ASSOC. PROF. DR. KRASIMIR NEDYALKOV, PRESIDENT OF VFU "CHERNORIZETS HRABAR": "WE ARE DOING IT WITH GREAT SUCCESS! THE STUDENTS ARE ALSO TO BE THANKED FOR THIS!"
16 Април 2020
Dear university and doctoral students,
we are undergoing a serious test. For two weeks now, for the first time we have been in a state of emergency that no one can say how long will take. The civil emergency put through a test the entire process of our educational activity and its administration. We are in a constant contact with the professors and staff of the University and we discuss all the important matters. So today, I am addressing you - the university and doctoral students of VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar" and would like to share a few things with you:
The most important thing is that we have been successful. Moreover, everything that has happened over the past two weeks makes me even more convinced that we will be able to get through the crisis successfully. The credit goes to the professors and staff, as well as to you, dear university and doctoral students, who, with understanding, responsibility and youth enthusiasm, have not only joined the newly organized learning process, but also filled it with activity and the positivism that gave it a new quality. At the same time we did not waste valuable time, we did not waste a day of the virtual learning process.
I would like you to know that just a few days after the declared state of emergency the university was fully prepared and started an online learning process in 335 courses in different specialties and disciplines, located in 813 virtual classrooms! Thanks to the excellent organization and especially the efforts of the colleagues from the Department of Informatics and the Institute of Technology, on March 20, all professors began online based classes.
Unfortunately, it seems that the emergency will continue in April, and most likely in May, which requires additional efforts, even more patience, and mobilization to coordinate and properly direct our work.
What have the results been so far?
The crisis gave the academic staff and students of VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar" a chance to show their innovative capabilities, their creativity and technological competence, while maintaining and guaranteeing the institutional integrity of the higher educational institution. Now all the important activities, including the candidate student campaign, the teaching process, the scientific work, the administrative service, the process management and the quality control, the relations with our social partners, are done entirely online.
Students, professors and administration all have institutional profiles in the University domain @ vfu.bg and can communicate freely through a number of integrated applications for synchronous and asynchronous communication. The cloud technology used by VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar" is of a high quality, the same one that world-renowned, elite universities as Stanford, Cambridge, University of Carolina, etc. use.
We are pleased to note that in the last week, the system has been used not only by students across the country, but also from the territory of 14 foreign countries - Ukraine, Turkey, Belgium, Romania, the United States, England, Germany, Canada, Austria, Russia, Greece, Norway, the Netherlands, France.
As for the administration of the educational process, it is important to know that from the first day of the state of emergency - March 13, hotlines have been opened for questions, and on the University's website Helpdesk, through which students, teachers, candidate students and parents share their problems and ask their questions. The forthcoming candidate student campaign is also fully organized online, and students from all over the country are interested, including students who have recently intended to apply abroad, but have changed their mind and it is very likely that they will continue their education at our university. We have also successfully launched the second session of "Virtual Open Windows for candidate students" which will continue until April 5th.
Although we are in a state of isolation from one another, we continue to be together spiritually, to be united in our work, our goals and our hopes of overcoming the crisis more quickly and overcoming the negative effects from it faster.
Stay healthy and be successful in your studies and in your life!
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Krasimir Nedyalkov
President of VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar"