Specialization Courses

Post-Graduate Studies /Specialization Courses/

SPECIALIZATION COURSE means mastering the necessary skills and knowledge of a basic medical specialty from the List of Specialties in the Healthcare System according to a curriculum and programmes of studies and it finishes after successfully passing an examination performed by the State Examination Board. The programmes of studies are approved by the Minister of Health and they are integrated for all medical universities within the country. The basic document which arranges the terms and conditions for performing and financing a training course for acquiring the professional rights of a medical specialty in the healthcare system is Ordinance No. 34/29.12.2006. One cannot be simultaneously trained to acquire more than one specialty. The training to acquire a specialty in the healthcare system aims to teach the post-graduate medical student the necessary theory and practical skills in the respective specialty which comprises a separate part of the medical science and practice. The state examinations for specialty are held annually and are conducted in two exam sessions: from 1 to 31 May and from 1 to 31 December. In order to be enlisted for the exams the medical graduates submit application forms from 1 to 31 January for the exam session in May and from 1 to 31 August for the exam session in December.
The Ordinance No. 15/15.07.2008 is the basic document which arranges the terms and conditions for acquiring a Specialty in General Medicine by physicians without any other specialty or by those having other specialties and having founded a dispensary for primary medical help.
The post-graduate education of medical graduates and graduates of other higher courses of training is organized and controlled by the Center of Post-Graduate Training and University-Hospital Cooperation.

List of Specialties and Terms of Acquisition in the Healthcare System for which Medical University – Pleven is the training base

General Information

Center of Post-graduate Training and University-Hospital Coordination

In conformity with the Rector’s mandate programme of our University some of the major priorities in the sphere of education are as follows:

Improving the control, management and the quality of post-graduate education:

maintaining a good normative base for proper management of the post-graduate training;

creating an electronic data base for all post-graduate students.

Improving the necessary equipment and renewing the existing computer facilities;

Improving the programmes of studies to approximate the European requirements and standards in the training process. The University policy should develop into the direction of admitting post-graduate students from member states of the EU, from the USA, Russia and many others;

Increasing the total number of enrolled post-graduate students.

In accordance with the resolutions of the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly for transforming our higher educational institution into University which ratified the new institutional structure in the period January-March 2005, changes have been performed within the structure and organization of the training process.

With Resolution of the Academic Council of MU-Pleven dated 13.05.2005 a Center of Post-Graduate Training and University-Hospital Coordination have been established with the status of independent unit which is directly subordinate to the Rector’s management.

The Center of Post-Graduate Training organizes and registers, coordinates and controls the post-graduate training which should be performed at the clinical bases approved with official order by the Minister of Health of Bulgaria.

The post-graduate training has developed in three basic directions:
І. Highly-Specialized Activity /HAS/;
ІІ. Specialization Courses;
ІІІ. Continuing Specialization.

Highly Specialized Activity

The main objective of the Highly Specialized Activity is the acquisition of specific competence through programmes of training which may be part of the specialization programmes or may be in the form of training on separate programmes approved by the Rector of MU-Pleven. Upon completion of these programmes specific examination is held and a certificate of qualification is issued which is signed by the Rector.
The Center of Post-Graduate Training at Medical University-Pleven organizes and registers the fulfillment of the programmes of studies for conducting training in highly specialized activities in Medicine. The fulfillment of the programmes of studies is conducted at the University Experimental Training Center of Endoscopic Surgery and at the University Hospital.

Admission Procedure for Specialization Courses

ACQUISITION OF SPECIALTY BY FOREIGN CITIZENS
Foreign citizens can apply for a training course leading to the acquisition of specialty competence in the healthcare system in Bulgaria if their higher medical education and professional qualification in Medicine are recognized; and any other previously acquired specialty.
The foreign applicants should submit the following documents:

An application form indicating the specialty which they deserve to acquire;

A short CV of the applicant;

Copy of the Diploma of completed higher education;

A certificate stating a five-year period of professional practice up to the present moment;

A medical certificate issued not later than a month prior to the application date;

A certificate proving a proficiency of Bulgarian language and professional terminology in Bulgarian in the cases described under Art. 14, Paragraph 3 of the Law of Health;

A certificate of recognized higher education;

A certificate of recognized professional; qualification;

All the applicant’s documents should be legalized, translated and attested in the appropriate way by the competent authorities.
Those foreign citizens who have a long-term permit to stay in Bulgaria, the refugees and the foreigners of Bulgarian origin have the right to do a specialization course under the terms and conditions which are applicable for Bulgarian citizens.
The applicants who are accepted in pursuance of intergovernmental agreements and interdepartmental programmes of educational, cultural and scientific exchange are admitted under the terms and conditions which have been appointed in the respective agreements and programmes after recognition of the applicants’ higher education, of their professional qualification, and of their specialty if they have acquired such

Continuing Qualification

The continuing qualification is a form of post-graduate training after the acquisition of the rights to practice the profession which is performed in the form of courses, individual training, participation in seminars, conferences, symposiums, etc. The Center of Post-Graduate Training and University-Hospital Cooperation works out annually schedule of the courses which are to be performed at MU-Pleven and University Hospital of Intensive Treatment-Pleven and are ratified by the Rector and the Chairman of the Bulgarian Medical Association.

Schedule of the courses for post-graduate qualification and individual specialization of the graduate medical specialists in 2008 can be downloaded here.