Bulgaria’s university students celebrate 119th holiday

The students of Bulgaria celebrate their 119th holiday on December 8. The idea came from Minister of Education Prof. Ivan Shishmanov, who proposed in 1897 that the first Higher School in Bulgaria should have a more special holiday of its own BTA recalls.

The decision was made on November 2, 1902, when the Academic Council of the Higher School decided on November 25, the day of the educator St. Kliment Ohridski - November 25, according to the new style calendar for its holiday. The following year, the students commemorated him in the hall of the Slavyanska beseda community center in Sofia, and in 1905 the text that November 25 is his patron saint's holiday was written in the Regulations of the Higher School for the first time.

Due to the change in the year counting and the official introduction of the Gregorian calendar in Bulgaria, the university holiday was moved forward 13 days and began to be celebrated on December 8.

After 1944 when the Communist regime was established in Bulgaria, the students' holiday was moved to November 17 when the International Day of Student Solidarity was marked, but in 1962 the university holiday was restored to December 8. A few years later, in 1968, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church again designated November 25 as the day of St. Kliment Ohridski, and the Academic Council of Sofia University also decided to return the date of patron saint to November 25, on the day of St. Kliment, Archbishop of Ohrid, to separate it from the general students' holiday on December 8. December 8 is a secular day and a popular holiday for Bulgarian university students.

Since 1994, the Council of Rectors has officially declared the day as a non-attendance day and a holiday for all Bulgarian university students.

The number of university students in Bulgaria is currently over 200,000. More than 28,000 of them study economics majors, according to data from the latest edition of the Rating System of Higher Schools.