/ world today news/ I recently attended an academic procedure that brought together in one place habilitated persons from Plovdiv, Veliko Tarnovsk, Sofia, and New Bulgarian Universities, and BAS. A serious prerequisite for a serious defense of a serious doctoral thesis. And suddenly I heard how informally, on the sidelines (as it is fashionable to say now) these people greet each other with “Alma ti materna!” and answer “I have honored your cause!”.
I was shocked to say the least, though I laughed out of politeness. In the end, I asked them: “But why?” (in the sense, this was born as a joke by Stoichkov many years ago, and somehow it seemed to me out of time and out of place). And then they explained to me that Ms. Menda Stoyanova had been awarded the title of “doctor honoris causa” by the Academy of Music, Dance and Visual Arts in Plovdiv two days before, because she “granted” over a million to the educational institution for renovation. I decided that this was a bad joke, because recently it was Ms. Stoyanova who publicly explained how BAS scientists had to learn to work on projects, there was no more money in the treasury, and in the end they had to cut from their current remunerations – said by her politically correct as a “matter of structuring” (because some of the buildings of the BAS are in really bad condition and need urgent repair)[1]. Of course, we live in the era of mobile communications, and I immediately checked the statement of colleagues on my mobile phone: “I’m embarrassed” – she said – “I have no connection with music and art”[2]… I almost felt sorry for her. I wanted to send a comforting letter and ask her – “So why did you accept?”. After all, an “honorary doctorate” is given if you really have merit in a certain academic field. The so-called “honoris cause” of the other higher education institution in Bulgaria related to this type of arts are Claudia Cardinale, Jiri Menzel, István Szabo, David Lynch, Nikita Mikhalkov…[3]
Actually, I don’t want to contrast or compare NATFIZ and AMTII, I just gave an example. In this regard, 7 years ago in Bulgaria, a very good Reinig system was developed and introduced, which sufficiently compares and measures the differences in the individual professional directions in the field of higher education… and… oh, horror! My mind jumped and made the involuntary connection between how Menda Stoyanova claims that there is no money for some – but “lends” money to others, and the last statement of Minister Krasimir Valchev in connection with the rating system as a basis for “optimizing and financing the higher schools'[4]. The minister presented the rating rationally, bureaucratically, like a good official – mainly with facts and figures, and by the way announced a rather negative news: it confirmed the existence of large differences in the average levels of income, unemployment and application of the acquired higher education depending on the completed vocational direction and higher school. Of course, the news in itself is news, a fact (ie neither good nor bad), but it sounds bad in the context of the ministerial promise that funding will be stopped for fields and universities where there is “irrational demand” and that the aim is to “serve to link the education market with the labor market”.
Approximately one hundred years ago, the sociologist Max Weber gave a public lecture, “Politics as a Vocation”[5]in which it is no coincidence that he emphasizes that “pmore than in any other profession, the politician must be aware of the responsibility of his actions. His decisions determine the fate of the entire society. That is why the main quality that a politician should not lack is a sense of reality. Any mistake related to an insufficiently clear and accurate assessment of reality would be fatal“. And it is here that I would like to warn Minister Valchev that it is wrong for the rating system to serve as a basis for financing, because it is precisely in the economically based indicators that there are historically superimposed structural inequalities in Bulgaria. Universities are highly dependent on the local economy, on the local infrastructure, on the regional demographic characteristics, on the material base at their disposal. In the previous year, the study of computer science was promoted to meet the need in the labor market, and now it is reported that in these fields the insurance income is the highest. This practically means that there was no need for direct financial encouragement from the state, because tax breaks and joint study centers could be thought of. Regardless of what Ali-Bali talk about higher education in mathematics and informatics, companies in this sector have long established parallel educational structures to meet their needs (eg the so-called Software University and Telerik Academy). The rating system does not take this into account. The rating system does not actually take into account that many students work throughout their studies and because some sectors allow work in the major – then they have a better formal start. On the other hand, if we consider only the interest of business and the labor market, we risk killing ourselves as a society. Bulgaria has long suffered from the lack of qualified social workers, there is a pronounced shortage of educators, a huge shortage of health care specialists. However, the salaries in these fields are among the lowest, therefore the realization in the specialty is also among the lowest, and the state is actually to blame for this, because in the majority of cases it is about state-delegated activities or delegated budgets. This is what structural inequality means, and it is not right to punish it further.
It seems to me that this is the biggest problem, which stems from the underfunding of science and higher education in Bulgaria. Both Minister Krasimir Valchev and Mrs. Menda Stoyanova are probably good economists, but guided by economic rationality, they remain blind to social reality. And in BAS, as well as in many universities, the material base is so bad that in fact 10 or 20 scientists have to share one computer at their workplace. In some cases, there is no mention of own offices – one department/section uses one room. This is effectively penalized by the rating system rather than recognizing the need for additional funding and “equipment”. Publicly praised (and encouraged in ranking) those university majors that are entered with a higher than secondary education diploma. And the reality is different – it is much more difficult to teach and maintain a high academic level in those specialties and universities where you enter with a low score from the diploma. In another of his essays, Max Weber says that a good teacher is not the one whose lectures are most attended, but the one who is understood by the most students[6]. From this point of view, the logic of funding should be the opposite of economic rationality. But while the politicians responsible for public policies in science and education think that everything is solved by “releasing” and “cutting” some money within one mandate and according to the current financial rationality, they do not have an overall vision for the development of the country in a perspective of at least 20-25 years – our alma mater!
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[5] Published in Bulgaria in “The Scientist and the Politician”, S. 2000, Eon
[6] “Science as a vocation”, published in Bulgaria in “The Scientist and the Politician”, S. 2000, Eon
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