The Bulgarian University Ranking System is a reliable tool for monitoring the career development of university graduates in the country with its diversity of indicators, centralized sources of information and great variety of functionalities. This is indicated in a report of the National Audit Office about an audit on monitoring of the career outcomes and migration of university graduates for the period from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2015.
According to the report the Ranking System achieved considerable efficiency in tracking the career development of university graduates at a national level. Moreover, it says that the use of the Ranking System as a source of information about graduates’ career outcomes in applying the model of funding according to the quality of the university education offered creates prerequisites for the implementation of the policy of the Ministry of Education and Science on optimization of the university network and improvement of the financial administration within the university education system.
The annual data updates and the strict regulation of the methodology used are a prerequisite for an up-to-date and reliable ranking system as a tool for monitoring the career outcomes of university graduates. The functionality-rich online platform provides opportunities for making analyses according to the needs of the different users, the report indicates. It was published on the website of the National Audit Office on May 19, 2017.
The report found that the Ranking System is an external, independent tool, assessing the effectiveness of the policies and activities implemented by the universities. The available data identify both the shortcomings of the universities, which they have to eliminate, and the potential opportunities they should to focus their efforts on and use as an advantage over other universities to attract applicants. Furthermore, the Ranking System covers all career aspects, including graduates’ income, application of the received university education, share of unemployed university graduates, contribution to the social security system of the country, regional importance, etc.
The report of the Audit Office made a recommendation to the Ministry of Education to promote the Ranking System among high school students. According to the report the system is not yet popular enough among students and no measures have been taken yet to promote it.
The Bulgarian University Ranking System was created by a consortium of Open Society Institute – Sofia, Sirma Solutions AD and Institute of Social Surveys and Marketing MBMD.
You can find the notice of the Audit Office about the published audit report, as well as a link to the report itself here.
