The situation surrounding the election of a new rector at the Chemical Technology and Metallurgical University (HTMU) goes far beyond the scope of a simple administrative dispute. It is becoming a dangerous precedent of direct state interference in academic independence - a constitutionally guaranteed right of higher education institutions in Bulgaria. Under the pretext of complying with procedures, the Ministry of Education and Science (MES) is practically replacing the will of the academic community and imposing official rule.
The key problem in the case lies in the time horizon. Prof. Nikolay Karev was elected by the General Assembly to complete the current term (2023-2027). Given the normal duration of a court case in Bulgaria, which goes through two instances, the final decision of the court will take months, if not years.
By refusing to recognize the election of the General Assembly and insisting that the interim acting Prof. Dancho Danalev must remain in office, the Ministry of Education and Science effectively predetermined who would govern the HTMU for a period of over two years. Thus, the ministry administratively rendered meaningless the legitimate election held on July 21. When the court finally rules on the merits, the mandate itself will have already expired, which turns the right of the teachers and students to vote into an empty declaration.
The political and personal nuance in this crisis is particularly worrying. The independent election of the academic community has been tarnished with the direct participation of the former rector of the university - Prof. Senya Terzieva-Zhelyazkova. After leaving the HTMU to become the relevant deputy minister of education, she finds herself in a position of high state power, from which she can influence the processes at her former university.
Prof. Terzieva's participation in imposing the status quo through the levers of the MES seems like direct revenge against her own colleagues. The general assembly categorically rejected the previous line of management by electing a new leader in the person of Prof. Karev. Instead of complying with the will of the sovereign at the university, the ministry - with the signature and authority of its deputy minister, imposed reverse management, which has already been officially rejected by the academic community.
The “HTMU“ case draws a dangerous formula for subjugating every higher education institution in our country. If the recipe “filing a complaint + administrative interpretation by the MES“ becomes a practice, the state will be able to keep any inconvenient university in subjection through endless extension of official mandates.
When the ministry allows itself to appoint rectors through procedural tricks, autonomy becomes a facade, and academic freedom is replaced by bureaucratic diktat.