The International Summer Seminar in Bulgarian Language and Culture is organized by St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo, with its specific activity supported by the Ministry of Education and Science as part of the teaching, research and international activity. The main purpose of the seminar is to strengthen Bulgarian studies abroad through educational, research, applied and publishing programs. The academic understanding of foreign Bulgarian studies includes teaching and learning the Bulgarian language, literature and civilization (history, traditions, culture, modern aspects and achievements of Bulgarian society in different spheres). The International Summer Seminar in Bulgarian Language and Culture is a partner of institutions concerned with the Bulgarian education in the academic and cultural space in Europe and worldwide. The language education is organized in accordance with the criteria of language competence according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.
Along with its activity, the International Summer Seminar in Bulgarian Language and Culture is part of the modern aspect and the inherited spirit of the town of Veliko Tarnovo (http://www.velikoturnovo.info/en/index/), the old capital of Bulgaria – as a traditional centre of the Slavic and the Orthodox Christian Spirituality.
The University of Veliko Tarnovo (www.uni-vt.bg/eng) continues the educational and cultural traditions of the famous medieval Literary School of Tarnovo, 13th - 14th centuries, embodies the spiritual continuity and the preserved cultural identity of the Old capital of Bulgaria during the Ottoman Empire, 15th -19th centuries. It is the first university established out of the capital Sofia (1963) and offers a wide scope of subjects for more than five decades, including a series of European academic programs and various forms of international collaboration.
The International Summer Seminar in Bulgarian Language and Culture accepts participants with scholarships in bilateral programs for cultural and academic exchange with the support of the Ministry of Education. It is also open to participants by cooperation agreements between universities, by European programs for students’ and lecturers’ mobility, individual participants and groups against payment: students, lecturers, interpreters, journalists, businessmen, professionals and non-professionals, people of all ages.