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The Bulgarian School of Politics at a Glance
The Bulgarian School of Politics was established in 2001 to foster a modern civic and political culture based on shared values of pluralism, tolerance, open dialogue as so to encourage the emergence of a community of young civic and political leaders. The School was set up by Dimitry Panitza and The Free and Democratic Bulgaria Foundation, The Political Academy for Central and South-Eastern Europe, New Bulgarian University and Open Society Foundation – Sofia. The School is an independent non-governmental organisation. It has a status of a Centre for Continuing Education at New Bulgarian University and is also a founding member of the Council of Europe’s Network of Schools of Political Studies. The School offers two main programmes – national and regional.
Since 2001 some 200 Bulgarian and 100 foreign members of parliament, senior civil servants, and leaders from the non-governmental sector have been trained in the National and the Regional programmes of the School. The regional programme is offered to politicians and senior administrators from the Balkan region - Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia.
The programmes, which are typically 4-5 day seminars, cover subjects such as policy making, European integration, media relations, polling and tackling corruption. The School also organises free standing seminars, conferences and debates on current political issues as well as courses in leadership skills for the minorities in Bulgaria.
Lecturers are typically prominent international and Bulgarian politicians, political analysts, diplomats and renowned journalists and commentators. Training is based more on problem solving, team work and debate rather than on instruction.
Since its establishment the School has developed a strong alumni network. The Bulgarian School of Politics Alumni Association includes some 300 politicians, senior civil servants and prominent figures from the non governmental sector.
The School has been supported by The Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs - MATRA Program, Council of Europe, National Endowment for Democracy, Open Society Institute, Balkan Trust for Democracy, the Government of the Kingdom of Norway, the Government of the USA, Westminster Foundation for Democracy, Freedom House and others. In 2007 it also received a grant from the national budget.
