Balgarianovinite.com Parliament approved at second reading a bill amending and supplementing the Higher Education Act, submitted by the Council of Ministers.
Some of the changes concern the awarding of student scholarships. The legislation clarifies the legal framework governing the right of students and PhD candidates to receive scholarships from the state budget and addresses the need to define the categories of eligible recipients following rulings by the Supreme Administrative Court in 2025. Those rulings overturned provisions in secondary legislation that had restricted access to scholarships for students paying tuition fees, as well as those enrolled in part-time, evening or distance-learning programmes, according to the bill’s explanatory memorandum. The proposed amendments therefore provide for state-funded scholarships to be awarded to students enrolled full-time in state-subsidized programmes.
The amendments would also reduce the student maintenance funding minimum included in tuition fees from the current 60% to 50%, according to the explanatory memorandum. They would also give university academic councils the power to set application fees without requiring approval from the Council of Ministers.
Scholarships for students were the main focus of the parliamentary debate.
Continue the Change MP Nikolay Denkov said his party would support all the provisions except Articles 4 and 5. “The bill contains important changes that should take effect as quickly as possible,” he said, citing measures aimed at reducing the administrative burden on universities as an example. However, he raised concerns about the proposed scholarship provisions. According to Denkov, they introduce an element of discrimination between students studying under the annual state admissions plan and those enrolled in full-time programmes.
Democratic Bulgaria MP Elisaveta Belobradova said her parliamentary group would support some of the proposals but objected to the provisions concerning scholarships. She also said she believed they contained an element of discrimination.
Democratic Bulgaria MP Anna Bodakova also said the amendments would restrict access to scholarships. She argued that scholarships should not be used as a way of encouraging students to attend university physically, noting that part-time study is one of the few ways students can work and study at the same time. Part-time study, she stressed, does not mean that students are less committed to their education. “Some of my colleagues were forced to choose between education and work,” Bodakova said. “Do not turn working students into second-class students,” she urged.
Progressive Bulgaria MP Aleksandar Uzunov said nobody was claiming that students in these forms of education were less capable. “We are not dividing students or saying that one form of education is better than another,” he said. “We are defining the purpose of a specific state scholarship and the conditions under which it is awarded.” Following the court ruling, the issue could no longer be regulated solely through secondary legislation, he noted. “We need a clear, predictable and workable system,” he said. Appropriate support mechanisms can and should be developed for socially vulnerable students, working students and those with outstanding academic performance, Uzunov said, but there is no need for all such policies to be implemented through the same instrument, he added.
GERB-UDF MP Kasimir Valchev said that the state can encourage students to enroll in fee-paying programmes or private universities, but is not obliged to do so. Increasing the budget to provide scholarships or establish funds to encourage academic excellence would be a positive step, he said, but that would be a matter for a separate policy. In his view, the Supreme Administrative Court ruling is not about discrimination.
During the debate, MPs expressed a willingness to refer the matter to the Constitutional Court.
Parliament Approves Amendments to Higher Education Act at Second Reading, Student Scholarships Provisions Spark Debate 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-09-03 14:32:04
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БЪЛГАРИЯ НОВИНИТЕ – ИНФОРМАЦИОННА АГЕНЦИЯ 2009-2026 2026-09-03 14:32:04