National Statistical Institute

Education and Culture Statistics Department

Elena Tsankova

Head of Department

2, P. Volov Str.; 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria

[email protected]

+359 2 9857 511

Tertiary education statistics (professional bachelor’s, bachelor’s and master’s educational-qualification degrees) provide data on educational activity in the higher schools. Main units of observation are students (enrolled, newly enrolled and graduates) and teaching staff. The main breakdowns of characteristics for collected data for students are sex, age, level of education, mode of attendance, specialty, citizenship and country of prior education. Teaching staff in higher schools is studied by sex, age, type of employment, position.

From the 2023/2024 academic year onwards, data on students in tertiary education (students enrolled, new entrants and graduates) are based on an administrative register of the Ministry of Education and Science, resulting in a break in the time series.

From the 2024/2025 academic year onwards, data on teaching staff are based on an administrative register of the Ministry of Education and Science, resulting in a break in the time series.

• International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 2011);
• Until 2016/2017 academic year - Eurostat Fields of Education and Training, 1999 (FOET);
• Since 2017/2018 academic year - ISCED Fields of Education and Training 2013 (ISCED-F 2013).

The survey covers all authorized higher schools (colleges, universities and specialised higher schools) under the regulation of Higher Education Act.

Until the 2021/2022 academic year incl., the scope of the survey also included the private spiritual higher schools, opened under the regulation of Religious Denominations Act. Due to a change in the Religious Denominations Act, the three spiritual higher schools are out of the scope of the survey, since 2022/2023 academic year.

A student is every person enrolled in an educational program of formal education according to ISCED irrespective of the mode of attendance. Formal education includes educational programmes implemented in legitimate educational institutions created according to the existing legal order.

Foreign students are those students who are not citizens of the Republic of Bulgaria as well as those who have dual citizenship and have been enrolled under the regulations about foreign citizens.

The student mobility is measured by country of prior education which means that mobile student is a student who has graduated secondary education abroad.

Graduates are those students who received a document for a completed level from a legitimate educational institution, containing all necessary records and stamps according to the law.

The teaching staff are officials who directly conduct the training sessions according to curriculum irrespective of whether they are full or part time employees. The teaching staff in tertiary education (ISCED - 6 and 7) includes persons whose main engagement is teaching and research work. This staff includes officials such as rectors, vice rectors, deans, heads of departments, etc. if they have teaching activity.

Management personnel includes officials performing management functions at the level of the educational institution - rectors, deans and their assistants, heads of departments.

An educational institution is defined as a centre taking independent decisions, which performs education services for persons and organizations and is created according to the regulations of the law. This means that the institution has a manager (director, rector or another manager), i.e. this is an independent educational institution. Dependent educational institutions are branches or units known under other names which are typically subordinate to an independent institution.

Students and teaching staff.

Participants in formal education.

Whole country.

2001 - 2025

Not applicable.

Number and per cent.

Academic year.

· Regulation (EC) N 452/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the production and development of statistics on education and lifelong learning;

· Methodological documents of Eurostat;

· Law on Statistics;

· Higher education Act;

· Law on Development of the Academic Staff in the Republic of Bulgaria.

Not applicable.

· Law on Statistics;

· Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

In compliance to the Law on Statistics (Articles 25 and 26).

In accordance to the dates defined in the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute.

The calendar is available on the NSI website: https://www.nsi.bg/en/calendar

In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

Annual

Regular press release on the NSI's web page.

· Education in the Republic of Bulgaria;

· Statistical Yearbook;

· Statistical Reference Book;

· 'Bulgaria' (brochure);

· Regions, districts and municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria.

Data for tertiary education (professional bachelor's, bachelor's and master's degrees) are available to all users on the NSI's website under the heading Education and Lifelong Learning: https://www.nsi.bg/en/statistical-data/181 and via Information System Infostat: https://www.nsi.bg/en/infostat

In accordance to the Rules for Provision of Anonymised Individual Data for Scientific and Research purposes.

Information request in accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

· Methodological documents of Eurostat;

· Survey Methodology: http://www.nsi.bg/sites/default/files/files/metadata/Edu_Meth_en.pdf

Quality report in accordance to the Commission Regulation No 88/2011.

A set of quality criteria have been set up within the Commission Regulation No 88/2011.

The national quality report provides users with basic information about quality at national level.

State and regional authorities, international organisations, national and foreign users.

Information is not available.

Information is not available.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Up to and including the 2022/2023 academic year for students and up to and including the 2023/2024 academic year for teaching staff:

· Reference date: 15 November;

· Data collection: November-December.

From the 2023/2024 academic year for students and from the 2024/2025 academic year for teaching staff:

· Reference date: 31 December;

· Data processing: January-May.

Dissemination of national results:

Up to and including 2023/2024 – April

2024/2025 – May

2025/2026 – September

Transmission of data to Eurostat: September

Data are published at national level and provided to Eurostat in time.

Fully comparable with all EU member states.

Partially comparable due to changes in the national legislation.

Data is coherent with Adult education survey.

Carried out quality tests, mainly on the coherency of the gathered information.

Information is not available.

In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

Universities, specialized higher schools and colleges.

Annual

Up to and including the 2022/2023 academic year for students and up to and including the 2023/2024 academic year for teaching staff:

Exhaustive survey via electronic questionnaire Report on tertiary education for master's, bachelor's and professional bachelor's educational-qualification degrees.

From the 2023/2024 academic year for students and from the 2024/2025 academic year for teaching staff:

Data from administrative registers of the Ministry of Education and Science, obtained through the National Information and Documentation Centre.

Data validation is done by the National Statistical Institute and quality tests are carried out by Eurostat.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

National Statistical Institute

Education and Culture Statistics Department

Elena Tsankova

Head of Department

2, P. Volov Str.; 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria

[email protected]

+359 2 9857 511

Tertiary education statistics (doctor’s educational and scientific degree) provide data on the number of PhD students enrolled, newly enrolled and graduates at doctoral level. The main breakdowns of characteristics for the collected data on PhD students are sex, age, mode of attendance, specialty, citizenship and country of prior education. Their number is determined as of a given date of observation – December 31.

From the 2023/2024 academic year onwards, data on PhD students (enrolled, new entrants and graduates) are based on an administrative register of the Ministry of Education and Science, resulting in a break in the time series.

• International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 2011);
• Until 2020/2021 academic year - Classification of the specialties for acquiring a doctor’s educational and scientific degree, complemented with the new doctoral programmes accredited by the National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency since 2012;
• Until 2016/2017 academic year - Eurostat Fields of Education and Training, 1999 (FOET);
• Since 2017/2018 academic year - ISCED Fields of Education and Training 2013 (ISCED-F 2013).

The survey covers all authorized higher schools and scientific organisations.

A PhD student is every person enrolled in an educational program of formal education according to ISCED irrespective of the mode of attendance. Formal education includes educational programmes implemented in legitimate educational institutions created according to the existing legal order.

Ph.D. students in scientific organisations are also included, irrespective of the mode of attendance.

Foreign students are those students who are not citizens of the Republic of Bulgaria as well as those who have dual citizenship and have been enrolled under the regulations for foreign citizens.

Graduates are those students who have received a document for a completed level from a legitimate educational institution, containing all necessary records and stamps according to the law.

An educational institution is defined as a centre taking independent decisions, which performs education services for persons and organizations and is created according to the regulations of the law. This means that the institution has a manager (director, rector or another manager), i.e. this is an independent educational institution. Dependent educational institutions are branches or units known under other names which are typically subordinate to an independent institution.

PhD students.

Participants in formal education.

Whole country.

2001 - 2025

Not applicable.

Number and per cent.

Academic year.

· Regulation (EC) N 452/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the production and development of statistics on education and lifelong learning;

· Methodological documents of Eurostat;

· Law on Statistics;

· Higher education Act;

· Law on Development of the Academic Staff in the Republic of Bulgaria.

Not applicable.

· Law on Statistics;

· Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

In compliance to the Law on Statistics (Articles 25 and 26).

In accordance to the dates defined in the Release Calendar presenting the results of the statistical surveys carried out by the National Statistical Institute.

The calendar is available on the NSI website: https://www.nsi.bg/en/calendar

In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

Annual

Regular press release on the NSI's web page.

· Education in the Republic of Bulgaria;

· Statistical Yearbook;

· Statistical Reference Book;

· 'Bulgaria' (brochure).

Data for tertiary education (doctor’s educational and scientific degree) are available to all users on the NSI's website under the heading Education and Lifelong Learning: https://www.nsi.bg/en/statistical-data/181 and via Information System Infostat: https://www.nsi.bg/en/infostat

In accordance to the Rules for Provision of Anonymised Individual Data for Scientific and Research purposes.

Information request in accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

· Methodological documents of Eurostat;

· Survey Methodology: http://www.nsi.bg/sites/default/files/files/metadata/Edu_Meth_en.pdf

Quality report in accordance to the Commission Regulation No 88/2011.

A set of quality criteria have been set up within the Commission Regulation No 88/2011.

The national quality report provides users with basic information about quality at national level.

State and regional authorities, international organisations, national and foreign users.

Information is not available.

Information is not available.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

· Reference date: December 31;

· Data collection: January - February (until 2022 incl.);

· Data processing: March - April;

· Dissemination of national results:

Until 2023 - April

2024 - May

2025 - September

· Transmission of data to Eurostat: September.

Data are published at national level and provided to Eurostat in time.

Fully comparable with all EU member states.

Partially comparable due to the changes in the national legislation.

Data are coherent with Adult education survey.

Carried out quality tests, mainly on the coherency of the gathered information.

Information is not available.

In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

Higher schools and scientific organisations.

Annual

Until 2022 incl.:

Exhaustive survey via electronic questionnaire Report on PhD students.

Since 2023:

An administrative register - A register of all students enrolled, students interrupted their studies and graduates, which is maintained as an electronic database by the Ministry of Education and Science through the National Information and Documentation Centre.

Data validation is done by the National Statistical Institute and quality tests are carried out by Eurostat.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

National Statistical Institute

Education and Culture Statistics Department

Elena Tsankova

Head of Department

2, P. Volov Str.; 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria

[email protected]

+359 2 9857 511

Tertiary education statistics (professional bachelor’s, bachelor’s and master’s educational-qualification degrees) provide data on educational activity in the higher schools. Main units of observation are students (enrolled, newly enrolled and graduates) and teaching staff. The main breakdowns of characteristics for collected data for students are sex, age, level of education, mode of attendance, specialty, citizenship and country of prior education. Teaching staff in higher schools is studied by sex, age, type of employment, position.

From the 2023/2024 academic year onwards, data on students in tertiary education (students enrolled, new entrants and graduates) are based on an administrative register of the Ministry of Education and Science, resulting in a break in the time series.

From the 2024/2025 academic year onwards, data on teaching staff are based on an administrative register of the Ministry of Education and Science, resulting in a break in the time series.

• International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 2011);
• Until 2016/2017 academic year - Eurostat Fields of Education and Training, 1999 (FOET);
• Since 2017/2018 academic year - ISCED Fields of Education and Training 2013 (ISCED-F 2013).

The survey covers all authorized higher schools (colleges, universities and specialised higher schools) under the regulation of Higher Education Act.

Until the 2021/2022 academic year incl., the scope of the survey also included the private spiritual higher schools, opened under the regulation of Religious Denominations Act. Due to a change in the Religious Denominations Act, the three spiritual higher schools are out of the scope of the survey, since 2022/2023 academic year.

A student is every person enrolled in an educational program of formal education according to ISCED irrespective of the mode of attendance. Formal education includes educational programmes implemented in legitimate educational institutions created according to the existing legal order.

Foreign students are those students who are not citizens of the Republic of Bulgaria as well as those who have dual citizenship and have been enrolled under the regulations about foreign citizens.

The student mobility is measured by country of prior education which means that mobile student is a student who has graduated secondary education abroad.

Graduates are those students who received a document for a completed level from a legitimate educational institution, containing all necessary records and stamps according to the law.

The teaching staff are officials who directly conduct the training sessions according to curriculum irrespective of whether they are full or part time employees. The teaching staff in tertiary education (ISCED - 6 and 7) includes persons whose main engagement is teaching and research work. This staff includes officials such as rectors, vice rectors, deans, heads of departments, etc. if they have teaching activity.

Management personnel includes officials performing management functions at the level of the educational institution - rectors, deans and their assistants, heads of departments.

An educational institution is defined as a centre taking independent decisions, which performs education services for persons and organizations and is created according to the regulations of the law. This means that the institution has a manager (director, rector or another manager), i.e. this is an independent educational institution. Dependent educational institutions are branches or units known under other names which are typically subordinate to an independent institution.

Students and teaching staff.

Participants in formal education.

Whole country.

2001 - 2025

Not applicable.

Universities, specialized higher schools and colleges.

Annual

Up to and including the 2022/2023 academic year for students and up to and including the 2023/2024 academic year for teaching staff:

Exhaustive survey via electronic questionnaire Report on tertiary education for master's, bachelor's and professional bachelor's educational-qualification degrees.

From the 2023/2024 academic year for students and from the 2024/2025 academic year for teaching staff:

Data from administrative registers of the Ministry of Education and Science, obtained through the National Information and Documentation Centre.

Data validation is done by the National Statistical Institute and quality tests are carried out by Eurostat.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

A set of quality criteria have been set up within the Commission Regulation No 88/2011.

The national quality report provides users with basic information about quality at national level.

State and regional authorities, international organisations, national and foreign users.

Information is not available.

Information is not available.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

Not applicable.

Up to and including the 2022/2023 academic year for students and up to and including the 2023/2024 academic year for teaching staff:

· Reference date: 15 November;

· Data collection: November-December.

From the 2023/2024 academic year for students and from the 2024/2025 academic year for teaching staff:

· Reference date: 31 December;

· Data processing: January-May.

Dissemination of national results:

Up to and including 2023/2024 – April

2024/2025 – May

2025/2026 – September

Transmission of data to Eurostat: September

Up to and including the 2024/2025 academic year: 20 weeks

2025/2026 academic year: 36 weeks

Not applicable.

Data are published at national level and provided to Eurostat in time.

Not applicable.

Fully comparable with all EU member states.

Not applicable.

Partially comparable due to changes in the national legislation.

25 years.

Data is coherent with Adult education survey.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Carried out quality tests, mainly on the coherency of the gathered information.

Regular press release on the NSI's web page.

· Education in the Republic of Bulgaria;

· Statistical Yearbook;

· Statistical Reference Book;

· 'Bulgaria' (brochure);

· Regions, districts and municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria.

Data for tertiary education (professional bachelor's, bachelor's and master's degrees) are available to all users on the NSI's website under the heading Education and Lifelong Learning: https://www.nsi.bg/en/statistical-data/181 and via Information System Infostat: https://www.nsi.bg/en/infostat

Not available.

In accordance to the Rules for Provision of Anonymised Individual Data for Scientific and Research purposes.

Information request in accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

Not available.

· Methodological documents of Eurostat;

· Survey Methodology: http://www.nsi.bg/sites/default/files/files/metadata/Edu_Meth_en.pdf

Not avaliable.

Quality report in accordance to the Commission Regulation No 88/2011.

Information is not available.

· Law on Statistics;

· Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

In compliance to the Law on Statistics (Articles 25 and 26).

National Statistical Institute

Education and Culture Statistics Department

Elena Tsankova

Head of Department

2, P. Volov Str.; 1038 Sofia, Bulgaria

[email protected]

+359 2 9857 511

Tertiary education statistics (doctor’s educational and scientific degree) provide data on the number of PhD students enrolled, newly enrolled and graduates at doctoral level. The main breakdowns of characteristics for the collected data on PhD students are sex, age, mode of attendance, specialty, citizenship and country of prior education. Their number is determined as of a given date of observation – December 31.

From the 2023/2024 academic year onwards, data on PhD students (enrolled, new entrants and graduates) are based on an administrative register of the Ministry of Education and Science, resulting in a break in the time series.

• International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 2011);
• Until 2020/2021 academic year - Classification of the specialties for acquiring a doctor’s educational and scientific degree, complemented with the new doctoral programmes accredited by the National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency since 2012;
• Until 2016/2017 academic year - Eurostat Fields of Education and Training, 1999 (FOET);
• Since 2017/2018 academic year - ISCED Fields of Education and Training 2013 (ISCED-F 2013).

The survey covers all authorized higher schools and scientific organisations.

A PhD student is every person enrolled in an educational program of formal education according to ISCED irrespective of the mode of attendance. Formal education includes educational programmes implemented in legitimate educational institutions created according to the existing legal order.

Ph.D. students in scientific organisations are also included, irrespective of the mode of attendance.

Foreign students are those students who are not citizens of the Republic of Bulgaria as well as those who have dual citizenship and have been enrolled under the regulations for foreign citizens.

Graduates are those students who have received a document for a completed level from a legitimate educational institution, containing all necessary records and stamps according to the law.

An educational institution is defined as a centre taking independent decisions, which performs education services for persons and organizations and is created according to the regulations of the law. This means that the institution has a manager (director, rector or another manager), i.e. this is an independent educational institution. Dependent educational institutions are branches or units known under other names which are typically subordinate to an independent institution.

PhD students.

Participants in formal education.

Whole country.

2001 - 2025

Not applicable.

Higher schools and scientific organisations.

Annual

Until 2022 incl.:

Exhaustive survey via electronic questionnaire Report on PhD students.

Since 2023:

An administrative register - A register of all students enrolled, students interrupted their studies and graduates, which is maintained as an electronic database by the Ministry of Education and Science through the National Information and Documentation Centre.

Data validation is done by the National Statistical Institute and quality tests are carried out by Eurostat.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

A set of quality criteria have been set up within the Commission Regulation No 88/2011.

The national quality report provides users with basic information about quality at national level.

State and regional authorities, international organisations, national and foreign users.

Information is not available.

Information is not available.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

In accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

Not applicable.

· Reference date: December 31;

· Data collection: January - February (until 2022 incl.);

· Data processing: March - April;

· Dissemination of national results:

Until 2023 - April

2024 - May

2025 - September

· Transmission of data to Eurostat: September.

16 weeks.

Not applicable.

Data are published at national level and provided to Eurostat in time.

Not applicable.

Fully comparable with all EU member states.

Not applicable.

Partially comparable due to the changes in the national legislation.

25 years.

Data are coherent with Adult education survey.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Carried out quality tests, mainly on the coherency of the gathered information.

Regular press release on the NSI's web page.

· Education in the Republic of Bulgaria;

· Statistical Yearbook;

· Statistical Reference Book;

· 'Bulgaria' (brochure).

Data for tertiary education (doctor’s educational and scientific degree) are available to all users on the NSI's website under the heading Education and Lifelong Learning: https://www.nsi.bg/en/statistical-data/181 and via Information System Infostat: https://www.nsi.bg/en/infostat

Not avaliable.

In accordance to the Rules for Provision of Anonymised Individual Data for Scientific and Research purposes.

Information request in accordance to the Rules for Dissemination of Statistical Products and Services.

Not avaliable.

· Methodological documents of Eurostat;

· Survey Methodology: http://www.nsi.bg/sites/default/files/files/metadata/Edu_Meth_en.pdf

Not avaliable.

Quality report in accordance to the Commission Regulation No 88/2011.

Information is not available.

· Law on Statistics;

· Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

In compliance to the Law on Statistics (Articles 25 and 26).