Every 12th German medical student chooses to study abroad rather than in Germany shows a Dnevnik analysis, cited by Rador Radio Romania. Most go to Austria and Hungary, but Bulgaria is also included in the calculations of many of them.
Medicine in Germany is raised on a pedestal, doctors are highly respected, and the medical school is of great interest. But some of the German medical school applicants go to other countries, including Bulgaria. According to the Center for the Development of Higher Education, 7,500 Germans are currently studying medicine abroad. The center studied the conditions for applicants and university fees for medical students at 84 universities outside Germany.
The largest number of Germans study medicine in neighboring Austria. In 2021, their number was 2,585. About 2,000 study in Hungary, under 800 in Poland, and the latest information available from Bulgaria shows that, in 2019, about 600 Germans studied in four medical universities in the country.
The Medigate portal writes about medical education in English in four Bulgarian universities: Varna, Plovdiv, Sofia and Plevna. According to reports, more and more students from Western and Northern Europe are heading to Bulgaria because there is no high school diploma requirement (although there are sometimes entrance exams), because the fees and cost of living are low, and the country is a member of the EU – i.e. transfer to another European university is possible and degrees are recognized in Germany and throughout the European Union. The portal provides answers to a long series of questions, such as: how much does it cost to study in Bulgaria? What is the cost of living? How to find a home? What qualities do they need to have to study medicine in Bulgaria? Are the exams difficult? Is life in cities like Varna and Plovdiv interesting?
Last year, BTA cited a special study on this topic by the educational information platform Erudera, which recalled that even in countries with free higher education such as Germany, students still have to pay administrative fees. Bulgaria, along with the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal and Romania, are countries where the fees are low and the cost of living for foreign students is the most acceptable.
Bulgaria is popular among foreign students looking for affordable educational opportunities in Europe, notes the educational information platform. Their data coincides with information from the Bulgarian government: in the academic year 2021-2022, 16,525 foreign students studied in Bulgaria – 8.2% of the total number of students in the country. According to the document, Bulgaria is a leader in the entire EU in terms of the share of foreign students in medical specialties – 58.5% of medical students in the country are foreign.
The fees paid by foreign students from EU countries vary between €300 and €1,700 per year, depending on the specialization and degree. And the cost of living in Bulgaria is 450-650 euros per month, according to Erudera. In addition, foreign students in Bulgaria have the opportunity to work during their studies – up to 20 hours per week. After graduation, they can apply for a work permit in the country.
In an information on this subject from the German public broadcaster MDR, the reporter Vesela Vladkova also shows that, in fact, the cost of living for a student in Bulgaria amounts to around 700 euros, and public transport, the cinema and the theater, with student discount, they come out cheaper. Gheorghi Stoichev of Open Society recalls that high school is not required to study medicine in Bulgaria, and this attracts many foreigners – mainly Greeks, Germans and Italians.
Students who decide to study medicine abroad, in both Germany and Bulgaria, give rise to another discussion: where they will work after they graduate. Currently, according to the German Medical Association, Germany needs at least 6,000 places a year to study medicine to meet the country’s need for doctors. And will these 7,500 German students studying abroad then return to practice medicine in Germany? The Center for the Development of Higher Education, cited by the KNA agency, notes critically that this topic does not seem to be discussed. There is no data on where these students go after graduation, the cited study said. “Several foreign universities participated in our survey and reported that most German graduates go home to Germany, but this information should not be generalized,” says Gero Federkeil, coordinator of the study.
Such a problem also exists in Bulgaria, from where too many doctors end up in rich countries in Europe and the world. However, there is no data on whether and how many of these 58% foreign medical students intend to stay at least for a while as practicing doctors in Bulgaria.
Source: DAILY / Rador Radio Romania / Translation: Mirela Petrescu
