An extraordinary meeting of the Committee on Education and Science in the National Assembly is taking place today, dedicated to the second reading of the bill for the amendment and supplementation of the Higher Education Act (HEA). The document was officially submitted by the Council of Ministers (CM) on August 10. The upcoming changes focus on important aspects of academic life, such as the mechanisms for determining tuition fees for paid education and the rules for awarding scholarships.
Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Prof. Dr. Eng. Senya Terzieva-Zhelyazkova, is present at the meeting. She highlighted the ministry's strategic vision: the goal is to encourage students to choose higher education institutions that guarantee the highest quality of the educational process.
The legislative path of the changes so far has gone through the following stages:
- On August 25, the Committee on Education and Science held an extraordinary meeting where it approved the bill at the first reading with 12 votes "for", 0 "against", and four abstentions.
- On August 27, the proposal was put to a vote in the plenary hall, where parliament adopted it at the first reading with 134 votes "for", none "against", and 23 abstentions.
During the initial discussions in the parliamentary committee, Minister of Education and Science Prof. Georgi Valchev emphasized to the media and the BNR that some of the proposals aim to significantly reduce administrative burdens. A key point here is the removal of the requirement for university-set tuition fees to be additionally approved by the Council of Ministers.
The sponsors' motives also provide for specific financial adjustments:
- Reducing the minimum amount of maintenance funds included in the tuition fee from the current 60 percent to 50 percent.
- Introducing a cap on paid education: tuition fees cannot be increased by more than 20 percent for the entire period of study compared to the fee amount in the first year.
- Providing scholarships from the state budget for students enrolled in full-time programs in state-subsidized spots.
- Giving academic councils the opportunity to independently set application fees. According to the stated motives, this will provide higher education institutions with greater freedom in organizing and planning their admissions campaigns.