The largest association of universities in the world, as AUF is known, has been present in Bulgaria since the beginning of the 1990s and has 11 members among the most prestigious higher education institutions in the country. "These are the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", whose Francophone center houses the national office of AUF, the Technical University of Sofia, which has a faculty and programs taught entirely in French, the University of Chemical Technology in Sofia, the Medical Universities in Sofia and Plovdiv. The Bulgarian Academy of Sciences is also a member of AUF, as are the universities of Ruse, Veliko Tarnovo, and the G.S. Rakovski Military Academy, we learn from Peter Topareff, head of the national office of the University Agency of Francophonie in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria is one of the 42 countries that signed the manifesto of francophone scientific diplomacy, but this year Bulgaria will not be represented at the level of the Ministry of Education and Science - Petar Topareff tells us:

"On the other hand, we take part in scientific conferences. The topic this year is mainly related to economic topics and the teacher from the New Bulgarian University Assoc. Prof. Juliana Hadzhichoneva will give a report within the framework of this scientific forum. This very well coincides with the fact that in 2024 the NBU will host the World Congress of Francophone Economists - Prof. Hadzhichoneva will have the opportunity to introduce her colleagues to this major event that is coming for the Francophonie in Bulgaria. The other universities and their professors and researchers will participate in the online panels and the workshops, i.e. they will not be on site in Quebec, but they will be able to follow and be involved in the work of the various panels."

"These traditions have deep roots since the Bulgarian National Revival Period", explains Petar Topareff. " After the Liberation of Bulgaria, there were many students who studied in France, returned to Bulgaria, became teachers and leading researchers and pioneers in various fields, which they developed on the basis of their French experience. This continued even after 1944, insofar as the very good system of language training in secondary education that Bulgaria has, namely the language high schools, was built on the basis of the French experience. So the tradition of French in the Bulgarian education system - secondary and higher - is present indeed for many years in Bulgaria and allows scientists to join wider teams and participate in larger-scale projects, including those of European universities."

"The tradition we are talking about still exists within the Francophone programs in Bulgarian universities - I mentioned the one in the Sofia Technical University, but they have such in the Chemical Technology University, engineering-related, political sciences in the New Bulgarian University, economics and business management in the Faculty of Economics of Sofia University, of course the philology majors in the various universities. These programs succeed in creating young Francophone scientists, who then become part of the teams and their developments. But in general, the scientific production in French is decreasing," concludes Peter Topareff.

Photos: auf.org, rndc.bg, nbu.bg