The Republic of Bulgaria is situated in South Eastern Europe on the Balkan Peninsula. According to National Statistical Institute data from 2016, the country's land size is 110,993 km2 with a population of 5 204 385 down from 7,364,570 in 2011. Bulgaria is a republic based on parliamentary democracy.
Ever since Bulgaria's admission to the EU in 2007, the educational sector has been undergoing a serious and widespread reform aiming at attaining coherence with educational systems of other European countries. The main goal of Bulgarian education authorities is to:
- ensure the adaptability of the educational system towards new challenges
- guarantee sustainable system development in compliance with European standards
- provide valuable and competitive knowledge and skills.
Within the intercultural framework, quality of education and training is a universal objective, together with ensuring equal access to education for all children and students regardless of their gender, ethnic, social or religious background.
The major goal is to promote creative application of acquired knowledge, independent thinking and development of competences for children and students. These sets of skills are to help young people during their personal and social growth in a time of dynamic change, as well as increasing mobility, both within the European community, and worldwide.
The efforts to provide modern education while pursuing the preservation of national tradions and compliance with the European standards are continuing. At national level, the aim is to help students develop valuable and competitive knowledge and professional competencies for the labor market, incl. the possibilities within the lifelong learning programs.
The high quality of education and training is one of the global objectives guaranteeing equal access for all learners, regardless of their gender, age, ethnicity or religion. The main objective is to promote the creative application of acquired knowledge, independent thinking and development of key competences. Increasingly, adequate opportunities for personal, professional and social realization are provided in the context of dynamic changes as well as increasing mobility not only within the European Community context but also worldwide.