About the Faculty
August 1, 2024 2025-04-29 11:47About the Faculty
Welcome to the webpage of the Faculty of Agronomy
History
The Faculty of Agronomy of the University of Forestry is a well-established and internationally recognized educational and scientific unit with more than 25 years of history, which trains Bachelor, Master and Doctoral students with a high level of career realization and conducts active research activity. The faculty is a successor of the Faculty of Agronomy, founded in 1921 at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”, which marks the beginning of higher agricultural education in Bulgaria. In 1948, the training of agricultural specialists was transferred to the newly established Agricultural Academy, and after the end of the 1977/78 academic year it was transferred to the Higher Agricultural Institute in Plovdiv.
Sixteen years after the transfer of the students’ training to the city of Plovdiv, on September 14, 1994, the Academic Council of the Higher Forestry Institute decided to establish a Faculty of Agronomy within the Institute, which restored the agronomic education in Sofia. At the end of 1999, the Faculty of Agronomy merged with the Faculty of Ecology and Landscape Architecture into the Faculty of Ecology, Landscape Architecture and Agronomy (FELAA). In 2004, by a decision of the Academic Council of December 3, 2003, the Faculty of Agronomy was established as an independent unit within the University of Forestry. Since the restoration of the faculty in 1994, the following professors have been selected as deans:
Accreditation and Ranking
The Faculty of Agriculture provides education of students in two professional fields accredited by the National Agency for Evaluation and Accreditation (NEAA) – 6.1 “Plant growing” and 6.2 “Plant Protection”. In the educational ad qualification degree “Bachelor” (full-time and part-time form of education) training is conducted in two specialties “Agronomy” and “Plant protection”
In the educational qualification degree “Master” (full-time and part-time form of education) training is conducted in nine master’s programs: „Plant Breeding and Seed Production of Crops“, „Horticulture and Viticulture“, „Crop production“ „Management of soil resources“, “Field crops production”, “Vegetable growing”, “Fruit growing”, “Regenerative agriculture” and “Plant protection”.
The high quality of the educational process and the scientific and applied activity of the faculty is confirmed by the high marks of the professional fields and doctoral programs accredited by the National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency.
According to the Ranking System of the Higher Schools in Bulgaria, the two professional fields in which faculty of agronomy provide training occupy the two leading positions in Bulgaria in the period 2012-2020.
In 2019 the professional field Plant growing was ranked first in Bulgaria. In 2021, the training in the professional field “Plant growing” was ranked at first place in Bulgaria by the coefficient calculated according to the methodology of the Council of Ministers № 328 / 30.11.2015.
Training in the two professional fields of the Faculty of Agriculture occupy a leading position in Bulgaria in terms of indicators related to the realization of graduates: low unemployment among graduates, application of higher education and realization by vocation, insurance income of graduates, regional realization, regional realization in a position for higher education.
The Faculty of Agronomy provides education in 11 accredited by the National Evaluation and Accreditation Agency doctoral programs
More information about the doctoral programs at the Faculty of Agronomy can be found in the section “Education”.
Training
According to the Bulgarian university ranking system, the training in the two professional fields of the Faculty of Agronomy occupies a leading position in Bulgaria in terms of indicators related to Teaching and learning and Career relevance to labor market and regional importance of graduates: Exclusive full-time academic staff, Low level of unemployment among graduates, Applicability of degree acquired and realization by vocation, Graduates’ insurance income, Regional career realization, Regional career realization at positions requiring university degree. This independent external evaluation demonstrates the high quality of the training delivered by the faculty, due to the following:
1. The training of students is provided by highly qualified lecturers with active research activities.
2. The educational content is based on the latest scientific and applied achievements in the respective disciplines.
3. The training is conducted in a modern teaching environment, provided with modern facilities, information security, and modern information technologies, as follows:
4. Priority in training is conducting of practical classes and case studies in the most realistic environment by:
5. Students actively participate in scientific and educational projects, mobility programs, scientific forums, seminars, round tables and other activities that contribute to the development of their creative thinking.
The Faculty of Agriculture actively participates in the implementation of educational projects funded by the Erasmus + program, as well as by the Operational Programs.
More information about the educational process at the Faculty of Agronomy can be found under the heading “Education”
Research and Expertise
According to the Bulgarian university ranking system, the research of the professors, in the subject of the two professional directions of the Faculty of Agronomy, occupy the leading place in Bulgaria in terms of the following indicators: Citation index by scientific area (Web of Science), Average number of citations per paper (Web of Science), Articles in scientific journals (Web of Science) This independent external evaluation indicates the high quality of the scientific outputs of the teaching staff, which is due to the following:
More information about the research activities and outputs of the teaching staff can be found on the webpages of the departments of the Faculty.
Relations with agribusiness, administration and the general public
The teaching staff of the faculty maintains a permanent relationship with leading agribusiness companies and the agricultural administration, with whom they jointly hold seminars, roundtables on current issues, student meetings, etc.
Within the Bio-Resources Extension Service (BIORES), the Career Development Center and the University Entrepreneurship Center of the University of Forestry, as well as implementing various projects and initiatives, the teaching staff of the faculty and students are actively involved in knowledge transfer activities such as publishing information materials, manuals, and brochures, participation in information and demonstration days, specialized exhibitions, competitions, citizen science initiatives, etc.
