PRESIDENT’S REPORT 2018
30%
2018 HIGHEST NUMBER OF DONORS
MOST ALUMNI ON THE BOT AND UC
INCREASE IN INCOMING CLASS
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Dear Friends of AUBG, I would like to take this opportunity to update you on some of AUBG’s progress and accomplishments in 2018. It has been a very successful year, and we are pleased to be able to report some terrific news to all our friends and supporters. AUBG’s Strategic Plan contains four over-arching strategic goals. I will use this framework to report our progress. INCREASE ENROLLMENT WHILE MAINTAINING ACADEMIC QUALITY This Fall AUBG welcomed a record number of new students in seven years; the number of Bulgarian students is highest in 12 years – a total of 251 new first-year students. This represents a year-on-year increase of over 30 percent in the size of the incoming class and 56 percent increase in Bulgarian students! This is the result of the coordinated efforts of the entire team – not just the Admissions office but also the Communications and Marketing office, our faculty and staff members, alumni, and our current students. We are seeing the biggest increase in new students from Bulgaria, but the number of international students is up as well. In the past few years the average academic qualifications of the incoming classes have also been rising – the new students in Fall ’18 have the highest in five years. This year, a higher percentage of the admitted applicants accepted our offer to enroll at AUBG. We think this improvement may be due to the efforts we have made to improve the campus environment, as well as the stronger signal of affordability that we send by our ability to keep tuition and fees unchanged for the past few years. Part of our success in recruiting new students this year was due to our much-more-visible marketing campaign. We were more aggressive in placing our marketing content in cinemas, out-of-home locations, and online channels, particularly in Bulgaria. We intend to expand the scope of these efforts next year to our international markets. The campaign itself won two awards against corporate competition. PROMOTE ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE Academic year 2017-18 was an eventful year for AUBG’s academic programs. We proved to be an education leader for the seventh consecutive year, earning top places in the 2017 Bulgarian University Rankings for all programs evaluated. The faculty and Board of Trustees approved a new program in Psychology which started in the Fall ’18 semester. The faculty is also working on outlining a new General Education program to better fit the needs of students. We made improvements to the facilities available for our academic programs by creating new computer labs in the Balkanski Academic Center, thanks to the support of American Schools and Hospitals Abroad (ASHA). In Spring ‘18 we opened our new Science Lab in the Skaptopara II Residence Hall. This lab will support existing science programs and provide the lab facilities to allow expansion of AUBG’s science offerings. On the executive education side, our Executive MBA program celebrated its 15th anniversary and joined the Association of MBAs (AMBA) Development Network. The Executive Master in Finance, Banking, and Real Estate (EMFBRE) joint venture program with SDA Bocconi had a successful launch with 20 students enrolled in the inaugural cohort. Our U.S. accreditors recently concluded their site visit and gave us an enthusiastic report. We also started two additional programs – English for Journalists, funded by the U.S. Embassy in Sofia, and the Sustainability, Leadership and Innovation, a partnership with the Bulgarian Soft Drink Association. Last but certainly not least – in May 2018 an AUBG team won first place in Bulgaria’s national programming competition! Our students defeated the teams representing much larger computer science programs at Sofia University and New Bulgarian University. Furthermore, a team of AUBG students and
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE their faculty adviser Professor Andrey Gurov won this year’s edition of the CFA Research Challenge in Bulgaria. Congratulations! ENHANCE THE CAMPUS ENVIRONMENT Throughout the last academic year, we made many changes to the campus to celebrate the AUBG spirit and the many student achievements. We added signs on campus buildings, including one that pronounces the ABF Student Center “Home of the Griffins.” We hung banners in honor of major events on campus, as well as the student clubs, academic programs and the diversity of nationalities at AUBG. The top floor of the ABF Student Center now has a display of modern art which is changed each year. A sculpture suspended above the main staircase greets the visitors of the building, an installation financed by gifts from the AUBG Board of Trustees. The members of the AUBG University Council supported neon signs for the café that feature the logos of the AUBG student performing arts organizations. The Main Building interior was also refreshed – a new lounge area on the ground floor provides a place for students to relax between classes, new decorations and signage were also installed. Our focus during the upcoming year will be to implement some upgrades to improve the ambiance and functionality of the Main Building. BUILD A SUSTAINABLE UNIVERSITY AUBG’s Strategic Plan brings together all the elements associated with ensuring that AUBG remains a top quality education provider for the region permanently into the heading of “Building a Sustainable University.” These considerations include ensuring that our finances are in good order and that we live within our means. We also need to ensure that we remain accessible to students from Bulgaria and the region with limited financial means. We need to be able to attract and retain the high-quality faculty and staff needed to fulfill our mission. We need plans in place to respond to emergencies. We also need to maintain a cooperative relationship with the local and national government, so that we are good citizens of Blagoevgrad, and can count on the assistance of the municipality when needed. On the financial side, we have completed our 13th consecutive year with an unrestricted operating budget surplus. We accomplished this during a year in which we had no increase in tuition or mandatory student fees, so we succeeded in keeping AUBG affordable. We will have no increase in tuition or fees in the upcoming year as well. Our ability to balance our books while keeping AUBG affordable for students requires an inflow of support from donors. We thank the America for Bulgaria Foundation for continuing its program of scholarship support for our Bulgarian students. We were able to provide $2 million of ABF full and partial scholarships to the incoming class. 2018 also marked a few records in our fundraising efforts – we reached the highest number of donors in AUBG history and had the most ever faculty, staff and alumni contributors. Our ability to broaden and diversify our base of supporters is a key factor in ensuring that we will be able to continue to support students with financial need in the future. I hope you are pleased with how well our beloved institution has performed. I expect to report even better news next year!
Sincerely, Steven F. Sullivan President American University in Bulgaria
2018 MILESTONES
A LEADER IN EDUCATION
MAJOR & MINOR IN PSYCHOLOGY
SCIENCE LAB OPENS ON CAMPUS
AUBG proves to be an education leader for the seventh consecutive year at the 2017 Bulgarian University Rankings
New program in Psychology launches in Fall ‘18
A dedicated science lab opens on campus
BETTER TECHNOLOGICAL SUPPORT
PRESIDENT PLEVNELIEV
AMBA DEVELOPMENT NETWORK
New computer labs for Journalism and Computer Science students provide better technological support for tech-intensive programs
President Rosen Plevneliev (2012-2017) becomes a special envoy of AUBG
AUBG’s EMBA joins the Association of MBAs (AMBA) Development Network
EMBA & ELIEFF CENTER
SDA BOCCONI & AUBG
PARTNERSHIP WITH THE BULGARIAN SOFT DRINK ASSOCIATIONS
The Executive MBA program and Elieff Center celebrate 15 years of transforming leadership and society
The Executive Master in Finance, Banking and Real Estate marks its first anniversary
The Sustainability, Leadership and Innovation program starts, a partnership with the Bulgarian Soft Drink Associations
15
YEARS
American University In Bulgaria 1 Georgi Izmirliev Sq.2700 Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria president@aubg.edu