Recently adopted rules for distribution of state funding among higher education institutions will lead to massive imbalances and bankruptcies for more than half of the Bulgarian universities. This is the opinion of educational expert Dr. Antonia Yaneva.
Last week, the Council of Ministers, upon the proposal of the interim Minister of Education and Science, Prof. Galin Tsokov, adopted the long-awaited rules, which were supposed to implement the Law on Establishing Salaries of Academic Staff in Comparison to the Minimum Wage in the Country. It was initiated by GERB MP and former Education Minister Krasimir Valchev.
"The formulas in the regulations are written in a way that puts 18 out of 32 state universities in a systemic financial deficit, i.e. more than half," Yaneva claims.
"More than half of the institutions will lose their budgets due to the new formula proposed by the Ministry of Education, and some may even face closure." Dr. Antonia Yaneva commented, adding,
"As a mathematician and statistician, along with my colleagues in finance, we have conducted a serious analysis of the input components of the complex formula proposed by the MoE, and it does not seem to have a principled basis. There are elements that have a strong discriminatory character, and the data included as a basis for achieving the final result can be seen as specially selected to lead to it."
According to the expert, the state does not have a legal mechanism to solve the problem it has created.
Proposals for signing the so-called "clauses of the day" have been sent to the managements of the affected higher education institutions. "Agreements for supplementary funding", but they are not based on any legal basis and are extremely problematic in terms of the constitutional principle of university autonomy.
"Theoretically, it is not clear on what basis the state creates rules that structure deficits and later gives a "decision" by signing an agreement, which is not provided for in the law.
This closely resembles waving hands in order to make cuts to academic staff.
If the goal is mass layoffs of teachers, closing of departments and faculties, the opinions of trade unions, which will surely react, should also be sought on these issues.
However, these are purely academic questions, on which the state accepted in 1991 that only the self-governing communities have competence. " - believes Dr. Yaneva.
229403 | 17 Sept. 2024 | 22:32
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