Sofia University

Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" (Bulgarian: Софийски университет „Св. Климент Охридски“) is a public research university in Sofia, Bulgaria. It is the oldest institution of higher education in Bulgaria.

Founded on 1 October 1888, the edifice of the university was constructed between 1924 and 1934 with the financial support of the brothers Evlogi Georgiev and Hristo Georgiev (whose sculptures are now featured on its façade) and has an area of 18,624 m2 and a total of 324 premises. The university has 16 faculties and three departments, where over 21,000 students receive their education. The current rector is Georgi Valchev.

History

The university was founded on 1 October 1888—ten years after the liberation of Bulgaria—to serve as Bulgaria's primary institution of higher education.

The university's first iteration was as a year-long "Higher Pedagogical Course" extending the curriculum of an already existing secondary school in Sofia. The course's founders "consciously built the foundations of an institution of higher learning" within their curriculum, drawing upon the subject matter of Austrian and German Universities from which four of them had received their doctorates. Subsisting of seven initial lecturers and forty-three students, the Higher Pedagogical Course aimed to educate elementary school teachers at the Gymnasium to fill national gaps among civil servants in "education and scholarship."

With aid from provisional statutes provided by founder Ivan Shishmanov in January 1889, the initial Higher Pedagogical Course was legally extended into a multi-departmental "Higher School" with three-year study tracks before the end of its first year. As the demand for educators was met, Sofia's Higher School and its staff continued to organize, expand, and refine their efforts across disciplines. And though it would take 15 years for its fully-actualized "vision" to come to fruition, according to historian Marin Pundeff (Bulgarian: Марин Пундев [1]), by the mid 1890's the Higher School was a respected national hub for scholarship with all "the functions and earmarks of a university." Shishmanov became Minister of Education in 1903, and by 1904 he passed a law through the National Assembly which expanded the Higher School's now four-year magistrate program into an officially instituted university. Sofia University's first rector was Bulgarian linguist Aleksandar Teodorov-Balan.

During its first years, Sofia University had three faculties, namely a Faculty of History and Philology (since 1888), a Faculty of Mathematics and Physics (since 1889) and a Faculty of Law (since 1892). History, geography, Slavic philology, philosophy and pedagogics, mathematics and physics, chemistry, natural sciences and law were also taught. The first women (16 in number) were welcomed to the university in 1901 and 25 November (8 December N.S.), the day of St. Kliment of Ohrid, became the university's official holiday the following year.

As Prince Ferdinand opened the National Theatre in 1907, he was booed by Sofia University students, for which the university was closed for six months and all lecturers were fired. Not until a new government with Aleksandar Malinov at the head came into power in January 1908 was the crisis resolved.

Faculties and departments

Faculties

Sofia University offers a wide range of degrees in 16 faculties:

• Faculty of Biology
• Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy
• Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology
• Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
• Faculty of Education
• Faculty of Geology and Geography
• Faculty of History
• Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication
• Faculty of Law
• Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics
• Faculty of Philosophy
• Faculty of Physics
• Faculty of Pre-school and Primary School Education
• Faculty of Slavic Studies
• Faculty of Theology
• Faculty of Medicine

Departments

• Department of Language Learning
• Department for Information and In-service Training of Teachers
• Sports Department

Affiliated bodies

Balkan Universities Network

National Centre of Polar Research

Notable alumni

• Elisaveta Bagryana, poet
• Anthony Bailey, businessman
• Pepka Boyadjieva, sociologist
• Kiril Bratanov, scientist
• Iván Cepeda, politician and senator of Colombia
• Ljubomir Chakaloff, mathematician
• / Boris Christoff, opera singer
• Raymond Detrez, historian
• Philip Dimitrov, politician and lawyer, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria and member of the Constitutional Court of Bulgaria
• Todor Georgiev, scientist and inventor
• Khristo Ivanov, scientist
• Rostislaw Kaischew, scientist
• Mimoza Konteva, geographer
• Ivan Kostov, politician and economist, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria
• / Julia Kristeva, philosopher and writer

Partner Universities

Europe

Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Technische Universität Dresden, Université de Genève, Université libre de Bruxelles and others.

Эх сурвалж: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)