On September 25, the new academic year of 2018-2019 was officially launched at the Varna University of Management (VUM), Varna. The event was opened by the Deputy Rector of the University of Economics – Prof. Stanislav Ivanov, in front of students and guests. Official guests and greeting addresses were delivered from the District Administration of Varna, Varna Municipality, Youth, Student Organizations, Schools, etc. Special compliments to the academic community and students were personally given by Mr. Ilian Karagyozov – District Governor of Varna. A motivation speech for our guests and  students was presented by Nikolay Petkanov and Dimitar Vassilev – organizers of the Innowave Summit high-tech conference in Varna. The children from the International Gaidpost Montessori School in Varna presented an inspirational greeting to the new students at VUM, the youngsters have drawn the national flags of all the new students who have just entered the university – more than 20 countries among them: the Netherlands, Suriname, Canada, France, Tunisia, Hungary, Germany, Turkey, Poland, Portugal, Zimbabwe, Kuwait, Cyprus, Spain, Belarus, Vietnam, China, Moldova, Grenada, Egypt, Morocco.

General orientation was given to the students prior to the official part. In addition they were invited to participate in an innovative game/app; where students using the App Lighthouse application had to take photos at various tourist sites in Varna, giving them the chance to explore what is a new environment for most of them. We are proud to share that among the creators of the application is a former student of VUM – Ivan Dimitrov.

VUM welcomed the students with a good news this year:

• The launch of a project for a Smart Solutions Center in Creative and Recreational Industries (INCREA) is a joint initiative of 8 research organizations aiming to build a modern scientific complex to support the development of one of the most promising areas for increasing the competitiveness of the Bulgarian economy – creative and recreational industries. Learn more HERE.
• More destinations and prestigious universities for study abroad – VUM students can travel for mobility (exchange) for study purposes, and free of charge to more than 200 partner universities on 5 different continents.
• Better performance in international ratings – climbing two positions with Master’s of Tourism programs at the Best -Masters.com and MBA (Business Administration) – 17th in the world for tourism specialty, and 7th place for Eastern Europe. First place in the world by criteria “student mobility” of nearly 1600 universities included in the U-Multirank ranking. View all ratings HERE
• New specialty in the field of Culinary Arts, this time offered in Bulgarian language in the renewed base of VUM in Dobrich.