For the 28th consecutive year Varna Free University "Chernorizets Hrabar" started the new academic year with a solemn ceremony and a blessing of water ritual. The institution is proud to open its doors for the 2019/2020 academic year with the highest score received by the National Assessment and Accreditation Agency at the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria - 9.21 (on the ten-point system). An assessment that places the university in the forefront of higher education institutions in the country and as first among private universities in Bulgaria.
 
"Everyone today will wish you health and a successful journey to your dreams. Let them come true, addressed the students during the ceremony, the President of   VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar", Assoc. Prof. Krasimir Nedyalkov, PhD. But I would like to wish you, one of the most important spiritual and notional categories – hope to guide you. Don't miss any encounters with it! I will try to give you some arguments for this. The VFU training shows that we can go beyond the black and white frameworks in which we live. As a modern institution, the university chooses not to adapt to the challenges of the environment, but with innovation and responsibility to be a leader in changing that environment. That is why the strategy for the development of the university has the priority of creating and implementing a new educational model, oriented towards those qualities of students, which will allow the person to remain stronger than machines and artificial intelligence.
 
This third in sequence institutional accreditation places us in the group of the best. Our new specialties and qualifications prove their relevance and significance in practice, even in the face of acute demographic stagnation. There is growing interest and confidence in Varna Free University, even from international universities. Our social community is always trying to set the bar high with respect to those human qualities that make our students worthy citizens, able to say "No" to what is tasteless in life and profession, not to carelessness and to reconciliation with poor quality everywhere and in everything . "No" to passivity and difficulties. Thanks to our partners from institutions and business!"Assoc. Prof. Nedyalkov added.
 
His message to the new students was to start familiarizing themselves with the university with the library. His appeal to them was to stop in the lobby and get acquainted with the recommendations and messages of great Bulgarian people. "Begin your tomorrow with the hope that your tomorrow depends first and foremost on you. Good luck and successful year to all! "





"Today Alma Mater is opening doors for you for the first time - young people who have trusted us, who have chosen to study and succeed in Bulgaria. I congratulate the parents who are here to share this day with us," Prof. Petar Hristov, PhD - Rector of the University welcomed.






VFU "Chernorizets Hrabur" is a pioneer in providing the knowledge, skills and competences necessary for the professional realization and success of young people in the context of the created and developed innovative specialties - Circular Economy, Intelligent Security Systems, Data Science, Cybersecurity. The professions of the future are also entrepreneurship, law, national security protection, architecture and construction, psychology, management and arts, but filled with new content stemming from the revolution that information technologies are experiencing. Our hope is in young people, the student community. Your calling is to elevate yourself and to change the country and the world," Prof. Petar Hristov said.





Special guests of the ceremony were the Deputy Pavel Hristov, the Regional Governor Stoyan Pasev, the Varna Mayor Ivan Portnih, the Deputy Mayor Peycho Peichev, the Chairperson of the Municipal Council Todor Balabanov, the Consul General of the Russian Federation in Varna Vladimir Klimanov, the Mayor of Primorsky District Petya Prodanova, the Presidents of the Courts in the city, Lilia Hristova - Director of the Education and Youth Activities Directorate at Varna Municipality, as well as partners, guests and friends of Varna Free University.






For the 12^th consecutive year, 20 candidate students received one-year scholarships for training in their chosen specialty under the scholarship programme of the University "I will study and succeed in Bulgaria". During the ceremony, the first-year students Maria Bozhinova - a graduate of 4^th Language School "Frederic Joliot-Curie" in Varna, who chose the legal sciences for her field, thanked for the chance to study at VFU "Chernorizets Hrabar" and listed her motives to stay in Bulgaria, in Varna. The first-year students received their student booklets, and those admitted at the university with the highest marks were presented with certificates of achievement and awards.
 
It was mentioned that 50 of the best free universities in the world have concluded contracts under the Erasmus + programme. Margo Largo, a student from Liège, Belgium, who will be studying for a semester at Varna Free University, expressed her expectations and appreciation for the chance to study in Varna.
Father Vasiliy Shagan and Father Ilia of the Varna and Veliki Preslva Diocese performed a blessing of water ritual for health and wellbeing.






The Regional Governor Stoyan Pasev said: “It is not by chance the presence of representatives of so many institutions from the judiciary and the executive. We are all waiting for you to finish in order to take over the government after us. Today, some of you cross the threshold of the university for the first time, some for the next, and others for the last. But all of you are bearers of the new, youthful spirit, and you deserve our respect. I wish success to you all and thank you for choosing Varna, Bulgaria, " Pasev added.

On behalf of the municipal administration, Peycho Peichev temporarily acting in his capacity as Mayor of Varna wished success to faculty and students. "VFU "Chernorizets Hrabur" has proven itself in time and is currently occupying one of the foremost places in the world academic family." Peichev expressed his satisfaction with the warm connection between the university and Varna Municipality, recalling that only days ago at a session of the Municipal Council preferential fares for students traveling in the city network of Varna were voted. According to him, the university has established itself as an educational brand. "Create, develop, master new technologies and dream, remembering that dreams come true with a lot of work and consistency!" Was Peichev's message.





Congratulation letters by the following people and organizations were read:
- Krasimir Valchev - Minister of Education and Science of Bulgaria,
- Nedyalko Slavov - Regional Governor of Smolyan Region
- Petya Prodanova - Mayor of Primorski District in Varna Municipality
- National representation of student councils
- Irena Stamenova - Secretary General of the Customs Agency
- Prof. Dr. Krasimir Ivanov, MD, Rector of the Medical University
 - Flotilla admiral, Prof. Boyan Mednikarov, D.Sc., Rector of Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy Varna
- Prof. Evgeni Stanimrov, PhD - Rector of the University of Economics - Varna
- Prof. Eng.Ventsislav Valchev, PhD - Rector of the Technical University - Varna
- Assoc. Prof. Todor Radev, PhD - Rector of Varna University of Management
- Major-General Grudi Grudev, PhD - Rector of Rakovski Military Academy
- Albena Pavlova - Principal of Geo Milev Secondary School
- The staff and principal of the Vocational Secondary School of Textile and Fashion Design, Varna and others.

The Academic Dance Theatre of Varna Free University and the talented student Kristina Hristova provided the festive mood on the first day of the new academic year.