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BULGARIA |
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BULGARIA |
CONCLUSIONS
In comparison to other countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, Bulgaria currently has numerous universities that seek to provide degree and professional development programmes for public administration officials. In fact, there are more programmes at present than are actually needed, thereby draining human and financial resources.
The government of Bulgaria sought to control the curriculum of PA programmes through issuing state standards, and, in doing so, created guidelines which are quite strict in many ways due to a lack of understanding the field. Public administration scholars and professionals must work with the government to ensure that these standards are revised to become more interdisciplinary in nature. At present, seventy-five percent of these standards coincide with the requirements for business administration programmes. This creates an overlap between law, business and PA that is not advantageous to the field of public administration. Public finance, for example, is not simply based upon cost-benefit analyses, but must also consider social aspects. Therefore, a business studies course may not adequately prepare students to meet the needs of the civil service.
In Central and Eastern Europe, and especially in Bulgaria, it is important for professionals to establish informal and formal networks to engage in discussions on public administration needs in the country. No country in the region can, or should, rely only on foreign experts, but rather the experience of the West must be taken into consideration, evaluated and revised within the specific local context of Bulgaria.
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