The desolate situation of Bulgaria's university professors

The celebration of Slavonic Literature and Culture Day today prompts cultural scientist Alexander Kyossev to demand that the salaries of lecturers at Bulgarian universities be increased immediately. According to Kyossev sorry statistics are more appropriate than solemn speeches for this year's Saint Cyril and Methodius Day. He points out that Bulgaria's university lecturers earn 26 times less than their colleagues in Switzerland and five times less than the Croats, who aren't even EU members. This means that the successors of Cyril and Methodius are forced to get by on only 4,593 euros a year. "The prestige of research work and the quality of its products will continue to sink, and tomorrow's academics tomorrow will continue to leave the country - until Bulgaria's ever scarcer intellectual potential shrinks to become a lonely island in the sea of Europe's knowledge economy. And incidentally, this is something that would reduce everyone's income in the mid-term."

» full article (external link, Bulgarian)
More from the press review on the subject » Cultural Policy, » Bulgaria