On May 18, the American University in Bulgaria saw the graduation of its 14th undergraduate class. The institution welcomed its first students – all 208 of them – on September 30 1991. Since then, the Blagoevgrad-based private university has come to find its place among the top-ranked schools in the country. It currently has 1057 students from 30 nations (academic year 2007/08) and 81 faculty members that teach 272 courses in 452 separate class blocks; there are nine bachelor degree-granting major and 11 minor programmes, ranging from fine arts and philosophy to South East European studies and computer science.

In addition, there is also a 16-month executive MBA (EMBA) programme that confers a master’s in business administration degree from the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG). In Sofia, AUBG owns and operates the Elieff Center for Education and Culture, found in Studentski Grad.

AUBG has more than 105 414 library volumes and 8287 current periodicals; there are 514 computers, of which 264 are for student use and located in 12 labs around the main building, the new academic building and the two residence halls. It is partnered with more than 20 universities, and has student exchange programmes with 14 of them.

The university is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and in Bulgaria by the National Agency for Evaluation and Accreditation, both as of 2001.

Since May 16 2007, David Huwiler has been its president. In an interview with The Sofia Echo, the Wisconsin native said that more than half of the students are from outside Bulgaria, for a total of 27 nations represented at AUBG.

“I once read that the three requirements for success are intelligence, creativity, and attitude. AUBG students have all three in abundance,” Huwiler said. “They are an endless source of surprise and delight. What distinguishes our faculty is a love of teaching and of interacting with students. They do serious research, but what really energises them is working with students.”

Though his academic background is in American literature, Huwiler said that since elementary school, he has had a deep interest in Russia and the Soviet empire. This led him to specialise in and eventually do his doctorate dissertation on Vladimir Nabokov. “I began my career as a professor, and then gradually moved into administration,” he said, thus realising another childhood aspiration – to work on a university campus.

Before coming to AUBG with his wife Svetlana, he served as the president of two other American universities – one in Kyrgyzstan and one in Nigeria. ”I seemed that my background coincided very nicely with the opportunity here,” he said.

Among his goals for the university are completing the new campus at Skaptopara, a neighbourhood in Blagoevgrad. “We have made a very good start with the residence halls, the academic building, and the new library,” Huwiler said. “But we still need a third residence hall, the student centre and the recreation facilities. That will require that we raise a great deal of money – more than US$30 million in all – so a lot of my time will be spent talking with donors. I also want to build the endowment, so that the university can afford to provide more financial support to students.”

And while he described the workload as sometimes being “a little overwhelming”, he said that the childhood decision to choose a university career has turned out to be “a very good one”.

“The work itself is enjoyable – working with students, with faculty, with others who share my passion for higher education,” Huwiler said. “In addition, however, one feels that the work is making a difference, both for the individual students who attend AUBG and for Bulgaria, which benefits from the highly trained graduates.”

The American College of Sofia (ACS) is holding its annual Arts Fest on Saturday June 21 from 10.30am to 3pm at the school campus in Mladost 2. At the festival, students will participate in art exhibitions, concerts, dramatic productions, dances, sport games and a variety of outdoor activities. Among the planned activities are a raffle and various food delights. It is also a chance for guests to spend a day on the ACS campus. The goal of the event is to raise funds to support ACS arts programmes and the school’s scholarship fund. For more information, please call 02/ 434 10 10 or visit www.acs.bg.

Published as part of the Education in Bulgaria special feature of The Sofia Echo, May 23 2008