Mission

The mission of the Faculty of Forestry is to educate and train qualified staff and to ensure the development of science in the field of Forestry and Wildlife management.
The main goals of the Faculty are:

• To prepare competitive and adaptable professionals in educational degrees Bachelor and Master, and the PhD degree;
• To develop research in the field of Forestry Sciences;
• To provide opportunities for mobility of students and teachers;
• To create conditions for the development of academic staff;
• To provide opportunities for continuing education and training for teachers and staff, as well as graduates from other professional fields and specialties.

History

The Faculty of Forestry is a successor of the Forestry Department of the Faculty of Agronomy and Forestry of Sofia University “St Kliment Ohridski”, founded in 1925.

The legal foundation of higher forestry education in Bulgaria was laid on 28th January 1925, when the Academic Council of the University of Sofia decided to set up a Department of Forestry at the Agronomy Faculty of the university. That decision was preceded by a long-standing struggle of Bulgarian foresters against the plundering and destruction of forests after the 1878 Liberation from Turkish rule. Many opinions and proposals appeared in the specialized newspapers and magazines, in the daily press as well, regarding both the management of forests and their use and the forest ranger and his or her professional training, especially after the publishing of the Laws on Forests from 1883, 1889, 1897, 1904 and 1922. However, only after the graduation of Bulgarian young people from higher forestry universities abroad (mainly in the Czech Republic, Germany and France) and their appointment to administrative positions in forest management units, did a truly purposeful and well-founded defense of the Bulgarian forest begin. As a result of the increased awareness of the necessity for the training of specialists with a degree in forestry, a State Committee was set up in 1915. The task of that Committee was to explore the possibility of opening of an independent Forestry Faculty at the University of Sofia. Although finally no positive result was achieved, there was some progress in this direction. Thus in 1921 the Law on the National Education was amended and new higher specialized school was to be established: Academy of Forestry with a three-year course of study.

In 1923 was established the Department of Specific Silviculture at the Faculty of Agronomy in Sofia University. The aim of that Department was to provide a thorough training in Silviculture to agronomical specialists and to establish certain prerequisites for the opening of a Department of Forestry at the Faculty of Agronomy. Todor Dimitrov, Associate Professor, was appointed as Head of the Department. The new name of the Faculty of Agronomy becomes the Faculty of Agronomy and Forestry. On December 1925 two training and experimental forest ranges had been allocated for the training needs of the students at the Department of Forestry. The first one was situated in the coniferous area of Yundola, called Geshova Planina (now named after G. St. Avramov) and the second one was situated in the broadleaved area of the village of Barziya, called Petrohan Pass (now called Petrohan).

The Department of Forestry existed in the Faculty of Agronomy and Forestry at the Sofia University until 1945. In the same year was established a new state university in the town of Plovdiv with two faculties – a Faculty of Agronomy and Forestry and a Medical Faculty. The idea for the establishment of a single center for training of foresters by merging the two forestry departments in the Faculties of Agronomy and Forestry at the University of Sofia and at the University of Plovdiv, emerged soon after that. An independent Faculty of Silviculture at the University of Sofia was established in 1947. That faculty existed only for one year. The faculties of Agronomy, Forestry, Veterinary medicine and zootechnics were separated from the University of Sofia from September 1948. These faculties formed the basis of a new higher educational establishment – the Academy of Agriculture, with a seat in Sofia. On the following year the Faculty of Silviculture, which until then had had a biological specialization, was reorganized into a Faculty of Forestry with two departments – the Department of Forestry and the Department of Forest Industry. Two years later a reorganization of the Faculty of Forestry at the Agricultural Academy was carried out from October 1951. Two new departments were established. Thus the total number of the departments became four: Department of Forestry; Department of Forest Industry; Department of Forest Use and Transport; and Department of Urban Afforestation.

In the academic year 1953/1954 the Agricultural Academy ceased to exist. It was replaced by three independent higher educational establishments: Higher Institute of Forestry; Higher Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Agricultural Academy, the three of them being located in Sofia. Five major options with a period of study of 4 years and 10 months were identified in the Higher Institute of Forestry: Forestry; Urban Landscape Design; Mechanical Wood Technology; Chemical Wood Technology and Forest Use and Engineering.

On July 1995, the Higher Institute of Forestry was given the status of a university by the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria. The National Assembly also approved of the name – the University of Forestry. One of the five faculties is the Faculty of Forestry.

Accreditation

The Faculty of Forestry trains students in Forestry in thгee degrees: undergraduate with academic degree Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy. Forms of training are „full-time“ and „part-time“.

The program accreditation of Professional field 6.5. Forestry for the bachelor and master program of Forestry (full-time and part-time) is valid until 2025.

Faculty of Forestry prepare Ph.D. students in the following accredited doctoral programs:

1. Forest Plantations, Selection and Seed Production (valid until 2025, Professional field 6.5. Forestry).
2.  Forest Management and Mensuration (valid until 2025, Professional field 6.5. Forestry).
3. Silviculture (incl. Dendrology) (valid until 2025, Professional field 6.5. Forestry).
4. Forest Melioration, Forest Protection and Special Forest Uses (valid until 2025, Professional field 6.5. Forestry).
5. Wildlife management (valid up to 2025, Professional field 6.5. Forestry).
6. Pisciculture, Fisheries and Fishing Industry (valid until 2023, Professional field 6.5. Forestry).
7. Machinery and Equipment in Forestry, Timber harvesting, Woodworking and Furniture Industry (valid until 2025, Professional field 5.13 General Engineering).
8. Technology, Mechanization and Automatisation in Forestry and Timber harvesting (valid until 2025, Professional field 5.13 General Engineering).
9. Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (valid until 2024, Professional field 5.7 Architecture, Construction and Geodesy).
10. General, Advance and Applied Geodesy (valid until 2023, Professional field 5.7 Architecture, Construction and Geodesy).