- NO RESERVE --
Year - (cl) 1300 JAHRE BULGARISCHER STAAT. WST. JUBILAUMS-EMBLEM ( 1982 - 1986 )
MICHEL , GANZSACHEN KATALOG EUROPA OST
University of Forestry - Sofia
First StepsThe legal foundation of higher forestry education in Bulgaria was laid on 28th January 1925, when the Academic Council of the Sofia University decided to set up a Department of Forestry at the Agronomy Faculty of the university.That decision was preceded by a long-standing struggle of Bulgarian foresters against the plundering and destruction of forests after the 1878 Liberation from Turkish rule. A lot of opinions and proposals appeared in the specialised newspapers and magazines, as well as in the daily press, regarding both the management of forests and their use and the role of the forest ranger and his or her professional training, especially after the enforcement of Forest Acts from 1883, 1889, 1897, 1904 and 1922. However, only after the graduation of Bulgarian young people from forestry universities abroad (mainly in the Czeck Republic, Germany and France) and their appointment to administrative positions in forest management units, did a truly purposeful and well-founded protection of the Bulgarian forest begin. The issue related to the training of specialists for the needs of forests was raised with increasing urgency and justification. The articles written by Kostadin Baikushev (1892), Stoyan Branchev (1893), Gr. Grozev (1904), Nanko Donchev (1910) and others, played an important role in proving the necessity for training of specialists with forestry education. The great educative and journalistic work of foresters from the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century bore fruit. The main result of their activities was that more and more specialists, who did not belong to the foresters? circle, started realising the importance of forests for the development of society and the danger of their indiscriminate use. More and more articles were written in the press by lawyers, scientists and public figures. Eventually even some politicians became more aware of the significance of forests. As a result of the increased awareness of the necessity for the training of specialists with a degree in forestry, a State Committee was set up in 1915. The task of that Committee was to explore the possibility of opening an independent Faculty of Forestry at Sofia University. Although no positive result was achieved, there was some progress in this direction. Thus in 1921 the National Education Act was amended and supplemented by Decree No 145 (promulgated: SG 87/ 21.07.1921). In part D, chapter 1, article 222 it was said that two new higher specialist schools were to be established: an Academy of Forestry with a three-year course of study and an Academy of Commerce with a two-year course of study.In order to implement the Decree, the Minister of Public Education set up a committee of specialists who had to explore all sides of the issue. After a careful consideration of the potential of the state and the experience of other universities, the Committee made a proposal for the opening a Faculty of Forestry at The St. Kliment Ohridski Sofia University instead of opening an independent Academy of Forestry. The opening of an autonomous Faculty of Forestry at Sofia University was postponed for quite a long time. However, the issue was considered by the Society of Foresters as well as by the then Ministry of Agriculture and State Property and other forest and nature conservationists. The change of the attitude towards Bulgarian "green riches", resulted in the opening of the Department of Specific Silviculture within the Faculty of Agronomy. The aim of that Department was to provide a thorough training in silviculture to agronomical specialists and to establish certain prerequisites for the opening of a Department of Forestry within the Faculty of Agronomy. Todor Dimitrov, Associate Professor, was appointed as Head of the Department.
