"The gap between IT education and the requirements of the business is enormous, but the fact that we all have the good will to look for solutions is encouraging," said Krassimir Ganchev, Director of Nokia Bulgaria and members of the BBLF Managing Board, at the BBLF discussion on "ICT Education - The Gap between the Classroom and the Business". The meeting, which is organized in partnership with the Hi-Tech Show on Nova Television and hosted by the Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", took place on October 9, 2003.
This discussion brought together IT businesses, students, representatives of the government and academics, to share their ideas on how to match school and university programs with the expectations of the business. Over 200 students, university professors and school teachers, and business people participated in the discussion. The Hi-Tech Show on Nova Television at 2 p.m. on October 18, 2003, is entirely devoted to the event.
The meeting would not have been possible without the support of LLP Sofia, Nokia Bulgaria, Cisco Systems and Fadata.
Orlin Kouzov, Director of the ICT Development Agency, and Sylvia Kancheva, IT Expert at the Ministry of Education and Science, presented the role of the state as the responsible party for providing an educational foundation, which business experience could build upon.
"As a future member of the European Union, Bulgaria needs modern education," said Nickolay Tanchev, student at the Technical University and intern at Nokia Bulgaria. The students in the audience confirmed the importance of practical experience as an essential part of their education.
The business was represented at the panel by Zdravko Nikolov, Cisco Systems, Bozhidar Krapchev, LLP Sofia, and Krassimir Ganchev, Nokia Bulgaria. They agreed that they could support the universities by providing distinguished guest lecturers, by organizing trainings both for the students and the professors, by equipping IT labs and by advising on the content of the educational programs.
"The Law on Procurement is a major barrier to the fast purchase of computers in the universities," said Ventsislav Trifonov, Assistant Professor at the Technical University. His colleagues Anatol Frensky, Director of the Technological School for Electronic Systems, and Roumen Nickolov, Director of the IT Department at Sofia University, asked the business to involve students in the development of projects.
The "IT Education - the Gap between the Classroom and the Business" discussion is a logical continuation of the Career Advice Project, which attracted over 6,000 students during the month of May this year to 18 professional seminars covering the whole range of business activities. BBLF has successfully implemented the project for three years in a row.
