Leader’s Foreword

The Department of General and Industrial Microbiology (DGAM) at the Faculty of Biology of the Sofia University is an important center for microbiological training in Bulgaria, which is able to offer high quality education.

Throughout its history, the Department has educated over 750 specialists in the field of Microbiology.

The DGAM is a scientific and educational unit of the Faculty of Biology, which has been accepted and well acknowledged booth at home and abroad for its ability to prepare personnel for research and industry. Many are the achievements, which serve as the cause for the pride felt by its professors, scientific workers and assistants, as well as by the technical staff of the Department.

In the course of its development the DGAM has passed throughout a number of different stages and during each of them, the academic body has looked for solutions to many and various problems, which have had to be solved.

The history of the Department is an important part of the development of Biological Education in Bulgaria. The roots of this history can be found in the period before 1960s when the Department was established as an independent educational unit at the Faculty of Biology. During the years, starting with only one main course of Microbiology, the academic staff developed the education in Microbiology and improved its quality.

Recently, DGAM is working hard on introducing, confirming and improving the three-degree educational system. At present the first bachelors have already became masters and some of the students, who have graduated Master degree in Microbiology, are PhD students. The educational degrees fit the state requirements for structure and quality. Several of the PhD students develop their thesis under the supervision of Bulgarian and foreign professors according to agreements between European Universities and DGAM.

The image of the Department of General and Industrial Microbiology is built upon the solid scientific and research work of its academic staff that take part in different national and international forums every year. The staff is a desired partner in realizing research projects within national programs and initiatives of European Community, such as European Scientific Foundation, Tempus, Socrates/Erasmus, Copernicus, Fifth and Sixth Framework Programs, etc. The research results of the staff are published annually in many prestigious foreign issues.

An important aspect of the Department activity during the last years is the maintenance and expanding of international cooperation with European Universities. The Department has contact relations for long-term partnership with 12 Universities from Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Holland, etc. Visits of lecturers, as well as exchanging of students and post-graduate students are realized through these contacts.

These activities and many others, which are directed to transforming the Department in a modern educational and scientific unit according to the high quality education standards, are realized by the whole staff, which at the moment comprises 7 Associate professors, 4 Assistant professors, 15 PhD students and 5 Technicians.

The improvement of the quality of education process according to the current development in Biology and especially Microbiology is a problem of great importance for the staff. A necessity of many purposeful activities, such as improvement of the new students’ selection, constant renovation of the lectures’ content, introduction of various educational forms, etc. exists.

Improvement of the research work level is on the focus of the staff too.
The list with the problems, which must be solved by the Department during the next years, can be continued. However, the accumulated experience during the forty years history of the Department raises hopes that the challenge to turn the Department into a really modern and competitive educational and scientific unit can be met.

Former achievements are valuable capital and source of optimism for the staff of the Department in its efforts to overcome the future difficulties with honor and dignity.