Bulgaria

Tuition

Fees vary considerably by university, subject and language of instruction. According to the EU's official "Study in Europe" portal, full-degree tuition in Bulgaria generally falls between about €562 and €5,360 per year for Bachelor's and Master's programmes; at New Bulgarian University, for example, EU/EEA citizens pay roughly €1,355–3,221 per year for most Master's programmes. Students from outside the EU/EEA typically pay separate, higher "foreign student" fees for the whole programme: at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" these ranged from about €2,500 to €8,000 per year in the 2025/2026 academic year, with Medicine at the top of that range; at New Bulgarian University non-EU students paid about €5,522–6,749 per year for most Master's programmes. Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmacy are the most expensive fields almost everywhere. Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026, so current fee schedules are published directly in EUR. Always check the specific university's current, program-level fee schedule before applying. ^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}

Visa

National long-stay visa (Type D) for study purposes, obtained before travel; after arrival it is followed by a residence permit from Bulgaria's Migration Directorate, issued for up to one year and renewable annually for the duration of the programme. — 20 hours per week (applies during term and during official holidays). ^[5]

Applications

There is no single national application portal: each university runs its own admission process and sets its own deadlines, and the range of accredited programmes can be checked via the Ministry of Education's official register of higher schools. Because the Type D student visa alone can take several weeks to process after admission, non-EU applicants are generally advised to apply as early as possible, well ahead of the autumn semester start, once a university confirms it accepts foreign applicants for the chosen programme. ^{[1] [6] [7]}

Application portals

• Ministry of Education and Science – Register of Higher Schools (RSVU)
• Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" – International Student Admission
• New Bulgarian University – Prospective Students

Language

Bulgarian. Bulgarian universities offer a substantial number of Bachelor's and Master's programmes taught entirely in English, particularly in Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, business/economics and IT-related fields. Sofia University alone lists English-taught degree programmes across more than a dozen subject areas, from European Studies to Physics, Chemistry, Biotechnology and Medicine. ^{[1] [2]}

Health insurance

All students in Bulgaria must be able to show valid health insurance for the entire length of their stay; this is checked as part of the visa and residence-permit application. EU/EEA and Swiss students can generally rely on the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) for medically necessary care. Most other foreign students are not automatically covered by Bulgaria's National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF): universities such as UNWE (University of National and World Economy) state explicitly that only foreign students covered by specific intergovernmental agreements are NHIF-insured, while "other foreign students are not health insured" by the university. Such students need private or travel health insurance that meets Bulgarian requirements, and become eligible for NHIF cover once they take up legal employment (for example under the 20-hour student work allowance) through employer and employee contributions. ^{[5] [8]}

Universities

• Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", Sofia ^[6]
• New Bulgarian University, Sofia ^[7]
• Technical University of Sofia, Sofia ^[9]
• Medical University-Sofia, Sofia ^[10]
• American University in Bulgaria (AUBG), Blagoevgrad ^[11]

Scholarships

• Erasmus+ — EU programme funding student mobility, including grants for study periods at partner universities across Europe; Bulgarian universities participate widely in Erasmus+ exchanges. ^[12]
• CEEPUS (Central European Exchange Programme for University Studies) — Intergovernmental exchange programme of which Bulgaria is a member state; funds student and researcher mobility for study stays, summer schools and intensive courses at partner institutions across Central, Eastern and South-East Europe through university networks. ^[13]