The Members of the Bulgarian Parliament granted Thursday Bulgarian colleges and universities the right to evaluate and validate diplomas from foreign schools.

The amendments in the Higher Education Act are now final, much to the delight to Education Minister, Sergey Ignatov, who says this would spare cumbersome procedures such as translations and legalizations.

The colleges and universities will also be allowed to determine their own fees for Master Degree programs. Only schools with an accreditation assessment from 4 to 4.99 can offer Bachelor Degrees while those between 6 and 10 can offer Masters Degrees. Schools with accreditation between 8 and 10 can also offer PhD programs. The accreditation is valid for 3 years.

Universities are also given the right to open departments abroad.

Meanwhile, Deputy Education Minister, Milena Damyanova, announced the cabinet is slating BGN 2 M for the education of Bulgarians abroad, raising the funding of the program "Native Language and Culture" to BGN 4 M.

According to the Ministry, there are 185 Bulgarian schools abroad with 20 000 students. The program teaches Bulgarian language, geography and history of Bulgaria.

Also on Thursday, the MPs approved a National Strategy for Development of Scientific Research until 2020, providing for investments in science and technology to reach 1.5% of the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, by that year.

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