First Class of University of Ruse, Taraclia State University's Joint Degree Programme Graduates

Chişinău, 13 sep. /BTA/. The first graduating class of the joint degree programme of the University of Ruse and Taraclia's Gregory Tsamblak State University (GTSU) graduated in the auditorium of the Moldovan educational institution on Thursday. The ceremony was attended by University of Ruse representatives acting Rector Prof. Gencho Popov, Honorary Rector and Bulgarian Academy of Sciences full member Hristo Beloev, as well as Director of the Foreign Students Directorate Prof Teodor Iliev. They, along with GTSU Rector Maria Paslar, welcomed the graduates with words of congratulations and guidance and conducted the diploma ceremony.

Speaking to BTA's correspondent, Beloev said that the young people who received their diplomas are students of the University of Ruse, who have completed four years of studies in Business Management. A total of 24 students started, 15 of them graduated. "It is logical not to graduate everyone who enrolled in the course, as this is a normal process. They were admitted in 2019, but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic led to changes in our plans." He said the idea was to have the students stay for four weeks per semester at the University in Bulgaria and then take additional courses in collaboration with GTSU.

"However, the situation with COVID-19 necessitated a change in training, so we entered into a joint tripartite agreement between the Moldovan Ministry of Education and the two universities. Under this contract, the training process was conducted jointly using the facilities of GTSU. These students graduated in June this year and received their diplomas today. Next week, we will hand the diplomas to the graduates of other specialities at the University of Ruse," Beloev added.

The graduating ceremony is part of the three-member delegation from University of Ruse's visit to Moldova. The other purpose of the visit is a joint meeting with representatives of the Bulgarian Ministry of Education and GTSU. The meeting will discuss future joint activities and the establishment of a branch of the Bulgarian University in Taraclia.

"We are going to preserve the specialities of Taraclia's State University, its pedagogical directions, and include new specialities chosen several years ago by the local government and the business community. Among the new majors are Business Management, Computer Science and Information Technology. We will also add a third speciality, which is a collection of four specialties of the University of Ruse - Agricultural and Transport Engineering," Beloev told BTA.

"Our goal is that the higher school in Taraclia as a subdivision of the University of Rousse will develop strongly and sustainably with an intake of about 100 students per year. We will mainly target people of Bulgarian origin," said Beloev. He added that the goal is GTSU to enroll 100 students per year. "We will mainly target people of Bulgarian origin," he noted.

"We are ready to provide training for certain majors entirely in English, but due to the specific conditions here this may prove difficult to implement. Therefore, for those who do not know Bulgarian, we will offer an intensive three-month course at the beginning of the first year, after which students will be able to continue their studies safely. Our aim is to make a significant contribution to those territories where Bulgarian communities are located, both in Moldova and in Ukraine. This will be our task for the future," said Beloev.