Minor University in Bulgaria

AUBG seems to forget that it needs to provide its students with majors, rather than minors
Marius Nicolescu
March 21, 2010

 

Book shelves

Photo from defacto archives

Rumors have been circulating around campus for a while about the introduction of at least two new minors at AUBG - Religion and Philosophy, and the much debated Finance minor, heavily advertised by Student Government President Alexandru Panici. While on the surface that seems very positive, as initiatives broaden our academic prospects by offering us all kinds of new perspectives to pursue, there is still room for plenty of discussion.

Increasing the number of minors at the expense of overlooking possible majors might not be as healthy as we can imagine. A minor is not mentioned on a diploma, and does not necessarily need a lot of effort on the part of students to finish. Sometimes students might overestimate the importance of a minor and might choose it as an easy option. Minors are important if they add value to a specific major and provide the student with a broader perspective on a certain area of study. Yet sometimes students might feel that it is O.K. to do three minors and one major, and maybe find out in real life that those minors do not really count too much if they are not connected and do not add value to each other. They do make us look good as a university, but when it comes to actually helping us accomplish something in real life, they are much less important.

A few years ago AUBG decided to cancel a major that is usually found at major American Universities, that is by definition a basis for a liberal arts education - the English Major. Maybe it was the students who lacked the will to take up an English Major in a non-English speaking country, or the lack of marketing efforts - those are still questions to be answered. It is understandable that during the current economic crisis, when we cannot afford to hire more professors, something should be done to broaden the academic prospects a university offers, but there are other ways to do that such as doing curriculum revisions for areas where technology and times change the dynamics of specific subjects. Changes in terms of curriculum should be made or at least attempted in Journalism and Mass Communicaton (JMC), Economics (ECO), or Business Administration (BUS).

However, it is not a very good idea to introduce minors just for the sake of deluding prospective students about choices they don't really have to begin with.

Majors take a while to become popular and have life cycles, some of them stick and some of them do not. But while it is easy to form minors by just adding up some pre-existing classes, few people have actually envisioned what students would want in terms of majors. Maybe it is time to ask them.

Comments

Opinion...

Marius, Congrats on the article - it's definitely more than an opinion piece, close to a solid analysis, which is cool... Couple of small corrections: 1. "A minor is not mentioned on a diploma, and does not necessarily need a lot of effort on the part of students to finish." AUBG Policy: Up to 2 majors and minors are mentioned on the AUBG diploma... 2. "A few years ago AUBG decided to cancel a major that is usually found at major American Universities, that is by definition a basis for a liberal arts education - the English Major. " Unfortunately the issue is a bit more complex: it was more than a couple of years ago - and it was the AUBG President who decided to cancel it againt the Department's recommendation [and he didnot get to stay long here] - don't know more info abou that... but this is a nice thing for the next SG to work on... 3. " It is understandable that during the current economic crisis, when we cannot afford to hire more professors" There are current search committees looking to hire new professors for the next academic year... And overall - the process off adding up majors is a risky business... the fixed costs are too high and it's better to start with a minor than convert it to a major if there is a necessary demand for the major - like the MIS minor who then became major. Alexandru Panici
Submitted by Anonymous on March 22, 2010 - 13:42.