SOFIA UNIVERSITY

Sofia University has been selected by Roberto Amati in relation to the real history of european integration, then enlisted in the UNIVERSITAS category, accompanied by own fact SHEET useful to the comprehension, completed of historical MAPS AND IMAGES or with a direct linking to the related Blog contents dedicated to the aeternitas and the future of Europe.

	FOUNDATION
Year	IX century A.D.
City	Sofia/Serdica
Founder	St.Kliment of Ohrid , Knyaz Boris I
Where	christian Bulgarian Empire
Originary subjects	Bulgarian literature , Glagolitic alphabet , Roman Law , theology

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	NOWADAYS
State	Bulgaria
Name	University of Sofia (Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski )
Seates	Sofia city
Degree programs	Mathematics and Informatics , Physics , Chemistry , Biology , Journalism and Mass Communication , Theology , Economics and Business Administration , Preschool and Primary School Education
Library	YES internal
Collegium	Slavic Studies
Alumni	Students' Council , Business Club , Students' Diplomatic Club , European Law Students' Association , Stuidents' Club of Political Scientists , European Studies Club
Famous teachers	E. Ivanov , P. Raikov , N. Dobrev , D. Agoura , G. Popov , M. Balabanov , T. Monin , I. Brezhka , M. Dragomanov , Ivan Shishmanov , Lyubomir Miletitch , Boyan Penev , Stoyan Romanski , Yordan Ivanov , Stefan Mladenov , Alexander Balabanov , Mihail Arnaudov , Vassil Zlatarski , Peter Moutafchiev , Petko Stainov , Dimiter Mihaltchev , Anastas Ishirkov , Kiril Popov , Lyubomir Tchakalov , Nikola Obreshkov , Assen Zlatarov , Georgi Zlatarski , Vassil Mollov
Famous scholars	Elisaveta Bagryana , Anthony Bailey , Pepka Boyadjieva , Kiril Bratanov , Iván Cepeda , Ljubomir Chakaloff , Boris Christoff , Raymond Detrez , Philip Dimitrov , Todor Georgiev , Khristo Ivanov , Rostislaw Kaischew , Mimoza Konteva , Ivan Kostov , Julia Kristeva , monk Maxim , Georgi Nadjakov , Ivan Kostov Nikolov , Georgi Parvanov , Ivan Georgiev Petrov , Assen Razcvetnikov , Dimitar Sasselov , Lachezara Stoeva , Petar Stoyanov , Ivan Stranski , Tzvetan Todorov , Orlin D. Velev , Mikhail Wehbe , Rashid Yassin , Zhelyu Zhelev , Maria Zheleva , Lyudmila Zhivkova
Awards

Sofia University is among the oldest of Europe, even if closed since XIII century A.D. to be reopened only in 1878 A.D. during the Bulgarian Renaissance epoch when Public Higher Education Institution and highest research were reestablished in Bulgaria. Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski is the first higher educational institution in the country: its history is an embodiment and a continuation of centuries of cultural and educational national tradition, starting from the public teaching activities dating back to the second half of the 9th century.

Sofia University has been founded in late XIX century, however built upon strong scholar and educational traditions of medieval Bulgaria, dating back in the time of the eminent imperial rulers Knyaz Boris I and Tsar Symeon 'said the Great'. According to St. Kliment's hagiography, 'blissful fathers and teachers' were proclaimed equal-to-apostles by the Pope during their stay in Rome in 867-869 A.D., "...because of their feat equal to the feat of apostle Pavel...devising the Glagolitic alphabet, translating the Holy Scriptures from Greek into Bulgarian language and ensured the Holy knowledge to be passed to their most promising disciples. Many drank from this fountain of knowledge, the appointed coriphaei being Gorazd, Kliment (Clement), Naum (Nahum), Angelarius and Sava". After having been exiled from Moravia and Pannonia by the German clergy, the survived disciples Kliment, Naum and Angelarius found asylum in the Bulgarian Empire: so they were welcomed heartily by Knyaz Boris I in Pliska, the capital of the Christianized Empire, where Naum and Kliment established the first Pliska-Preslav and Ohrid Literary Schools.

Kliment of Ohrid, born Bulgarian from the southwest district, was the most prominent disciple of Saints Cyril and Methodius, who came to Bulgaria in late IX century. He was ordained as the first Bulgarian language bishop of Macedonia in 893 A.D. during the reign of Tsar Simeon and for seven years educated 3,500 disciples of all social origins, preparing a large number of priests, deacons and teachers. He died at an advanced age in 916 A.D. and his disciples buried him in the monastery 'St. Panteleimon' in Ohrid, which he had established, then was canonized and joined the pantheon of the Bulgarian saints side by side his masters with Cyril and Methodius. The Ochrid School established by him, together with the scholars of the Preslav School, laid the foundation of the Bulgarian literature, tradition and education, which have become an example for the whole Slavonic part of the world.

The Renaissance was the period when Bulgarians gathered spiritual and intellectual strength to establish their right for independent political and social life, for own culture and education. The figures of the Bulgarian Renaissance, most of them educated abroad, naturally arrived at the idea of opening a higher educational institution to make Bulgarians equal to the other nations that are politically independent, culturally developed and with established citizenship. From the beginning the founders of the Bulgarian School of Higher Education aimed at a far-reaching goal, to open 'departments of various branches of science' and to establish a modern university in which Departments to grow into Faculties. This idea was realized through the opening year curriculum, admission and exam system in Pedagogical Studies. The academic year consisted of two semesters and the programmes were grouped in three categories: core courses, special courses and supplementary courses.

During that epoch a new idea for opening a School of Higher Education was conceived. The prestige of the School of Higher Education grew rapidly with the cultural and educational mission it acquired after the Liberation in 1878 A.D.. Year by year, the University of Sofia has developed into an important academic and scientific centre on the Balkans, a well developed academic institution with European dimensions. Two years later the Ministry of Education introduced the Bill of Schools at the National Assembly: it envisioned the opening of a Bulgarian school of higher education (university) which is to cover law, philosophy, medicine, natural and technical sciences (now technical university of Sofia). The public in Bulgaria, lead by the traditional respect for education, learning and culture, supported the establishment of the University by donations and the prominent financier Evlogy Georgiev, executing also the will of his brother Hristo Georgiev, donated 10,200 sqm. of land and millions of golden Levs for the University building and financial support.

The first lecturers of Sofia University have bee appointed on January 1888 A.D.. They set up the foundations of a University Library with many books and periodicals and started working on the School’s statute. They also insisted on academic autonomy in the organisation and management of the School of Higher Education. The first Rector was Professor Alexander Teodorov-Balan, a graduate of the University of Prague, also lecturer in Linguistics, Dialectology and Slavic Philology. Classes began on October almost unnoticed by the public: this is considered the birthdate of Bulgarian university education! According to its provisional statute the Higher Pedagogical Course was to "give higher education and prepare teachers for high schools": classes began with 4 regular and 3 external professors among whom were Alexander Teodorov-Balan, Lyubomir Miletitch, Ivan Georgov, all graduates of prestigious European universities and well known scholars. The number of students was 43, all of them men. The provisional statute recognised only one Faculty of History and Philology with 3 degree courses: History, Slavic Philology, Philosophy and Education.

The structure and organisation of the School of Higher Education was based on the principles of academic autonomy which makes it compatible with established foreign universities. Among its governing principles there were democracy, self-rule, free admission for talented and gifted students from all social groups, academic ethical code. The year 1900 A.D. saw the first issue of the University year Book which contained publications of Sofia University professors and regulations for the functioning of the University Library and finally 4 years later it was transformed into a University, that set the beginning of a new period in the development of higher education in Bulgaria. The following years witnessed the opening of new Faculties of Medicine, Agriculture, Forestry, Theology, Economics while in 1905 A.D. it received a new name: St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia.

Sofia University is a field for scholarly and academic achievements and its professors established a number of schools and trends in the fields of mathematics, physics, chemistry, linguistics and history. In the 1947-52 A.D. period the National Assembly passed many bills which separated some Faculties and Institutes from the body of the University and formed the foundations of new schools of higher education: the Higher Institute of Economics, the Medical Academy (the medical university of Sofia Bulgaria), the Veterinary-Medical Institute, the Academy of Agriculture. Some Institutes are included in the structures of the Bulgarian Academy of Science. In the last few years some of those Faculties and Institutes were re-established as integral part of Sofia University, as the Faculty of Theology. There is also a newly formed Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, while the Faculty of Chemistry was transformed in Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy in 2012 A.D.. Today Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski is the largest and most prestigious educational and scientific centre in the country: its main building is situated in Tsar Osvoboditel Blvd while the faculties of Mathematics and Informatics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Journalism and Mass Communication, Theology, Economics and Business Administration, and Preschool and Primary School Education are spread over several campuses around Sofia.

Sofia University is member of numerous international organization in many fields, like: Global Diplomatic Forum, London (United Kingdom); Huawei Technologies Bulgaria; Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; the Arab League Educational Cultural and Scientific Org.. It also subscribed several Agreement with participation of: Université de Nice 'Sophia Antipolos', Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt, the Ambassade de France en Bulgarie, the Francophone University Agency (AUF), Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, the Al-Ahliyya Amman University, the Honorary Consulate of Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Sofia, the Bulgarian-Jordanian Chamber for Economic Cooperation, Istanbul University, Trakya University in Edirne, Turkish Academy of Sciences, Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Bulgarian Academy of Science.

Sofia University participates in many universitarian cooperative organizations as: Transform4Europe Alliance with Saarland University, the University of Alicante, the Estonian Academy of Arts, the University of Silesia in Katowice, the University of Trieste and Vytautas Magnus University. Other International membership are maintaned with the Balkan Universities Network and the National Centre of Polar Research, the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), the Balkan Universities Association (BUA), the Black Sea Universities Network (BSUN), the Brussels Academy for China and European Studies (BACES), the Euro-Mediterranean University (EMUNI), the European University Association (EUA), the Network of Universities from the Capitals of Europe (UNICA), the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), the UN Global Compact (UNGC) and the Bulgarian Network of the UN Global Compact. Lots of Bilateral universitary cooperation are managed with the main atheneum of Eastern Europe, Russia, Turkey, the Mediterranea Sea and the Black Sea regions, moreover the Vatican (Holy See) Accademia Vivarium Novum in Rome.

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