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Plovdiv University is one of the leading higher-education institutions in the Republic of Bulgaria. Also known as the University of Paisii Hilendarski, we are the largest University in southern Bulgaria and the second biggest in Bulgaria. Our college was initially founded in 1961 as a Higher Institute of Pedagogy for Natural Sciences and Mathematics; however, we were awarded university status in 1972. Today Plovdiv University provides degree-level education to students in more than 60 disciplines encompassing the humanities, social sciences, and the subjects above. The University per se comprises several teaching facilities spread across the city of Plovdiv. The Rektorat functions as the University's administrative heartbeat and is located in the city center, 24 Tsar Assen Street. Most lectures are held, either at the Rektorat or else at the New Building, located to the south in the suburbs, 236 Bulgaria Boulevard. Another centrally-located building is found on Kostaki Peev Street and yet another in the Old Town, very close to the Roman Amphitheatre. Two further affiliated colleges and their respective teaching facilities are situated in the towns of Smolyan and Kardzhali. Plovdiv University employs over 900 academic and non-academic members of staff. There are 550 full-time academic employees, of whom 30 are Full Professors, 160 Associate Professors, and 360 Lecturers. More than 8,000 full-time students and approximately 5,000 part-time students study in the nine faculties of the University. The University of Plovdiv prides itself on being a fully regulated institution that accepts students and hires and promotes staff in full compliance with the Law of Higher Education. The University has received official state accreditation (2007), which allows it to confer each educational degree, i.e., specialist, bachelor, master, doctor, etc. Plovdiv University has a library, its own publishing house, an information center, scientific laboratories, language labs, multimedia-and-computer labs, a distance-learning center, a career-guidance service, a research-and-development division, a sports center, a student theatre, and sundry other technical centers, including auxiliary and service units. The University of Paisii Hilendarski actively maintains international contacts with almost all European countries, the United States, and countries in Asia and Africa. It takes part individually or jointly with other European universities in those of the European Union, the United States, and Switzerland, which fund scientific research. Thus our academic community continues to develop strong research synergies with higher educational institutions in Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. The Mission of the University is: To promote the basic principles of the university idea – successful socialization of young people, critical streamlining of the scientific, cultural, and historical traditions and passing them down to the next generation, thus creating civic virtue models for them. To perpetuate its patron's work - the Reverend Paisii Hilendarski, promoting awareness of national identity and developing the scientific, cultural, and economic potential of Bulgaria in the interest of and for people's benefit and society. To achieve its mission, in the best Bulgarian traditions in education, the University: Offers and implements successful models and practices in an accessible, specialized, interdisciplinary quality training at the European level Conducts innovative research in fields of priority, in the interest of and for the benefit of society Applies technologies and methods for effective management, using the knowledge, expertise, and potential of its academic staff Provides competitive advantages in the educational and scientific market of ideas, technologies, and products. The University's core purpose is to provide general and professional training of specialists in various fields of science at the European level, specialists who shall have the competence to find flexible interdisciplinary solutions in their respective practices, meeting the modern world's challenges. The profile of Plovdiv University spreads across a wide range of disciplines and forms of training in the natural and social sciences, in the field of culture and technology. The main objective the University should achieve in the next period is: To gain recognition as a leading Bulgarian educational, research and cultural institution of European standards and with modern infrastructure, to become an academic model for quality education that is on the cutting edge of research and innovation, a preferred partner offering clear-cut competitive advantages. View full university