New measures to support specialties with labor shortages in Bulgaria

The government is taking steps to address the shortage of specialists in key areas of the Bulgarian economy and education. The Minister of Education and Science, Krasimir Valchev, announced that the specialties "Nurse" and "Midwife" will become protected, with students in these fields being exempted from fees. Additionally, 15% of the intake in the "Medicine" field will be linked to work contracts in medical institutions, in order to retain more young doctors in the country.

A similar measure will be applied to 15% of the intake in the specialties "Economics" and "Administration and Management", which will be linked to the high school graduation exam (Matura) score in mathematics. The Minister explained that "we need economists with mathematical skills", and this percentage will increase to 50% from next year.

The list of protected specialties is also expanded to include "Hydro-engineering" and "Explosive Techniques and Technologies" from the engineering fields, which also suffer from a shortage of personnel. Additionally, several specific specialties from the "Food Technologies" professional field will also become protected.

The government will also support the training of future teachers of mathematics, informatics, physics, chemistry, and natural sciences, which are currently among the most in-demand but scarce positions in school education. These students will be trained without fees.

Parallel to this, the cabinet has approved the new fees for higher education institutions, with an average increase of under 10%. Additionally, the procedures for paying compensation to parents whose children have not been admitted to kindergartens will be accelerated.