The New Deans of the Faculties at Our University

At the end of 2023 the new Deans who will manage the UNWE Faculties for the next four years were elected.

The Rector of UNWE Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov greeted the newly elected Deans and wished them success and fruitful work.

Prof. Dr. Georgy Petrunov, Dean of the General Economics Faculty, Prof. Dr. Rumen Brusarsky, Dean of the Finance and Accountancy Faculty, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Svetla Boneva, Dean of the International Economics and Politics Faculty, the Rector of the UNWE Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov, Prof. Dr. Nadia Mironova, Dean of the Management and Administration Faculty, Prof. Dr. Venelin Boshnakov, Dean of the Applied Informatics and Statistics Faculty, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Silvia Terezova, Dean of the Economics of Infrastructure Faculty, Prof. Dr. Georgy Zabunov, Dean of the Business Faculty, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Miroslav Dimitrov, Dean of the Law Faculty /from the left to the right/

The new Dean of the General Economics Faculty is Prof. Dr. Georgy Petrunov. He is the Head of the Economic Sociology Department.

The General Economics Faculty is composed of four Departments having a decade-long history. These are the Economics Department, Human Resources and Social Protection Department, Economic Sociology Department and the Political Economy Department.

According to Prof. Dr. Petrunov there is double liability. On one hand, the task is to build up the achievements of the General Economics Faculty in the training of students with an excellent theoretical background who have knowledge of established and new concepts and models for the study of economics, society and labour. On the other hand, there is the awarness that the fundamental scientific disciplines must respond to the expectation of contributing to the solution of key economic and societal problems and of preparing people with not only theoretical knowledge but also with skills and abilities to develop and apply solutions to these problems in practice.

The concept of Prof. Dr. Georgy Petrunov for the development of the General Economics Faculty is based on six main pillars: consensus in decision-making and following the democratic principles in the relations between Departments; educational process based on quality - maintaining a high quality of the educational process, conducting in-depth research among the undergraduates and Doctoral students concerning the quality and practical usefulness of training, expanding the range of partnerships with foreign universities and local organizations; research activities focused on the current societal and economic challenges - encouraging the efforts to attract funding from external sources for the implementation of research activities and increasing the international recognition of research results; digital faculty - expanding the use of digital learning tools and making greater utilisation of the advantages of digital learning content within the learning process; facilitating the transition from education to employment - organizing events dedicated to career development opportunities for students, greater involvement for students in research and practice-related activities; supporting the career development of academic personnel.

Prof. Dr. Rumen Brusarsky was elected for a second mandate as Dean of the Finance and Accountancy Faculty.

The Finance and Accountancy Faculty consists of the following Departments: Finance, Accountancy and Analysis, Financial Control.

Prof. Dr. Rumen Brusarsky is a long-time lecturer at the UNWE. He has been Scientific Secretary and Deputy Head of the Finance Department.

Prof. Brusarsky prioritises the development of the Finance and Accountancy Faculty in three main directions - teaching, research and international cooperation. In the first area the work will be carried out to prepare more and more high-quality specialists for the Bulgarian economy in the field of finance, accountancy and financial control. According to Prof. Dr. Rumen Brusarsky among the key factors for success in this area are the modern curricula and programmes, highly qualified lecturers, close ties with the business and other institutions and organizations for which the Finance and Accountancy Faculty prepares professionals. Forming a culture of lifelong learning among the graduates of the Faculty because in today's dynamic world diplomas become out-of-date very quickly.

The second direction will work to raise the level of research through more and better research and to encourage the publication activity of academic members. According to Prof. Brusarsky a reasonable staff policy of continuity and attraction of young scientists should be pursued by creating favourable conditions for career development in the Faculty.

In relation to the third direction, an active international cooperation will be developed through intensive contacts with foreign faculties and universities, participation in international scientific forums, specializations abroad, etc.

The new Dean of the Management and Administration Faculty is Prof. Dr. Nadia Mironova.

The Management and Administration Faculty consists of the Management Department, Marketing and Strategic Planning Department, Public Administration Department and the Regional Development Department.

Prof. Dr. Nadia Mironova has been Vice Dean for Academic Affairs of the Faculty, Head of the Management Department and Scientific Secretary of the Department. She is the Director of the UNWE Regional Center for Distance Learning /RCDL/ in Haskovo.

According to Prof. Mironova the Management and Administration Faculty has successfully implemented the university idea of unity between the teaching and research and has fully fulfilled the main functions of higher education - to prepare professionals with the highest qualifications for business and the public sector and to obtain new, globally recognizable scientific results in the field of marketing, management, regional development and public administration. A particular advantage of the Faculty is that its Departments cover two professional fields: Economics / Administration and Management, which provides opportunities for high added value of collaborative work.

The objective of the leadership for the next 4 years will be to achieve greater added value for each Department through joint Master's degree programmes and coordination of educational activities, joint research, collaborative publications and common advertising and image activities.

According to Prof. Dr. Nadia Mironova the achievement of the objective should be measured by: the number of enrolled students; the number of participants in the Managing bodies of UNWE and out of it; the total publishing activity and impact factor; the accreditation assessment; the quantity and quality of international activity and mobility of lecturers and students.

"The spirit makes the strength, the community creates the spirit, and all of us together create the community", says Prof. Dr. Nadia Mironova.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Silvia Terezova was elected as Dean of the Economics of Infrastructure Faculty for a second mandate.

The Economics of Infrastructure Faculty includes the Economics of Trade Department, Media and Public Communications Department, Logistics and Supply Chains Department, Economics of Transport and Energy Department, National and Regional Security Department and Economics of Tourism Department.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Silvia Teresova has been Vice Dean for Academic Affairs of the Economics of Infrastructure Faculty and Scientific Secretary of the Economics of Trade Department. In 2020 she was elected for the first mandate as Dean of the Economics of Infrastructure Faculty.

According to Assoc. Prof. Teresova the activity of the Economics of Infrastructure Faculty in the current mandate is aiming to achieve the objectives set in the Strategy for the Development of the UNWE.

The Dean's Managing Body envisages the encouragement of collaborative publications in Scopus through the formation of research teams from the Departments of the Faculty as well as joint contributions to university, national and international projects, i.e. on the basis of closer collaboration between the Departments. Additionally a contributing factor to this will be the organization and conduction of a faculty ceremony on awarding dipomas to Bachelor's and Master's degree students graduated the Faculty specialities.

The tradition of holding the International Scientific Conference on the Infrastructure: Business and Communications for undergraduates and Doctoral students will be continued. Moreover, an annual Faculty Seminbar for Doctoral students is foreseen. Efforts will also be directed towards more regular publication of the faculty scientific journal Infrastructure & Communications.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Svetla Boneva is the new Dean of the International Economics and Politics Faculty.

The International Economics and Politics Faculty consists of the following Departments: Political Science, International Economic Relations and Business, International Relations, Foreign Languages and Applied Linguistics.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Svetla Boneva has many years of organizational and managerial experience at the UNWE. She has served two consecutive terms as Vice Dean of the International Economics and Politics Faculty and Secretary General of the UNWE for Research Projects. She is the initiator of the establishment of the Dual Master's Degree Programme between the UNWE and the UNINT- Rome, Italy and after the launch of the Programme in 2017 she was also appointed as the Coordinator of the Dual Master's Programme.

The Mandate Programme of Assoc. Prof. Boneva foresees that the three main areas of work in the Faculty – educational activity, research and international cooperation during the term November 2023 – November 2027 to be organized within three main priorities, namely tradition and innovation, accreditation and internationalization and collegiality and prestige.

The Business Faculty also has a new Dean. He is Prof. Dr. Georgy Zabunov.

The Business Faculty includes six Departments - Industrial Business Department, Economics of Natural Resources Department, Real Estate Property Department, Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Department, Entrepreneurship and Physical Education and Sports.

Prof. Dr. Georgy Zabunov has been Vice Dean of the Business Faculty as well as Scientific Secretary and Head of the Real Estate Department.

According to Prof. Zabunov in the recent years the Business Faculty has built good and even closer relations with the business which he intends to develop and continue as a tendency. It will be a priority that will be the basis of the pyramid of activities of the Business Faculty. Prof. Dr. Georgy Zabunov emphasizes that in its role as a higher business school the UNWE is very strong and has a unique experience, therefore he believes that regarding the research and publication activities the emphasis should still be on the relations with the practice. The Business Faculty has a very good publication activity. According to Prof. Zabunov both Institutes of the Business Faculty - Entrepreneurship and Intellectual Property, have great potential to be used in the research work and publication activity.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Miroslav Dimitrov is the new Dean of the Law Faculty.

The Law Faculty consists of the Private Legal Studies Department, Public Legal Studies Department, Criminal Legal Studies Department and International and EU Law Department.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Miroslav Dimitrov has been Vice Dean for Research of the Law Faculty and Head of the Private Legal Studies Department.

Assoc. Miroslav Dimitrov puts continuity, as a first priority in the development of the Law Faculty aiming to preserve and build upon, according to the conditions and opportunities, the achievements of the previous Dean's Managing Body which are not small. His second priority is the successful passage through the procedure of programmatic accreditation of the Faculty which is planned to begin in the beginning of 2025. This accreditation will determine in the medium term the stabilisation and the provision of good prospects for the Faculty development. In relation to this procedure there is a lot of concrete work ahead for the academic staff in 2024. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Miroslav Dimitrov pointed out that there would be an effort to improve the quality of teaching in order to reduce the percentage of students failing, especially in the end of education which in speciality Law consists of three rather difficult state exams. An additional effort will be made to increase the publication activity which is not small but having in mind the limited number of academic staff, which currently consists of 42 lecturers, the Law Faculty has to struggle in a very competitive environment. Assoc. Prof. Dimitrov also highlighted as a summarizing priority his desire to preserve the collegial spirit in the Faculty, to discuss in a professional and academic environment all problems that could arise on an ongoing basis.

Prof. Dr. Venelin Boshnakov is Dean of the Applied Informatics and Statistics Faculty. His mandate lasts until November 2024.

The Applied Informatics and Statistics Faculty has five Departments -  Information Technologies and Communications Department, Statistics and Econometrics Department, Mathematics Department, Computer Science Department and Pedagogics Department.

The work of the Applied Informatics and Statistics Faculty is aiming to achieve the objectives of the UNWE Strategy for Development.