UNIVERSITY OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND POST: A STAIRWAY TO PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS

The University of Telecommunications and Post is an exemplar educational institution that has successfully adapted its century-long traditions with the most advanced concepts for modern learning. A pioneer in dual education in Bulgaria, the UTP gives its students opportunities to gain valuable real-life work experience and to become competent in different fields, allowing them to connect the dots between academic expertise and practical knowledge – a strategy that paves the way for them towards tomorrow's success. Behind the UTP's formidable journey is a woman. Prof. Miglena Temelkova, PhD, became its rector in 2019 and, supported by the university's faculty and staff, unleashed an ambitious and highly successful programme for modernisation. The broader academic community recognised her managerial excellence as well. In 2024 she was elected as the Chair of the Council of Rectors in Bulgaria.

What do you expect from the 2025/2026 academic year at the UTP?

The new academic year will be a challenge for all universities in Bulgaria. The euro will become the country's official currency, but Bulgaria's higher education is funded according to an outdated model. State universities' expenses are on the rise and threaten to surpass their state subsidies. The rise in subsidies for the maintenance of a student in state-funded education, based on the current model, increases tuition fees for fee-paying students to levels exceeding those in many European and American universities. This makes Bulgarian universities non-competitive on the global educational market.

The Supreme Administrative Court ruled that scholarships are also due to students in private universities, while the Commission for Protection Against Discrimination declared as discriminatory the provision in the Higher Education Act requiring a minimum grade for those wishing to pursue a paid Master's degree.

These examples confirm that we need a new strategic model for the governance of Bulgarian higher education. I hope politicians help us reach a consensus and outline a strategic vision for our development for the next half-century. Only a sustainable educational system can function effectively and purposefully, and is capable of reproducing nations' intellect and capacity.

With what hopes and vision did you send off your graduates this summer?

Our graduates have long secured their positions on the Bulgarian labour market, because at the UTP cooperation and partnership with business are crucial. Mentors from global IT and telecommunications companies conduct part of our students' classes, while internships and training always take place within a specific company. Businesses have invested millions of leva in our laboratories and lecture halls, and students are trained with technologies that are part of the working environment of the world's technological leaders. Our students are trained not only by highly qualified academics but also by business professionals for the challenges of the business world.

Thanks to our approach, our students start working as early as their second year in some of the best high-tech companies, for impressive wages. I am confident in the successful realisation of all our graduates. I know that in the future, many Bulgarian technology leaders will be UTP alumni.

Which are the most popular fields and programmes at the UTP – and why?

Our university has a unique academic profile. Our degree programmes have no equivalent in Bulgaria and even the EU. Most of them are interdisciplinary – they are the programmes of the future.

The UTP is the only university on the Balkans that prepares the first engineers in telemedicine, software design in medicine, air traffic management communication systems, digital entrepreneurship and AI, and in digital leadership. This attracts an ever-growing number of applicants from Bulgaria and abroad, and makes us a coveted academic partner to young researchers and foreign universities.

Over the past year, we became a leading partner in the international inter-university alliance GEMS-TECH under the Erasmus+ programme – a first time for a Bulgarian university.

The flagship programmes that attracted the most BA applicants this year are Cybersecurity in Business and Computer Technologies. Inspired by their success, we, together with the young people from the National Cybersecurity Team, built our very own cyber-range. Now our students can train in a secure cyber environment.

Why can a university today be relevant only if it offers students the opportunity for interdisciplinary learning?

Because the future is interdisciplinary. Today, if a manager does not have digital skills – working with software, sorting databases, carrying out digital marketing – then they are analogue – and hence, irrelevant.

Cybersecurity in Business is our flagship programme as it combines IT, programming, security and business, and produces not just engineers, or economists, or managers, but people fluent in many disciplines.

Another example is the Software Design in Medicine programme. How can an engineer make a functional artificial joint without a basic training in medicine? This is exactly what we do at the UTP – we create the specialists of the future, who will bring high added value to the economy.

You are one of the most publicly engaged university rectors in Bulgaria. How do you manage to balance your various professional and public roles and activities?

For some years now, my daily life has indeed been very dynamic. I am the rector of a university that is steadily expanding its market share in Bulgaria and abroad, but I also have 500+ academic hours of teaching per year. I have my own research interests in cyber-physical production systems, digital leadership, and controlling… And I am the Chair of the Council of Rectors in Bulgaria – a public role loaded with responsibilities and expectations. I am satisfied that during my term, the Council became an indispensable and recognisable factor in shaping policies in Bulgarian higher education.

At the same time, I am a mother, a wife and a daughter.

I manage to balance all of this thanks to the discipline instilled by the German kindergarten I attended as a child, and to the exceptional organisation I bring as a Capricorn. In such an intensive life path, only self-discipline and flawless organisation can yield results.

Students choose the UTP because…

… The profession of the future guarantees a high income and professional success!

Sofia, 1 Academician Stefan Mladenov St
www.utp.bg