1.10 - Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" is founded

On October 1, 1888, the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" was founded.

The idea for the university was born eight years earlier, in 1880, when the Ministry of Education submitted to the National Assembly a draft Basic Law on Schools, which envisaged the creation of a Bulgarian higher school that would admit high school graduates. However , it was not until 1887 that a regulation was issued to open a higher pedagogical class at the First Male Gymnasium in Sofia, and at that time only the functioning of a history and philology department was planned.

The initial name of the institution was the Higher Pedagogical Course at the Sofia Boys' High School. The initial teaching staff numbered seven people, and the course enrolled 43 students, excellent students from various high schools. After the good start of the higher education course, on December 8, 1888, the National Assembly decided to transform it into a higher education institution , which in 1904 was renamed a university.

Subsequently, lectures began on physics, mathematics, law, pedagogy, Slavic philology, history, and old and modern languages, and students were offered scholarships in the amount of 720 leva.

The Bulgarian linguist Alexander Teodorov-Balan was elected the first rector on January 29, 1889, and the philanthropists Evlogi and Hristo Georgievi donated 6 million gold leva and a plot of land in the center of Sofia for the construction of the Rectorate building, which houses the university to this day.

"...the uncertainty about the students, how many years they would study in the course, what exam they would take to complete their studies, and what rights they would have to enjoy in the state afterwards - all this weighed on the progress of the Higher Pedagogical Course and on the assessment it was to gain among Bulgarian youth and society. And yet, neither the teachers nor the students lacked faith in the course's future nor zeal for its predecessor."

- Alexander Todorov, Excerpt from the report of the Higher School for the 1902/3 academic year.

This article is the first part of the new column of the TEAM "Diary of Human Action", within which we will mark the most significant events and personalities from history - both Bulgarian and world. A diary of the development of human civilization and society to this day and the achievements and personalities that have marked it.

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