14 Countries and 5 Continents
Each year the American University in Bulgaria becomes home to prospective students from all around the world. Not only do students come here to seek a full time degree but also as a part of an exchange program.
Diversity in AUBG dates all the way back to 1991 when only one international student from Norway, Kasra Mottahedeh, walked through the doors of AUBG. Currently, 26 years later, the university became home to students from 14 different countries.
This year, the statistics from the AUBG admission’s office shows that the university has welcomed 190 degree seeking students and 39 exchange ones. From the total of 229, 109 are Bulgarian and 120 are international students.
The highest percentage of the exchange students come from Western Europe and some of the most popular countries are Germany, Ireland, Netherlands and Spain. Most of the students who seek full time degree come from Europe or Asia; however, there are some undergraduates from North America, South America and Africa.
Viktoria Angelova, a first year student from Bulgaria, shares that she did not expect to see that much diversity on campus and was pleasantly surprised. She has already made friends from couple of different countries and is especially excited that she became friends with girls from America.
To promote diversity on campus, AUBG has started a Diversity Program which aims to help students gain a deeper understanding of different cultures. The practitioners in this program organize various events which have gained huge popularity on campus. Examples of such events are the Diversity workshop during the orientation week, International week and the Taste fest.