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At the beginning of 2025 Sofia University „St. Kliment Ohridski“ received an official confirmation and endorsement certificate from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for the Master’s programme „Nuclear Technology, Management and Innovations“ taught entirely in English. The certification of the programme and its graduates with an international application to the diploma by the IAEA is issued within the framework of the „International Nuclear Management Academy“ programme, which currently includes only about ten leading universities in the world.
In order to obtain an IAEA INMA accreditation, any such Master’s programme must have a set of competences related to both technical knowledge and in the areas of management, leadership and process management in the nuclear field. Sofia University’s two-year Master’s programme in English is offered jointly by the Faculty of Physics and the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (FEBA) at Sofia University „St. Kliment Ohridski”, and its graduates will receive a Bulgarian diploma in the professional field of Administration and Management and an international certificate from the IAEA.
„The Faculty of Physics has long been recognised internationally, mostly due to the quantity and quality of the scientific output of its academic staff. However, this is the first time that a Master’s programme involving faculty members from the Faculty of Physics has received international accreditation, and specifically from the International Atomic Energy Agency. For us, this is a recognition that Sofia University has managed to preserve its academic capacity to train specialists at a level that meets the best international standards. Maintaining and developing this academic potential is an absolute condition for the development of nuclear energy in Bulgaria,“ said Prof. Dr.Sci. Georgi Rainovski, Dean of the Faculty of Physics of Sofia University, on the occasion of the official recognition by the IAEA.
„It is a great honour and responsibility for the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration to partner with the Faculty of Physics within Sofia University in this initiative. The international accreditation is not an end in itself, but a well-deserved recognition of the high quality of education and the international relevance of our programme. It also complements our accreditations for economics, business, finance and accounting education from ACCA, CFA Institute, AMBA and is an important step on our way to further accreditations such as AACSB and EQUIS. Last but not least, the launch of the programme in 2024 comes at a time when the nuclear energy industry is once again the subject of increased interest around the world, and new projects with many new jobs will be developed in Bulgaria. We believe that this will make it even more attractive and successful“, adds the Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Sofia University, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Atanas Georgiev, who is also a director of the programme on behalf of FEBA.
The director of the program on behalf of the Faculty of Physics is Assoc. Prof. Dr. Plamen Petkov, who has an extensive academic and practical experience in the nuclear field. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Plamen Petkov is also the first member of the team who started preparing for the establishment of the accredited program at Sofia University more than 5 years ago.
In March 2024, the first 17 Masters students were enrolled in the programme and are now completing their second semester of studies. During the summer semester, they attended lectures on economics and management at FEBA, and during the winter semester – at the Faculty of Physics of Sofia University. The profile of the participants in the programme is related to the nuclear sector and nuclear technology, and some of them are already in middle and senior management positions. This class will receive upon graduation a diploma from Sofia University „St. Kliment Ohridski“ and a special supplement in English from the International Atomic Energy Agency certifying that they have graduated from an accredited programme of the IAEA’s “International Nuclear Management Academy” initiative.
The programme also receives strong support from employers in the nuclear industry, with some students being funded for their studies in this way. The official launch of the programme in March 2024 was attended by Mr. Tsanko Bachiyski, Chairman of the Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency; Valentin Nikolov, then CEO of NPP Kozloduy, and Martin Georgiev, CEO of the National Electricity Company – NEK EAD. The opening was also attended by the Vice-Rector of Sofia University, Acad. Prof. Dr. Sci. Tony Spassov.
This year’s master’s program will accept applicants until January 31, and more information can be found at https://bit.ly/su-inma. The official opening of the academic year and the first lectures for the new class will be on 10 March 2025. The training is conducted in several one-week modules with an intensive workload during each semester, which allows combining with the students’ work schedule and enrolling candidates from Sofia as well as from other cities such as Kozloduy.
About the IAEA INMA Accreditation
The programmes included in the INMA initiative are aimed at current and future managers working in the nuclear energy sector as well as for non-energy applications. INMA is part of the nuclear knowledge management activities of the IAEA Department of Nuclear Energy. To date, only 10 universities in the world have been accredited by the IAEA for training in such programmes: KEPCO International Nuclear Graduate School, South Korea; Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary; Northwestern University, Republic of South Africa; Texas A&M University, United States of America; University of Tokyo, Japan; University of the Witwatersrand, Republic of South Africa; University of Idaho, United States of America; University of Western Bohemia, Czech Republic; National Polytechnic University, Armenia; National Research Nuclear University (MIFI), Moscow, Russia.
About the Master’s programme at Sofia University
The Master’s programme „Nuclear Technologies, Management, and Innovations“ is in the professional field 3.7 „Administration and Management“ with a duration of four semesters and is entirely in English. Courses in the programme are taught by full-time lecturers at Sofia University, by guest lecturers from practice, as well as by guest lecturers from foreign and Bulgarian scientific organizations, institutions and companies.