Hungarian
The First Bulgarian-Hungarian Rectors' Forum was held in Samokov, Bulgaria, on January 20-21, 2026
Following the Bulgarian-Hungarian Higher Education Professionals' Day held at Neumann János University in Kecskemét in October 2025, the 1st Bulgarian-Hungarian Rectors' Forum was held in Bulgaria on January 20-21, 2026.
Hungarian higher education was represented at the forum by an 11-member delegation from the Hungarian Rectors' Conference (HRC), with the participation of six Hungarian universities, while 24 delegates from 20 Bulgarian universities were present at the event in Samokov, organised by the Council of Rectors of Bulgarian Higher Education Institutions, alongside key regional industrial players.
An essential objective of the meeting was to strengthen relations between the universities of the two countries and to discuss how higher education sectors can become drivers of innovation and regional development. The conference concluded that university operations cannot be separated from the economic sector and industrial players.
In his speech, Dr. Béla Merkely, President of the HRC, expressed his gratitude to the Bulgarian partners for their interest in the process of model change, while emphasising the importance of sustainable partnerships and the role of business as a natural ally of universities. In his presentation, the president shared Semmelweis University's positive experiences with the model change, which was later supplemented by Dr. Zoltán Dubéczi, secretary general of the HRC, with the sector-level legal background of the model change, accompanied by a presentation of the Hungarian higher education system.
Dr. Miglena Temelkova, Chair of the Rector's Council and Rector of the University of Telecommunication and Post, expressed her hope for a long-term partnership and emphasised the need to think beyond the boundaries of individual institutions in order to share best practices and experiences for the development of our common Danube-European higher education area.
The importance of the relationship between education and the economy was clearly highlighted by Zoltán Árvai, Head of Communications at John von Neumann University, on the Hungarian side, and by business representatives from the Samokov region, Eng. Sotir Nemov, Eng. Petar Georgiev and Maxim Behar, on the Bulgarian side.
The success of the forum is also demonstrated by the 40 cooperation agreements signed between 23 Bulgarian and 6 Hungarian universities.
