Igor Damianov Minister of Education and Science Igor Damyanov was born on 1 August 1953 in Lom, Bulgaria. In 1977 he graduated in history from the Sveti Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia and was appointed in the Committee for Culture. In November 1978 he started teaching at the International Relations Department of the University of National and World Economy (UNWE) in Sofia. In 1985 he defended a doctor’s thesis in history. In 1991 he became an associate professor of New and Recent History at the UNWE International Relations Department. In 1990-1991 he was an advisor on foreign policy matters in Dimiter Popov’s cabinet. From 1996 to 1999 he was Deputy Dean of the UNWE International Economy and Policy Faculty and Director of the BA Degree Directorate. In November 1999 he was elected First Vice President of the University of National and World Economy in charge for training courses. In March 2001 he became Director of the Center of Public Administration with the UNWE Institute of Post-Graduate Training. He is a reviewer at the National Research Fund. Igor Damyanov specialized in the Sorbonne, the Athens University and the Institute of Slavic and Balkan Studies in Moscow. He has written monographs, studies, articles and textbooks dealing with Bulgarian, Balkan and new general history. He is fluent in French, English and Russian. Married, with one child.

The quality of education depends on the people of Bulgaria

Education in the contemporary world is extremely high because of:

• Education is every human being's right;
• Education is investment in the human potential of every country;
• Education provides for spiritual, financial and social development, as well as for a healthy way of life;
• Education is a manifestation of man's free will to acquire and form universal values, virtues and culture: to develop his or her individuality and creative talents and to find their adequate realization.

Meeting the expectations of the society, UNESCO defined raising the quality of education as one of its major strategic objectives.

What does that mean for Bulgaria?

• Raising the quality of education and putting into effect the comprehensive schooling in Bulgarian secondary schools in compliance with state-of the science, technologies and the needs of the society;
• Creating conditions for the synchronization and the commensurability of quality of education and training in our country with the European educational dimension;
• Achieving a national level of the comprehensive priorities related to equal possibilities and equal access to the effect of building up citizenship behaviour equality and tolerance to the different;
• Priority development of early language learning and information technologies:
• Creating possibilities for greater teacher and pupil mobility within the frame of the European Union;
• Education, targeted towards d the formation of long-standing habits for continuing life-long-learning;
• Providing the best possible conditions for permanent pre-service and in-service training and life-long professional development;
• Upgrading the resource management;
• Strengthening the capacity for managing and coordinating of the educational system;
• Stimulating and assisting the development of science and research.

How do we implement those priorities?
As of the academic year 2003/2004 the reform in the secondary education passed from the stage of a laboratory of ideas into practical realization through:

• Changes in the legal basis which will provide for its harmonization with the unified European criteria in accordance with the national specificity and priorities;
• More flexible coordination in working out, implementing and managing of the educational requirements, school curricula, syllabi;
• Laying the foundations for the integration of the information technologies in the study process;
• Integrating the children and pupils with special educational needs, as well as those from ethnic minorities;
• Preserving the social priorities of the educational system;
• Taking concrete managerial steps for overcoming the preliminary drop-out from schooling and creating conditions for equal start for every child;
• Setting up a strategy for teacher qualification not only in their concrete subjects but in new pedagogical technologies;
• Opening up of the educational system for cooperation with other countries, as well as, for exchange of information;

This is my answer to the message: the quality of education depends on the people of Bulgaria.