Prof. Dr. Matilda Alexandrova: Each Prospective Student Could Request an Individual Online or In-person Consultation

The Vice Rector for Educational Activity Prof. Dr. Matilda Alexandrova about the prospective student campaign  based on the key priority of UNWE - to offer modern specialities with rich academic content and practical orientation

The prospective student campaign is carried out  throughout the year, not just around the entrance exams. Are there many opportunities to apply? How do you rate the prospective students campaign 2024 - 2025?

The prospective student campaign this year unites the efforts of the Rector's Managing Body, the academic and administrative staff of the University, the representatives of the student community to establish our University as a leader in the field of economic, managerial, political, communication and legal sciences - not only in Bulgaria, but also in Southeastern Europe. In this process, the role of our partners from the business, state and municipal institutions, secondary schools and education centers should be highly valued. Together, we succeed to attract more motivated and engaged prospective students.

The prospective student campaign is based on the key priority of UNWE, namely - to offer modern specialities with extensive academic content and practical orientation, in line with the best European and global educational standards, valuable expertise and opportunities for internships and scholarship programmes in large national and international companies, banks and financial institutions, as well as in state and municipal organizations.

This main priority motivates us to continue our efforts in organizing and conducting multiple entrance examinations in different formats - the Unified Entrance Examination /UEE/ and the State Matriculation Examination in Bulgarian Language and Literature, and Geography and Economics. Within the framework of the prospective student campaign the UNWE organizes national competitions and contests. The Association of Economic Schools in Bulgaria /AESB/ and the Association of Language Schools in Bulgaria /ALSB/ have a significant contribution in this direction. This year, the message to prospective students is The Road of Success Goes through the UNWE.

The UNWE aims to shorten the distance with the secondary education. How does it reflects in this campaign?

With our vision of a university of the future, we strive to be in line with the modern world based on the digital economy, digital society and sustainable development. Leveraging these strengths, we have focused on channels of communication with young people that clearly, quickly and effectively inform them about the new and advanced curricula and interactive resources introduced at the UNWE. In addition to social media communication and other digital tools, we rely on direct communication, which includes numerous meetings at schools, open lectures and professional consultations with pupils in the country and with their parents. These regional meetings, as well as the Open Doors Days at the University are a continuation of the Rectors Managing Body overall policy of partnership with a number of municipalities in Bulgaria. This cooperation has been particularly effective in organizing preliminary external examinations in various regions of the country enabling more secondary school pupils to participate in such examinations in their hometowns.

Shortening the distance with the prospective students is also ensured with the help of student volunteers and lecturers from the UNWE who participate in numerous meetings with prospective first year studnets across the country. This provides information on the degree programmes provided by the UNWE, the application process and deadlines, the conditions in the student accommodations as well as the broad opportunities for professional development during studies. An important place is also occupied by the information about the opportunities for mobility within the ENGAGE.EU where the UNWE is a member, under the Erasmus+ Programme and other forms of cooperation with foreign universities.

If the prospective students wish they could request an individual consultation online or in person at the university on any additional issues of interest to them - information about the university, degree programmes, educational processes, career development and realization, etc. There is a great interest in studying at the UNWE for all specialties, for some of them the competition is significant, which is an evidence for the high quality of education at the University.

The University strives to keep up with the new demands of both prospective students and business. What new specialties are provided?

At the UNWE we continuously monitor both the changes in the regulatory documents and the new demands of the labour market, the educational market and the interests of the prospective students. At the same time we are ready to respond to these demands in a timely manner. For admission in the academic year 2024-2025 at the UNWE are provided new Bachelor`s degree programme in European Integration and Diplomacy, which will be studied in full-time form of education as well as  Bachelor`s degree programme in Business Administration, Public Administration and Regional Development, which can be studied in the distance form of education preferred by many prospective students. For the first time the speciality Business Administration will be taught in English. The guiding rule when opening new specialties at the UNWE is the specific research and feedback from employers and branch organizations about the demand for staff with modern training. 

What is upcoming in the prospective students campaign 2024-2025? What should the prospective students expect from the UNWE?

The focus of the prospective students campaign for the academic year 2024-2025 is the individual approach to each prospective student. Candidates can choose from a wide range of modern full-time and distance form of education - 53 Bachelor`s degree programmes in total and a Master`s degree speciality Law. For the last 10 years the UNWE has been teaching in English, currently in eight specialties, one of which is in distance form of education. These specialities require a certificate of language proficiency at level B2 or a language proficiency examination passed at the UNWE. Language proficiency is required for four other specialities and applicants can present a valid certificate of proficiency in any of the five languages - English, German, French, Spanish and Russian.

For all specialties at the UNWE it is possible to apply by documents with a grade from the State Matriculation Examination. The chances of applicants to rank for the desired specialty are significantly increased by taking one of the preliminary examinations - Unified Entrance Examination /test/ in electronic format /UEE/ or State Matriculation Examination in Bulgarian Language and Literature or in Geography and Economics. The highest grade obtained in one of the examinations is selected for the ranking.

A Unified Information System has been established and it is used for admission to the UNWE. In addition to online submission of documents, it provides automatic access to the necessary information for the application, arrangement of the specialties in the order desired by the applicant, receiving information and electronic reminders of all important deadlines and dates for prospective students as well as the results of the ranking. To announce up-to-date information the UNWE uses a robot that can send a notification to all prospective students simultaneously. Efforts are aimed at increasing the use of artificial intelligence capabilities not only in the training process, but also in the application processes. This once again proves the innovative role of our university in the application of modern digital technologies in teaching and administrative processes in higher education.