Activities

Participation in the workshop "The role of universities in the transformation of societies" London, 14-16 November The workshop was organized by the Center for higher education research and information (CHERI) and the Association of Commonwealth Universities (www.acu.ac.uk). Participants from Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, India, Estonia, Russia, Belarus, the United Kingdom, Kyrgyzstan and Bulgaria discussed the national and the institutional dimensions of the interference of the academe in the social processes, evolving in their countries. I had a brief presentation, based on the chapter "Transition and transformation", included in the research paper (available in this page).

Participation in the 24th annual EAIR forum Prague, 8-11 September The annual fora of the European Association for Institutional Research ( http://www.org.uva.nl/eair ) are one of the most important events for the people who do care about the higher education in their own countries and all over the world. This year the forum gathered about 450 participants from all continents, who attended the discussions in 7 different tracks. The general topic was "Crossing national, structural and technological borders: development and management in higher education". Apart the Plenary Keynote Addresses I took part in Track 3 "Prague Summit 2001" and in the panel, chaired by Voldemar Tomusk "Bologna initiative in Eastern Europe: Political opportunism or the last chance for a reform". Later on my presentation "Apologia declarationis Boloniensis contra murmurantes" will be posted here.

Research trip to Greece end of July 2002 ...and participation in the constitutive meeting of the Southeast-European Association for Ancient Philosophy. In this first meeting took part colleagues from Croatia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Slovenia and Oxford. We discussed mainly the teaching in the bachelor's and master's programmes, and the scholarly studies of ancient philosophy in the represented countries.

Some of the participants in the first SEAAP-meeting, 19-22 July, Delphi (from left to the right : Michaela Pop from the Bucharest University, Gabor Betegh from the CEU, Budapest (sitting), Vladimir Cvetkovic, the University of Nis; Vasile Rus from the University of Cluj (sitting), Irina Deretic from the University of Belgrade, me, Nikolay Gochev, Sofia University, Ivan Christov, Veliko Turnovo University). Photo: Pavel Gregorich from the University of Zagreb-and-Oxford

The book "The University: where to?" is already published! end of April 2002 This book, published by SONM Publishers, gathers some previous writings of mine, written in the period 1999-2001 on various problems of the history and the present-day situation of the Bulgarian higher education, and especially in the Sofia University. The contents of the book in English is available here on this site and also, if you are curious to see the cover, you might look in the Gallery. Many of the ideas, expressed in the articles, included in it, will be developed in the present project.

The book "The University: where to?" is already published! end of April 2002 This book, published by SONM Publishers, gathers some previous writings of mine, written in the period 1999-2001 on various problems of the history and the present-day situation of the Bulgarian higher education, and especially in the Sofia University. The contents of the book in English is available here on this site and also, if you are curious to see the cover, you might look in the Gallery. Many of the ideas, expressed in the articles, included in it, will be developed in the present project.

Presentation in the French cultural Institute 13 April 2002 HOMO ACADEMICUS - gallicus et bulgaricus. That was the topic of my presentation in the French cultural Institute in Sofia in the Saturday morning of April the 13th. Of course, the interpreted author was Pierre Bourdieu. The presentation was a part of the Saturday morning literary and philosophical matine series, organized by the FCI. The discussions there once a month are much nearer to the friendly chatting than to the serious scholarly analysis, however this is an appropriate way to popularize the ideas of significant contemporary French thinkers. The main points of the presentation will be included in the interim report.

Workshop in Vienna 14-18 January 2002 The workshop was organized by CHERI (Centre for Higher Educaion Research and Information) and ACU (Association of the Commonwealth Universities) in order to discuss the development of the project "The Role of Universities in the Transformation of Societies". The fellows of OSI for the year 2002 working on the same topic also took part in the conference.

"Educational watch" project - Southeast European Academic League September 2001 I became a member of the Experts' Council of "Academic Publicity" - Bulgarian online journal for higher education. Besides the regular discussions on the content I have contributed in the edition of the journal with: a) a paper entitled "How is the autonomy of the university possible" b) participation in the discussions of the Experts' Group on the proposals for new Scientific Titles and Degrees Act.

Draft proposal for new Higher Education Act December 2001 - February 2002 In this period regular expert meetings were held in the Ministry of Education and Science. They prepared a draft proposal for a new Higher Education Act. The broader and more detailed discussions on it are postponed for the next academic year (2002/2003)