site.btaBulgarian Associations in Serbia Back Students amid Cuts in Some University Quotas

The Bosilegrad Cultural and Information Centre, the GLAS - Bosilegrad Association and Cultural Alternative Tsaribrod have expressed outrage over a dramatic reduction in places slated for students from the Bulgarian communities abroad for Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy.

The associations in Serbia sent a letter through the Embassy and the Consulate General in Belgrade to Bulgaria's Ministries of Education and Science and of Foreign Affairs, the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad and the parliamentary committees on education and on policies for Bulgarians abroad.

Compared to the academic years 2019/20 to 2024/25, when the number of places for Medicine reached 81 and 37 for Dental Medicine and Pharmacy each, in the academic year 2025/26, only 10 places for Medicine have been allocated for applicants from all Bulgarian communities in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania and other countries. No places have been allocated for Dental Medicine and Pharmacy.

As to Bulgarians in North Macedonia, just three places have been allocated for Medicine and none at all for Dental Medicine and Pharmacy.

Applicants from those Bulgarian communities in the specified medical fields are left out of the admissions process. They cannot enroll as foreign citizens either, due to the annual fees which can be as high as EUR 8,000 for foreigners.

The admission of students from Bulgarian communities abroad, along with the Bulgarian Citizenship Act, has so far been among the most effective means of attracting and integrating Bulgarians from abroad, the associations in Serbia said. In the past three decades, this policy has allowed several thousand students from Bulgarian communities to complete their higher education in Bulgaria, with most of them pursuing careers and integrating into Bulgarian society.