Biological Sciences became part of the educational and research programme at the Sofia University with the founding of the Department of Botany in 1891 and that of Zoology in 1893. In 1904 there were four departments as a part of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics, within the Degree programme in Natural History: General Botany, Special Botany, Anatomy and Taxonomy of Invertebrates, and Comparative Animal Anatomy. In 1944 the programme was divided into Biology and Geology, and in 1952, alongside with the Degree programme in Geography, the Faculty of Biology and Geography was founded.
The Faculty of Biology
as a separate unit of the Sofia University was founded in 1962. Its main
activity is to provide basic knowledge in biology and research field.
The Faculty of Biology offers several degree programmes with specializations:
Biology, with specializations in Botany, Zoology, Hydrobiology and Ichthyology;
Microbiology, with three specializations in: Animal and Human Biochemistry
and Physiology, Plant Biochemistry and Physiology, and General and Industrial
Microbiology; and Teacher Qualification in Biology.
The development of the Faculty motivated the appearance of new departments:
Animal and Human Physiology; Biochemistry; Microbiology; Genetics; Cell
Biology; Biophysics; etc., and increase in the number of students and
academic staff members. The total number of students taught at the Faculty
of Biology, is 1413, which includes full-time and part-time students.
There are 13 departments of the Faculty of Biology: Biochemistry; Biotechnology; Botany; Genetics; Ecology and Environmental Protection, Zoology and Anthropology; General and Industrial Microbiology; Human and Animal Physiology; Plant Physiology; Cytology, Histology and Embryology; Hydrobiology and Ichthyology; Methodology of Biology Teaching; and several scientific laboratories, including Laboratory of Virology.
At present the Faculty of Biology offers the following Degree programmes:
Biology
Molecular Biology
Biotechnology
Ecology and Environmental Protection
Biology and Chemistry
Geography and Biology
There are also a lot of Master’s programmes:
Biochemistry
Biophysics
Cell Biology and Pathology
Developmental Biology
Ecological Biotechnology
Ecology
Entomology
Environmental Protection
Genetics
Human and Animal Physiology
Hydrobiology and Aquaculture
Microbiology and Microbiological Control
The Faculty of Biology offers a wide range of graduate and post-graduate
courses and confers a PhD and DrSci degrees, awarded for a definite contribution
to science.
At the Faculty of Biology more than 80 practical and research laboratories
supplied with required equipment are functioning.
The Department of General and Industrial Microbiology, which offers the
Master’s programme in Microbiology and Microbiological Control under the
Socrates/Erasmus programme of the European Commission, was founded in
1963. Among its main topics of research and educational interest are:
Industrial Microbiology, Food Microbiology, Physiology and Biochemistry
of Microorganisms, Production of Biologically Active Substances, Oil-Degrading
Microorganisms, Bioremediation and Ecotoxicology,Biotechnology of Chemolithotrophic
Microorganisms.
The
Sofia University
Faculty of Biology
8 Dragan Tzankov Blvd.
Sofia 1164
Bulgaria