Education and science minister Prof. Georgi Valchev has called for ways to build closer ties between science, universities and business.
Valchev spoke at a ceremony held by the National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency (NEAA) in the Maxima lecture hall of the University of National and World Economy (UNWE). The agency presented its annual awards for good practice in "Science – Higher Education – Business and Society".
Sixteen universities and two research bodies entered the contest, with 58 good practices in all. The NEAA's Advisory Council, which also started the event, judged them. There were six categories: partnership between a university and business. Use of research results for the benefit of society. A lifelong learning initiative. A socially important practice. Involving students and young researchers. And an initiative for sustainable development of universities.
NEAA chair Prof. Maria Nisheva-Pavlova presented the rules of the contest. The main criteria, she said, are public value, innovation, sustainability, and the involvement of business and students.
Valchev congratulated the agency's leaders on the initiative. Universities are in a difficult position, he said. They must remain a base for basic research, which does not quickly find a practical use. At the same time, they must narrow the gap between science and education and build a real partnership with the economy and business.
The minister said funding matters a great deal, but public trust is won through initiatives that show good practice. He said Bulgaria has fitted well into the European and world academic community, and it is time to show its successes, of which there are many, with pride. This is needed to win public support and the trust of young people, so they choose to study at Bulgarian universities, which are in no way inferior to their partners in Europe and the world. Valchev hopes that promoting such practices will create a lasting tradition.
UNWE rector Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov noted that higher education is judged all the time. It is judged by the NEAA, by students and their parents, who weigh what universities can offer their children, by business representatives and, to some extent, by society.