Admission criteria

The BCES is an elitist society. On the one hand it is open to the Bulgarian education community but on the other hand - it is difficult for one to become a member of the BCES. New members are rarely accepted.

As to be able to apply for admission to the BCES, one should have:

1) at least a Master's degree in Education or related program; a Doctoral degree is not compulsory but desirable;

2) research experience in the field of comparative education;

3) publications in the field (articles and conference papers are not enough; having authorship or co-authorship of books is necessary).

As to become a BCES member, the candidate should receive at least 50% of the votes of society's members.

Membership profile

Members of the BCES are university professors, high-ranking officials at the Ministry of Education and Science, and school teachers. For now, all members are Bulgarian citizens. However, the BCES has decided to open its membership policy to distinguished foreign scholars. 

According to its Statute, the BCES can involve people outside its membership for performing various activities. The BCES actively explores that possibility and usually involves students, researchers, teachers, etc for Society's needs in projects, conferences, seminars and other events.

Leadership

According to the BCES Statute, Part 3 "Management", Articles 7-15, managing bodies of the Society are the General Assembly and the Management Board. The General Assembly consists of all members of the Society.

1. General Assembly

The General Assembly shall (Article 9):

- pass and amend the Statute

- adopt other internal acts

- elect members of the Management Board

- take decisions on admission of new members

- decide on membership fees

- accept the President's annual report

- approve the Society's Program.

2. Management Board

The Management Board shall (Articles 14-15):

- be the executive body of the Society

- elect President of the Board who is President of the Society

- be responsible for organizing Society's activities

- perform duties according to the Statute

- prepare reports on Society's activities

- decide on organizational, financial, research and other matters.

3. Term of office

The members of the Management Board, and the President respectively, are elected for a 5-year term of office. There is no limit of the number of terms for a person to be elected as member of the Management Board or as President. Since the BCES's foundation in 1991, President of the Society has been Prof. Dr. Nikolay Popov, Professor of Comparative Education at Sofia University.

Activities

1. BCES overall objectives

According to the BCES Statute, Part I "General Provisions", Article 3, Paragraph 3.1., the BCES overall objectives are to:

- accumulate efforts of its members towards studying historical, methodological and practical aspects of comparative education as a science, towards its development as an academic discipline, and towards studying foreign educational theories and practices;

- establish cooperation and keep contacts with scholars, research organizations, institutions, and other related societies in Bulgaria and abroad;

- organize, coordinate and support research in the field of comparative education performed by its members.

2. BCES means

According to the BCES Statute, Part I "General Provisions", Article 3, Paragraph 3.2., the BCES achieves its objectives by the following means:

- organizing national and international seminars, conferences, congresses and other related forums;

- doing research projects;

- keeping permanent and active international cooperation;

- organizing, coordinating and managing discussions on various topics on education in Bulgarian and abroad;

- forming and maintaining a comparative education library and data-base;

- applying to foundations and other donor organizations for financing of research projects.

3. BCES activities

Some activities of the BCES are:

- Preparing and organizing the International Conference on "Comparative Education and Teacher Training" in Sofia;

- Supporting academic publications in the field of Comparative Education;

- Assisting the development of Comparative Education as a science and academic discipline;

- Providing Bulgarian education policy-makers with updated information on educational reforms, innovations and trends in countries around the world;

- Collecting, translating and studying ABC books that are being currently used at Grade 1 of primary schools in different countries; this project is entitled "ABC books around the world";

- Collecting, classifying and analyzing information on all levels and sectors of educational systems in countries of all parts of the world. Special research attention is paid on the educational systems in the European Union member-countries.