higher education institutions that supported the Ideal Candidate initiative, the new project of Dir.bg, which provides various opportunities for first steps in the career and how to find the dream internship.
 

Today, we present Prof. Petar Hristov, PhD, Rector of VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar"
Who is he?

Prof. Petar Hristov, PhD has been a lecturer at Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar" since 1994. He was successively head of the Department of National Security, dean of the Faculty of Law, and since the beginning of 2019 he has been rector. He created the first in Bulgaria, outside the state universities, a university specialty in national security protection. His research interests are in the field of legal fundamentals of security and risk management. He is the author of more than 100 scientific publications, incl. over 10 individual and collective monographic works. Over 10 Bulgarian and international doctoral students defended successfully their theses under his guidance. He has been invited as a lecturer at leading universities in Poland, Croatia, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Cyprus, Serbia and the United States.

What is the most positive news that your University has been associated with in the last few years?

In the last few years, I assess as the most positive fact the tendencies of sustainable upward development of VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar". I can list some of the events that outline this positive trend - the university has the highest score of institutional accreditation among private universities in the country - 9.21 (under a ten-point scale); the created favourable environment for stimulating research was assessed by recertification of the HR Excellence in Research logo of the European Commission. One month ago, the European Commission awarded us the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education for a second seven-year period. VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar" is among the first three Bulgarian universities to sign the Magna Charta of the European Universities 2020 - for academic freedom and independence. And if these facts form the public image of the university, then the sustainable candidate admissions over the past three years, which ranks us among the leading universities in the country, as well as the increased interest in master's and doctoral degree programmes of citizens from countries such as Poland, Israel, Turkey, Ukraine, are a reason to believe that we are on the right track. On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar", which we celebrate this year, we can assure the founders of the university, the thousands of its graduates, current students, faculty and university partners that they have reason for self-confidence and pride.

How did the pandemic affect all processes related to your University - structural, organizational, educational, reporting?

Like everything in this world, what happened at the university has its pros and cons. The fact that we have isolated cases of illness makes us focus on the useful. It is true that the burden on faculty and students has increased, but on the other hand, the pandemic catalyses the processes of digitalization of the educational process, of administrative work.
In 2020, the students, doctoral students, faculty and administrative staff of Varna Free University did not lose a single day of the educational process. In less than a week, all learning activities were redirected to an electronic environment. The lecturers have created more than 900 courses and published many useful educational resources in the e-learning platform of the university.
The activity of the students who were present in our virtual classrooms was impressive. The academic communication has significantly increased and improved - the new environment has allowed VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar" to attract more lecturers, experts and guests from around the world in the learning process. During the COVID crisis, the university team supported with educational resources more than 300 schools in Bulgaria.
And another important thing - new, digital, out of the curriculum forms of classroom activity have appeared, such as the master's course in criminology, organised by the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Prof. Yonko Kunchev, D.Sc. which was attended by over 160 participants - students and alumni, not only from our university but also from other universities in the country and abroad. Upon completion of the course, participants spontaneously formed a Forensic Club, which attracts more and more members. In a similar way, the competition organised by the Student Council for student research on the topic of Circular Economy took place. The participants in the competition formed an active community of over 100 students and alumni of the university.

Do you manage to maintain a high level of staff at the University? What are your impressions of the new core?

Despite the discriminatory policy pursued by the state with regard to private higher education and the legal restrictions imposed on universities to share educational resources, we have not only preserved but also significantly strengthened our academic staff. In a situation where public universities are forced to cut academic staff, we have recruited 17 new lecturers. We have increased the reputation of the research activity and doubled the number of reported citations in publications, referenced and indexed in world-famous databases with scientific information. We have expanded our technological capabilities, improved our information infrastructure and created a high-tech information system for electronic process management at the university with remote access. We strengthened our partnerships and gained new valuable partners.

What are the most common problems and do you find their solution?

Private universities share the common responsibility of the European and Bulgarian education systems to prepare the human capital of the 21st century. At the same time, they are called to offer an alternative to young people, related to the advanced preparation and implementation of new models of education, adequate to the needs of the labour market. And this is not just about the relatively greater freedom they have. And for the unconditional need to assert their competitive advantages in a very imperfect market, proving everyday quality, efficiency and results. That is why they are the initiators of innovation. Usually in them the new vision and the new directions for the development of education are generated ahead of time. From here, new specialties are most often started, in accordance with the real consumption on the labour market.
Private universities provide 30% of the investment in higher education in the country. I believe that it is extremely important to observe the constitutionally granted equality of public and private property, respectively of public and private universities and especially of the students who study there.

What are your observations about the level of students at the University you manage? Do you find significant differences in recent years?

Private universities operate in an unfavourable market environment. In these conditions, VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar" adheres to the policy that in order to prosper we must offer unique educational products, and in regulated specialties, such as Law and Architecture, in which there is no possibility to differentiate the educational product - to offer the highest possible quality. In the jubilee academic year, the first-year students began their training on completely renewed syllabuses and curricula that reveal and develop individual talents and build the competencies necessary for the professions of the future.
This fact also affects the characteristics of prospective students. Every third first-year student has completed his secondary education with excellent results. Our youngest student is only 16 years old, and the oldest - 63. The university is training more and more working young people who want to improve their skills or grow professionally. 70% of part-time students majoring in Law already have another university degree.

What trends do you observe in the development of higher education in Bulgaria and is there anything else to improve?

It is a well-known fact that today's students will change professions, not work places. The future will require them to have more integrated, multidisciplinary knowledge and multiple intelligence.  
In countries with a high level of development of higher education, including the European higher education area, the main factor for improving the quality of the teaching and research process is the cooperation through competition - between universities, faculties, departments, lecturers and students. Unfortunately, in Bulgaria the government sees the achievement of cooperation only through regulation and centralised administration. This distorts the incentives in the system, because what is more important is not what the needs of the student and the market are, but what the minister decides. The consequences are negative for the quality and competitiveness of Bulgarian higher education.
However, at VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar" we strive to fill with a new, modern content the educational process, taking into account the current regulations. The aim is to rely on the strengths of each student, to reveal the talent that nature has invested in him/her and on this basis to reveal opportunities for manifestation of his/her innovation and initiative. We are expanding the number of elective courses so that each student gets space to reveal their personal qualities, to be able to best transform knowledge into skills.
New and unique in their content for our country are specialties such as Cybersecurity, Data Science, Intelligent Security Systems, Circular Economy. We also offer two specialties in the study of one curriculum, without increasing fees.

What is your attitude to internship programmes and do you see evolution in their development?

We fully welcome the policy pursued by the state in recent years - the Law on Higher Education allows up to 10% of the classroom work of the bachelor students and 20% of the master students to be conducted by practicing experts. This does not mean that the experts will stand behind the desks in the classrooms. The innovative Education in Partnership project for students in civil engineering, psychology and computer science has been working at Varna Free University for a year now. They obtain part of the educational credits through training in a real business environment.
There must be work places in business to be occupied by students. For example, future experts who study in the specialty Public Administration can have a place in any municipality. Students of Fire Safety and Population Protection can support the structures for protection of public order. On the one hand, students will feel the pulse of time, on the other hand companies will use the knowledge of young people - many of them have been on academic mobility in other countries, seen European experience, have access to new technologies in various fields and can share experience and contacts. The business will be able to select quality staff, as well as provide scholarships for the training of those it wants to develop.

What advice would you give to your students to find job faster and easily, to pursue a career?

Our patron Chernorizets Hrabar left us his work "On the Letters", from where we derive the motto of the 30th anniversary of our university: "Learn and seek!". This is what I want to wish to the students. Through training to seek and find new knowledge, through them to rediscover themselves and find new opportunities. I take this opportunity to invite all our current and former alumni, lecturers and friends on 3 October 2021 at the Festival and Congress Centre in Varna to the festive concert-performance dedicated to 30th anniversary of the establishment of VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar".

What do you think is the profile of the ideal candidate who would most easily fight the competition? What skills he/she should possess?

Congratulations to the Dir.bg team for the Ideal Candidate initiative. In the conditions of Industry 4.0, the intellectual potential is crucial for the success of business, and the intellectual potential, in turn, is determined by the level of education, the availability of scientific expertise and teamwork. From this point of view, universities cannot fully fulfill their public mission without establishing a partnership with business. It is the partnership that will help to solve chronic problems, such as university graduates to be able to immediately get into the rhythm of business.

What advice would you give to students who are finishing their secondary education and are wondering which way to take and which University to choose?

The most important thing we need to give young people is good education, to build in them the ability to learn constantly. When I say good education, I mean that it must include a humanitarian component. I want poetry, music, dance to find place not only in ours, but in all Bulgarian universities. Then young people will get a better chance to realize themselves not only professionally. And a successful career is only part of social realization and a dignified life.