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The personality of King Boris III occupied a central, specific place in Bulgarian political and public life in 1918-1943. Besides that, for many reasons this personality turned into an important differentiated element of the national political mythology. The paper reveals how the image of the monarch was formed in the public space during the time when he headed the State. The observations show that throughout the period under review an entirely positive image of the king predominated. Its shaping and consolidation at first began spontaneously, undirected and uncoordinated. During the mid-Thirties the cult of the king, gradually launched through the press, entered the stage of mythologizing his personality. Besides the press and individual publications to the consolidation of a generally valid royal image contributed extremely much both the existing channels of face-to-face communication and above all the King himself by his masterly public behaviour. The article is based on information summed-up from the press of that time and other sources, as well as on numerous, critically used memoir and diary information. The fundamental traits of the royal personality are indicated, not only as fixed by his contemporaries but also as they emerge from the critical reading of the sources.
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Surveys and references / Teodora Bakyrdjieva, Stoyan Yordanov. Russe. Space and History (end of XIV century - 70s of XIX century). Urban planning. Infrastructure. Buildings. Russe. Publisher "Avangardprint", 2001. 204 p.
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The article offered to the readers is a synthetic presentation of the historical development of Bulgaria’s armed forces in a period levering more than 110 years, i.e. from the restoration of the State system in 1878 to the dissolution of the Warsaw Coalition in 1991. An attempt is made from such a standpoint to show the genesis and the basic characteristics of the Bulgarian Army during the two diametrically opposed political systems - monarchic and republican; to outline their images and parameters although in certain respects they coincide but they mostly differ. In this way a comparison and a comparative analysis should be made and the attitude of the contradictory ruling regimes towards the armed forces and hence to State defence be shown. Being acquainted with the image of the Bulgarian Army, the reader should be aware that the author has taken into account the considerably large stock of publications dedicated to its history during the monarchy. The facts about the republican Bulgarian People’s Army, especially from the fifties to the end of the eighties, are not known. From this point of view what is new and original in the article are the facts put into scientific circulation about the armed forces during this period of the country’s history, extracted from the hitherto highly confidential documents of the Politburo of the CC of the BCP. The accents in the article are the analysis and interpretation of the development of the normative regulations and the picture and features of tie armed forces they formed, making use of the chronological-problem approach. More specifically it is the question of the objectives, tasks and functions solved by them; the changes in the methods of their formation and hence of its character; the modernization of the organizational structure and the changes in their quantitative growth; the methods and ways of instructing the command, staff and the combat and moral training of the ranks. Within the context of comparisons concerning the armed forces, this is the author’s second, publication in which he draws the reader’s attention to a little known and discussed problem: the evolution of the Bulgarian military doctrine and. its political and strategic concepts during the different stages of Bulgaria’s modern history. Along with that the development of Bulgarian military strategic thinking and the influence of the different military schools are also subjected to comment. When looking into the mechanisms and methods of building up the republican armed, forces, the author considers the complex processes of their complete control by the Communist Party and their further ideologizing. Their turning not so much into a national but rather into a party power tool. In this respect he introduces into circulation numerous facts connected with the unification of the Bulgarian Army on a Soviet model...
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Both Bulgarian and foreign scholars are still confused about this country’s Constitution of 1879, usually defined as one of the most democratic constitutions in Europe at the time, and about the character of Ferdinand I.s reign, frequently referred to as .Ferdinand’s personal regime.. As a matter of fact, though, Bulgaria was the first constitutional and parliamentary monarchy in Europe to introduce universal male suffrage. True enough, the German Reichstag was also elected by all adult male citizens but unlike, Bulgaria, the executive in Germany was not accountable to the legislature. Similarly to the other constitutional and parliamentary monarchies no act of the Bulgarian ruler had legal force unless countersigned by the ministers. Until World War I Bulgaria was among the European countries with the highest percentage of people, entitled to vote. From 1887 to 1918 the opposition succeeded in winning the parliamentary elections twice, while there were seven changes of the ruling parties or coalitions. It should be noted in this regard that Belgium, for instance, was governed by the Clericals during the whole period from 1880 to 1940. Bulgaria’s crowned democracy seems to be a remarkable achievement, even if compared to Europe as a whole.
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This paper is aimed at examining the principal events in Bulgarian history up to the middle of the 9th c. as presented in the preserved sources on the period and at outlining the most important tendencies in the formation and development of the ruler’s institution in .pagan. Bulgaria. The three elements of state building with the ancient Bulgarians, like other peoples in a similar stage of their historical development, namely territory, people and power, formed and developed in the pre-State period (up to the beginning of the 6th c.). As regards the ruler’s institution, already in the second half of the 4th c. when the Bulgarian tribes went through the flowering of what we call the stage of military democracy, gradually emerged the tendency of the appearance of khan dynasties and of transforming the power of the military leaders into hereditary. This tendency intensified in the next two centuries when part of the Bulgarian tribes occupied the territories of the future “Great Bulgaria”, and the rule of the khans consolidated further as monolithic power. The emergence, inner consolidation and territories expansion of the Bulgarian Khanate of the Lower Danube whereby a major part of the Balkan Slavs were integrated, turned the State into one of the important factors in the policy of the Eastern Mediterranean during the first half of the 9th c. The centralized State rule led to the concentration of all the levers of power - military, administrative, legislative and judicial - into the hands of the Bulgarian Khan.
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During the two thoroughly opposite periods of Bulgaria’s State rule after the Liberation - the monarchic and the republican - the Head of State emerged as the key figure in the supreme leadership and commander-in-chief of the Bulgarian Army. Although passed in different historical times and forms of administration, in the four Bulgarian Constitutions so far invariably have been guaranteed the prerogatives of the Head of State as supreme commander-in-chief. In peace time he was the supreme commander, under the Turnovo Constitution, and in war time commander-in-chief of the Bulgarian Army. By virtue of this provision of the Constitution during the monarchic period the supreme supervision of the Army was exercised by three monarchs: Alexander I, Ferdinand I and Boris III, In exceptional cases and impossibility for the monarch to exercise his duties the Constitution envisaged the appointment of a provisional institution: a regency. In Bulgaria’s State political history three times emerged situations when regents were appointed, and they assumed the functions of supreme commanders-in-chief of the Bulgarian Army. The republican form of government was adopted in Bulgaria in September 1946. The institutional changes in the highest form of State power determined also the new prerogatives of the Head of State as supreme commander-in-chief. During the totalitarian regime they were connected with the Presidium of the National Assembly and the State Council. Since the beginning of the last decade of the 20th c. when profound democratic changes were carried out in Bulgaria, the functions of Head of State and Commander-in-Chief of the Bulgarian Army have been assumed by the President and his institution.
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Quality issues have always been of great importance for research as well as teaching and learning in German Higher Education. Nevertheless, the quality management of higher education institutions as an all encompassing and systematic function has only become relevant during the past decade. This is due to the organisational development of higher education institutions in Germany during the last twenty years and the changes of their external conditions. Growth and massification of higher education as well as differentiation of subjects were accompanied by an increasing complexity inside the institutions. Institution-building, autonomy and organisational development are furthermore fostered by a growing competition between institutions on the national as well as international level. The Bologna Process has pushed the development of quality assurance and quality management especially in the area of teaching and learning. Additionally to the accreditation of study programmes, the system accreditation was introduced in 2007 as a procedure for systematic scrutiny of assurance and enhancement concerning the whole quality management system of the university. But since research, young scientists, internationalisation, administration and other services as well as governance are also highly relevant functions, the key performance indicators of quality assurance must consider all these areas in order to provide valuable information for strategic planning an management.
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The Balanced Scorecard concept is a tool for translating a strategy into a language which is comprehensive not only to managers, but to all stakeholders. Modern organizations depend upon measurement and analysis of variety of performances and management ability to understand, control and direct functioning of the organization and implementation of organizational strategy. Balanced scorecard metrics must be developed and based on the priorities of the strategic plan, which provides the key organizational drivers and criteria for metrics that managers need to monitor the most. This is necessary because the indicators can demonstrate when it is crucial to accept certain changes and adapt to different organizations climates, thus generate new organization's core capabilities and develop competition advancement. Performance measurement is not vital in some simple organizations, but is of extreme importance in the complex and professional organizations it is of extreme importance. Complex organizations have more employees and consequently a larger number of organizational units. In order to establish coordination in all the organizational units, it is necessary to embed a system which will be capable of monitoring their work and generate better quality of organizational strategy implementation.
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In this paper, strategic planning refers to the development of instruments, serving to determine the vision of development of a higher education institution, that is, instruments which will help every member of the organization to clearly define individual tasks and obligations leading to the same goal. Strategic planning is understood as a system in which results/goals are set, that is, in which tasks which lead to achievement of a goal are clearly defined, provided that the strategies/methods have been selected. Several segments of planning are differed: / strategic / development of priorities and tasks which will be realized in the course of several years “the macro plan”, / operative/ “annual plan”, / monthly, weekly and daily/ “micro plan”. The second important notion is evaluation, which implies assessment of the merits in the activities of a higher education institution, in accordance to the previously-determined criteria, that is, standards. The following elements are included in that process: Systematic, non-experimental monitoring of work and activities of a higher education institution, for the purpose of observing, prevention and lowering the impact of all the disruptive elements in the process of reaching the goal set; that is, observing all the valuable elements which should be later favored and improved; Measuring the results achieved in all phases of work of a higher education institution and Evaluation of all components of educational process through the application of quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis of that process. The overall goal of the evaluation process is the improvement of work of a higher education institution. That process means evaluation of teachers, associate experts and teaching assistants, i.e., evaluation of their success. The work of teaching staff and of other participants in the teaching process is evaluated through a prism of conditions that are to be formed in order to achieve their more creative teaching approach, which means joint evaluation, as well as self-evaluation and self-monitoring. Certainly, this process also implies student evaluation through new, “efficient” forms of monitoring of student work in the period prior to examinations, as well as evaluation during the exams. This also implies the evaluation of all other participants in the work of a higher education institution, including the technical and other personnel, administration, library, etc. Quality and quality management is the next important notion. That is a permanent process of implementation of the new realizations, which implies permanent, lifelong education of participants in the work of a higher education institution. Quality management means adjustment of the higher institutions’ activities with the accepted standards, that is, implementation of the standards aimed to enable mobility of ECTS grades or international accreditation which is seen in readable and comparable degrees.
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The paper is about the evaluation of academic libraries and the application of the balanced scorecard concept in that process. The balanced scorecard concept was first introduced in the commercial sector, but its application was also soon extended to the non-profit sector. The introduction of the Bologna process at the majority of European universities, the mobility of students and teachers, ass well as the needs of the modern labour market have forced higher education institutions to adjust their organization and activities to practical needs, which has significantly affected academic libraries as well. The successful performance of libraries is in the interest of many stakeholders. Institutions providing funding need justification for their investments in libraries. Users, as the consumers of services provided by libraries, want to be served in a timely and appropriate manner. Library staff, whose motivation and competence makes libraries what they are, also require verification that their work is successful, but also guidelines for their future activities. Finally, there is the state and the society as an environment in which the influence of libraries can also be seen, be it through the proliferation of information literacy, promotion of democracy and civil liberties through free access to information. They too need information on the performance of libraries.
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Quality assurance is a generic term in higher education, subject to numerous interpretations. One term cannot possibly cover all the circumstances. Similarly, the word “standard” is used differently in different parts of Europe, to include statements on clearly defined regulatory demands, as well as generalized descriptions of good practice. The interests of higher education institutions and bodies representing students are not always the same because the former are always demanding greater autonomy with minimum regulations or external evaluation (even at the level of the institution), while the latter expect institutions to be open to public scrutiny in the form of frequent inspections of programs or qualifications. Quality assurance in Europe represented one of the three primary areas of the evaluation program within the Bologna process, and it gained even greater importance in 2005 with the adoption of the “European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Higher Education”. Although quality assurance has been well organized as a field within European higher education, its application to the doctoral studies means entering a new area. The initiative for the introduction of the new policy, under the working name “Salzburg 2”, is planned for 2010. Concrete experiences will be added to the Salzburg principles and by November 2010 they should lead to the adoption of recommendations at numerous workshops and the establishment of specific groups in order to ensure the leading role of universities in the reform of doctoral education and their contribution to the development of European higher education, as well as the European research area.
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The Academy of Music in Sarajevo was established in 1955, and it is the only institution in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina educating experts in different fields of musical art and the science of music. In the 2005/06 academic year studies at the Academy of Music were adjusted to the Bologna Process, and its implementation is defined by provisions and standards regulating the work of art academies, as well by the acts of the European Association of Music Conservatories (AEC). In the course of two academic years surveys were conducted among students of the Academy of Music as part of which they were requested to give their opinions about teachers and the teaching process. During the external evaluation AEC experts talked to students about their opinions concerning the quality of studies at the Academy of Music. Students expressed satisfaction with the quality of teaching and the education process, but they also mentioned problems that should be resolved, such as the lack of premises, current literature, and quality instruments. What is the situation today? An analysis of what has been done in terms of development and quality assurance from the viewpoint of students of the Academy of Music hints towards the following conclusions: The quality of studies at the Academy of Music in Sarajevo has significantly improved in the segment of teaching and extra-curricular activities. Studying conditions have improved. Premises remain a problem. The presentation of this paper aims at highlighting examples of good practice in the development and quality assurance at the Academy of Music in Sarajevo, as well as the role of students in this process.
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Beside introduction of three cycle system (BSc, MA, Ph.D) and recognition of qualifications and periods of study, quality assurance is considered as the third main pillar of the European Reform in Higher Education. In higher education the term quality assurances refers to all policies (monitoring of all processes and activities, designed to ensure that institutions, programmes and qualifications meet and maintain specified standards of education and infrastructure). It is corrective factor, the instrument of sustainability, in other words: “the basic underlying condition for trust, relevance, mobility, compatibility and attractiveness in the European Higher Education Area“(Salamanka, 2001). Having in mind that main responsibility for quality assurance lies with higher education institution which „ should continue to develop their systems of quality assurance“(London, 2007), the paper elaborates quality assurance as the instrument of integrity assurance of higher institution in a society, which contributes to its institutional autonomy. These are basic preconditions for higher institutions to be put into function of development of capacities for management of changes, as an essential strategic approach of all universities in B&H to the actual moment of the society.
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Mobility of students and university staff, opening new opportunities for personal development, developing international cooperation with individuals and institutions and strengthening teamwork are the most important elements of the Bologna process, in which many people participate. This process could not function without an important link – library. Improving library services for users in the Bologna environment has become a challenge for librarians and users of services. This paper focuses on the ways of promotion of the library services, as well as on cooperation between professors, students and librarians, which is crucial for functioning of this process. In accordance with the guidelines issued by the IFLA (International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions) entitled "The International Guidelines on Information Literacy", several proposals for promotion of the library services will be pointed out, in cooperation with the users (students and professors).
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The Academy’s curriculum and study programs have been aligned with the Bologna Process requirements since the Academy’s founding, and therefore represent a good model for harmonization of curriculums for other schools within the Sarajevo University: Organization of classes, mandatory semester exams along with consolidation of classes within semesters; Content of study programs at the Acting, Directing and Drama departments is lectured in a joint combination of lectures, exercises and seminars; Exams and quizzes are conducted on a regular basis throughout duration of a semester; Professors individually focus to each student in the process of their personal and academic development; Admission test is mandatory regardless of students’ previous acting experience; In order for students to achieve a higher level of artistic development, the length of study is longer than a required minimum prescribed by the Bologna Process; The study program of the senior year (Acting VII and VIII) is in the form of artistic search of individual’s own stylistic expression (artistic inquiry); Certain aspects the System of Quality Management methodology that have advanced content of the study programs at the Academy of Performing Arts since adoption of the Bologna Process two years ago: Additional extracurricular activities of students, professors and associates; Managing implementation of the study programs through offering of additional exam dates; Advancement of the study programs accelerating student readiness and education level; ECTS credit system; Improved quality of the study programs; Improved cooperation among various departments of the Academy as well as cooperation with academies in the region and throughout Europe; Articulation of program requirements and development of employees’ competencies Additional aspects of the System of Quality Management that should be communicated to other Art Academies in the region: Shortening hours of certain expert art classes that replicate the extracurricular activities; Specific approach to the Acting Studies where the verbal language is a main obstacle to students’ mobility; Acquiring practical experience in the form of independent practice by each student is required. The major element of motivation is a pursuit of perfection in the artistic excellence.
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Purpose of the quality improvement system is to build institutional mechanisms for systemic valuation and coordination of development initiatives and programs in order to continuously promote high standards of professional and scientific development of stakeholders in all areas in which the Faculty operates. Primary responsibility over the quality of higher education is to be assumed by the Faculty, after fulfillment of legal, organizational, and financial preconditions. Advances and effective functioning of the system for quality assurance also require external support: Creation of the legal basis for reorganization of the Faculty along the lines of European principles of higher education; Setting up of the fund for financing of the reform; Formation of national structures for quality assurance; Adoption of common standards and criteria for assessment of quality; Preparatory activities may be carried out in advance, but only after the internal (identification of strengths and weaknesses) and external analysis of conditions at the Faculty. At the Faculty of Medicine, the plan of activities for development and institutionalization of the quality assurance system followed upon the conducted analysis of existing conditions. For the first stage, the plan encompassed the following: 1. Setting up of the basic elements of infrastructure for quality assurance: Establishment of Faculty's Office and Service for Accreditation and Quality Control; Creation of legal and normative framework; Planning of funds for financing of the quality assurance system. Plan of Activities was subsequently established in relation to contents and realization dynamics. 2. Identification of priority areas and activities aimed at development of quality assurance system, which includes: Starting of the initiative to amend normative enactments with provisions on the obligation to institutionally establish and implement the quality assurance system ; Rules of Procedure on Operations of the Office; Rulebook on Operations of the Service; Organizational diagram of the Faculty, with clear positioning of the Office and the Service. Proposed second set of activities includes: - Development and formalization of quality assurance policies, procedures and activities in order to involve the entire institution in the process, thereby making the system effective and using the collected information for purpose of making the decisions on corrective measures to assure or improve quality on various levels.
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Quality is by definition a set of characteristics of services that on the best way satisfy the needs of users. In higher education, this definition implies that all activities of universities are directed to requirements of users. The circle of users is wide in higher education: from students and their parents, to employers and the widest community. Bologna model of higher education is based on the quality assurance system. Although quality of higher education explicitly mentioned only with the Bologna process, it has always been immanent to higher education and something universities were recognized for. Today, however, quality has to be accessed in an organized manner, using established documented policies, techniques, standards, guidelines, procedures and methodologies, in the form of laws and bylaws. The modern concept of quality means the establishment of quality assurance bodies. These bodies treate quality in all aspects of work of higher education institution and base their activities on the needs and requirements of higher education users - society 21st century, which is denoted as a „knowledge society“, because knowledge has become the primary resource and initiator of society development. Just because that system of quality assurance and quality management should be developed on the basis of laws and bylaws.
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