Prof. D.Sc. Milko Palangurski expressed his concerns regarding the legitimacy of the upcoming May 29 elections for rector of the University of Veliko Tarnovo “St. St. Cyril and Methodius”. He recalled that he started his participation in them with the news of his resignation from the position of vice-rector of the higher school due to disagreement with the changed university regulations for the election of the Student Council. In this way, according to him, a practice from 8 years ago of transferring the selected students from one term to another has been resumed, despite the opinion of the Ministry of Education from 4 years ago, as well as the court on the occasion of the previous elections, which confirmed the decisions of the then Academic Council that no there may be such a transfer. According to Prof. Palangurski, the student quota of 69 people is 100 percent illegitimate, and it is part of the General Assembly, numbering 426 people.
According to him, there is another problem, which is related to the legal requirement that each university 3 months before the elections for rector submit its future management program for approval by the Ministry of Education and Culture. There is a letter from the ministry to the current rector of VTU reminding that this has not been done, which indicates that the future rector, whoever he is, may have problems concluding his employment contract with the MES, which owns the university and determines the politics of higher education and, in particular, of the university in the old capital.
Regarding the election campaign itself, Prof. Palangurski emphasized that it passed without the debate about the future of VTU that he expected, and each of the candidates remained at the level of presenting their concept, all of them were ethical in their meetings with the academic community and were led active conversations.
“I will not hide that I saw some things from my colleagues that I could use for a successful outcome of the elections, but I wished there was a more extensive discussion of all the problems. Many questions remained – unasked or asked, but without an answer”, said Prof. Palangurski, according to whom it is hypothetically possible to reach a runoff, as well as to hold elections without the participation of the Student Council, if it is assumed that it is illegitimate.
“Everyone in the academic community has a head on their shoulders that has led them to some academic position, and I think they could make their own choices. Of course, there are people who prefer the status quo to remain, others who think there should be reforms. Some believe that there are big problems at VTU, and others that there are no problems at all. The university community is a miniature copy of society”, pointed out Prof. Palangurski.
“The decisions of the General Assembly can be challenged in court only by interested persons, such as in this case the candidates for rector, as well as the candidates for chairman and vice-chairman of the General Assembly. The universities are autonomous and the MES has only control functions,” said Prof. Dr. Miroslav Galabov, who, together with Assoc. Prof. Ivo Indjov, Prof. Iliana Pavlova, Assoc. Desislava Andreeva and Prof. Ivaylo Donchev, is part of the initiative committee that nominated the candidacy of Prof. Palangurski as Rector of VTU.
Nikolay VENKOV
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