Material Facilities

The quality of educational and research activities depends to a large extent on the material and technical facilities so since the establishment of the Free University of Political and Economic Sciences in 1920 its Managing Body has taken steps to provide the university with its own building. Due to the finance collected in its reserve fund and to the mortgage loan, two buildings had been purchased – one on G. Rakovsky street No. 94 /today No. 114/ and a house on St. Karadzha street No. 18. In less than a decade after its establishment, the Free University has its own facilities and property worth over 11 million BGN. In January 1942 the National Assembly adopted a law for a loan of BGN 8 million from the Bulgarian Agricultural and Cooperative Bank to start the construction of a new building for the University on St. Karadzha street No. 20.

Laying of the foundations of the new building on St. Karadzha street in 1942

Entrance to the building on St. Karadzha street

Over the time these buildings proved space-inefficient to hold normal classes with a large number of students and to provide jobs for the university lecturers. An additional inconvenience had also been the location of the properties. Growing demands had required steps to construct a new building. It was planned to be in the area where the future Student Town had to be built and on 18 February 1971 first sod for the present University building was laid.

The first sod of the present building of the UNWE in Student Town in 1971

In October 1975 the first two blocks of the building - blocks A and B - were finished and officially opened. They were equipped with 4 halls for 220 people, 4 halls with 70 seats and 6 seminar rooms with 20-30 seats. In the spring of 1977 blocks E and F were completed and the construction work continued in the following years. An editorial-publishing sector with printing facilities was opened in 1972 and Bonsist Sports Complex opened its doors in 1977. The intensive construction of the university's building and the equipment continued into the early 1980s. In December 1984 the multi-functional Maxima Aula and a new Electronic Computing Center were opened, as well as sevral phonetics rooms. In 1987 the new University Library was opened. In the mid-1980s, the construction of Campus I was also started and it was put into operation in 1991.

Maxima Aula in 1984

By the end of the first decade of the XXI century, the construction and reconstruction of the existing facilities continued. In 2000 the University took over the full management of the student dormitories and canteens, which were organized into a separate division. In 2001 the construction of the Educational and Rehabilitation Facilities in Ravda was completed. In 2004 a computer room was opened in the Regional Center for Distance Learning in Haskovo, and in 2006 computer rooms in the University Library are also opened. All the old auditoriums were renovated and new ones were constructed. Maxima Aula and the Bonsist Sports Comlex were renovated in an impressive way. A completely new Large Conference Hall /2006/, Small Conference Hall /2006/, Faculty Hall, Ceremonial Hall /2009/, Evening Hall, Center for Documents Reception, an impressive modern Test Centre /2011/ have been built, and the Rector's Office Administrative Building has been extended with a new West Wing. The Educational and Rehabilitation Facilities in Ravda was also fully renovated at that time.

The UNWE begins its new century with a large-scale construction and renovation of the facilities under a programme approved by the Rector of the University Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov /2020/. The main priority is to improve the conditions for increasing the quality of education and to bring the classrooms in line with students' expectations. Within the framework of the project Economic Education in Bulgaria 2030 under the EU procedure Modernization of Higher Education Institutions with EU funding, 6 digital classrooms and 2 laboratories have been built and they are still functioning.

In April 2021 the completely new Academic Campus K was put into operation.

In 2023 the completely renovated UNWE Library was opened - a unique architectural jewel providing students with access to all technological innovations, modern reading rooms, separate places for people with disabilities.

The material facilities of the student dormitories are constantly being renovated. In October 2023 was opened another fully renovated block of the University's student dormitories /Block 55B/.

The rtenovation and modernization of the University's facilities is a continuous process aimed at providing students with excellent learning conditions, access to the modern technologies and scientific achievements as well as comfortable conditions for living and resting and the opportunity to continue the learning process outside the auditorium.

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