Bulgaria and Cuba Discuss Resumption of Student, Scholar Exchange Programmes

Bulgaria and Cuba will work to resume the exchange of students and scholars between the two countries, the Education Ministry announced here on Monday after a meeting between Education Minister Galin Tzokov and Cuba's Ambassador to Bulgaria Marieta Garcia Jordan.  In the past, this exchange was very active, but at the moment it has been almost completely interrupted, the Ministry added.

Last year, the two countries signed an agreement on cooperation in higher education. There are already agreements between individual universities of the two countries, it became known during the meeting.  

"We have historically had good relations between universities and many Cubans have studied higher education in Bulgaria, mostly in technical fields," Jordan noted. Many Bulgarians have also studied and specialized in Cuba, she said.

Tzokov pointed out that Bulgaria is Europe’s leading country in number of students per capita learning Spanish. In the current school year, more than 25,000 students are studying Spanish in the country’s schools, he noted.

Jordan said that while many Bulgarians know Spanish, there are almost no Cuban citizens who speak Bulgarian. Tzokov suggested to consider the possibility of opening a lectureship in Bulgarian language in one of the universities in Cuba. “We have such lectureships, with Bulgarian lecturers on secondment, in other countries, such as China and Japan,” he explained.

The resumption of research cooperation was also discussed. One of the priority areas is medicine, where Cuba has made significant achievements. The Deputy Education Minister Genka Petrova said that four of Bulgaria's research universities are medical. They have the opportunity to invite foreign scientists and researchers as partners, which would be of interest to the Cuban side.

Collaborative research can also be carried out on projects related to the National Roadmap for Research Infrastructure in areas such as astronomy and arctic studies, clean seas and oceans, agricultural sciences, etc.