Student exchange and cooperation between higher schools in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic should be expanded. Bulgarian caretaker Education Minister Sasho Penov and his Czech counterpart Vladimir Balas rallied around the idea at a meeting in Prague on Monday, the Education Ministry said.

On the agenda was an upcoming signing of a new cooperation agreement in the field of education and science between the two countries. The ministers shared their views about the state and prospects of education in Bulgaria and Czechia and the roles of the ministries in education.

Minister Penov and his Czech counterpart Balas noted that education is faced with similar problems related to financing and the recruitment of educational professionals.

Recognition and harmonization of secondary school diplomas and continuation of the lectureship at the Charles University in Prague were among the other topics discussed by the ministers. Bulgaria and Czechia cooperate through the exchange of students, postgraduate students, researchers, internships and fellowships, and support lectureships in Czech language and literature in Sofia and Prague. The Charles University a department for South Slavonic and Balkan Studies with a Bulgarian lecturer since 2019.

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