Cuts force university to extend Xmas holiday

STUDENT anger at the deterioration of Bulgarian universities is spilling on to the streets with both local protests and a one-day strike.

Students are frustrated with government's seeming inability to halt the economic decline.

Veliko Tamovo, the second most prestigious university, has cut short the first semester to save on heating and other costs. It will close for Christmas and the whole of January. Other institutions are likely to follow. This may please some students but those who pay for their education may feel cheated out of their tuition fees.

Several hundred students from Veliko Tamovo last month staged a "mourning procession" for the "death" of higher education. Obituary notices were posted around the university stating that after a long period of illness and famine, higher education was finally dead and about to be buried.

Students want an immediate increase in grants to compensate for inflation, and more regular payments. They also want higher subsidies for accomodation as the rents have doubled in the past year.

The government is watching the protests carefully. It is aware that students and intellectuals played an instrumental role in the downfall of the old regime in the late 1980s and further protests in 1990 helped oust many of the former communists who have been returned to power in recent years.

But protest organisers have to overcome widespread apathy if students are to put real pressure on the government. Instead applications for universities abroad are likely to rise.

High inflation and devaluation of the local currency have wiped out the value of both university reserves and staff salaries.