Descriptive overview: Quantitative data on higher education

It was shown already that the widening of the access to higher education contributes to the opening of the society and increasing of the number of the active citizens. Further the system of higher education will be characterized exclusively from the point of view of the openness  and on the basis of comparative statistical data.

In 2005 Bulgaria (in one group with Cyprus and Latvia) reported very high shares of private funding, representing more than double the Bologna median (Eurostat 2009:83). Student contributions to higher education institutions (HEI) account for a larger share of the private funding. Students’ financial contributions to higher education institutions in the form of tuition and other fees paid to higher education institutions can vary in a proportion of 1 to 8: from EUR 30 PPS in France and Slovenia to EUR 240 PPS in Bulgaria (Eurostat 2009:85). Bulgaria is the country with the highest amount paid for tuition fees. The latter were introduced in 1999. In Germany tuition fees were gradually introduced across the federal states (or Bundesländer) between 2006 and 2008. The process of introducing student fees will be studied at the level of the legal mechanisms and the impact on students, assessed through empirical survey.

Supporting higher education promotes openness in society. The openness of higher education institutions requires proper division between direct investment in the institutions and in students. The share of the public funding directed to students in Bulgaria is very low (10%); of it, 89.4% go directly to the educational institutions. In comparison, the EU average is 16.1%; for Germany it is 17.1%; and for the northern countries, which have the highest position with respect to equality of educational opportunities, the share is: Sweden - 28.4%, Netherlands - 25.9%, Norway - 36.7%[1].

State support is provided to students on the bases of universal, compensatory, or meritocratic criteria. The compensatory criteria aim to alleviate the financial barriers to higher education. These criteria allow the targeting at students in need of such support (e.g. based on their socio-economic background). The universal support is applicable to all students with the aim to alleviate a dependency on parental support. The implementation of meritocratic criteria means to provide a financial support to the best students on the basis of scholastic merit. The universal support is more rear in the EU countries but is preferred and is codified in the constitutional norm in Bulgaria.

Two major kinds of direct support may be considered: grants (non-repayable support) and loans (repayable)[2]. In Bulgaria public funding to students is in the form of grants. There are examples of public funding divided into grants and loans. In Sweden the division is 10% for grants and 18% for loans, in Norway - 10% for grants and 32% for loans, in Hungary – 12% for grants, 16% for loans (Eurostat: 88).

Bulgaria is ranked highly in European comparisons with regard to direct state support targeted at specific categories of students. In Ireland, Switzerland and Bulgaria, the contrast between the amounts of support by social group is highest. For example, in Ireland, students whose fathers have a low education level receive nearly double the support that an average student receives (+93 %), while students from highly educated backgrounds receive around one half of this support (Eurostat 2009:93). The tendency for Bulgaria is, that the government prefers to invest in the infrastructure, instead of supporting students directly. Public (and private) scholarships, grants, or loans are provided in other European countries to students not primarily or exclusively to cover the tuition fees but often as a subsidy for their living expenses. However, the Student Loan Act in Bulgaria is meant exclusively to cover the tuition fees charged by educational institutions. The newly elaborated legal norm has a very limited and narrow scope in comparison to the potentially existing options.

All components of the overall public support to households are particularly important in Germany: the indirect cash support (via parents) is 44%; direct non-cash support is 37% (in the form of infrastructure); 19% is the direct cash support (Eurostat 2009:91). The age for obtainment of child allowances in Germany is higher (25) than in Bulgaria (18), where it does not depend on whether or not children continue their education.

In Germany the state supports parents by providing special benefits to them for the support of their children. Both in Bulgaria and Germany, direct financial support from parents accounts for 58% of students’ income. Income sources for Bulgaria as a percentage of the total student income are the following: job - 24%; state assistance - 18%; family sources - 58% . The structure of sources is similar in Germany: job - 28%; state - 16%; family - 58%) (Eurostat 2009:89).

The situation in Germany is more favorable for the students and their families. The absence of opportunities for the postponed payment and the raising of the university fees may lead to different types of choices in Bulgaria: it will discourage young people from pursuing a higher education (mainly young people from less educated families); it will decrease the quality of academic performance due to engagement in a full jobs positions; it will lead young people to the study abroad (mainly middle class children).

The number of Bulgarian students abroad has increased from 7% in 1999 to 28% in 2006 (Eurostat). The inflow of students into the country is remaining stabile - 6.2% in 1999 , 6.8% in 2006. Bulgarian students represent the fifth group of students in Germany - 1082 for 2006[3]. Bulgarian comes at sixth position of the number of Absolvent (934) after China (3 030), Turkey (2047), Poland (1511), Russia (1309), France (1003)[4]. Doubling of the foreign students in Germany is observed between 1993 and 2006 (from 26 149 to 53 554). Competition between countries for students requires reforms in Bulgarian universities, specifically expanding access for  more students from the country and from abroad.

Policy foundation

Germany – Indicators and measures

The introduction of university tuition fees falls within the competence of the Landtag, and federal regulation is not required following  the decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court (26.01.2005)[5]. In the judgment, it is stated that the introduction of university tuition fees is in keeping with common social, economic, and academic interests. Furthermore it states that the university fees contribute to the improvement of the quality of universities and to the economic growth.

In 2005 and 2006 six German provinces undertook legal steps to introducing general tuition fees, and a seventh was preparing to do the same[6]. The Centre for Higher Education Development undertook a comparative study of the existing laws in these seven federal provinces. The comparison was made according to five criteria: (1) students’ orientation, (2) financial effects, (3) autonomy and competition, (4) social acceptability and orientation towards specific groups, (5) consistency and calculation. The fourth criterion, “social acceptability and orientation towards specific groups”, is relevant to the present analysis. The indicators pertaining to that criterion are as follows: (1) exemption from university tuition fees (in cases of disability, chronically or severely ill students, students who are caring for a young child) (for Bulgaria the respective category referred to in the Student Loan Act is “students taking care of two small children” – hence the regulation in Bulgaria can be considered more restrictive than in Germany). (2) tuition fee reduction for students studying a shorter time, i.e. doing evening studies or distance students (Teilzeitstudenten); (3) postponed payment through student loans: this option exists in the seven Länder under comparison[7].

The laws in the different federal states are very similar. In all of them there is provision for postponed payment through student loans. Social acceptability as a responsibility of the university is not referred to in any of the federal state laws being compared. This represents a next step in the implementation of the cost sharing scheme in Germany.  In this comparison Hessen is seen as presenting the worse situation.