Former finance minister Djankov WSJ op-ed

Former finance minister and vice-PM Simeon Djankov has written an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal which was published on July 28th, 2013. In the article, he analyses the current situation in Bulgaria - protest have been ongoing for almost two months now - and offers suggestions on reforms that might stabilize the country.

Mr. Djankov offers suggestions for  improvements by limiting the reach of former secret service members, by reforming the energy sector and, last, by reforming education. This is his comment about education reform:

"The third is reform in university education. A recent poll conducted on behalf of Bulgaria's education ministry found that 52% of this spring's graduating high-school class applied for university abroad. One in six members of last year's graduating high-school class went on to foreign universities. The majority of these students will likely continue their careers outside Bulgaria. That creates enormous pressure on the domestic labor market, which is rapidly aging.

A better system for funding educational institutions could help improve standards. Under a pilot program started in 2011, university departments that achieve better placement of their students in the job market receive more financial support from the central government. This program could be expanded, to offer universities progressively more budget money each year. But resistance is enormous, as many of Bulgaria's 53 universities would have to adapt quickly or lose students. There are already, on average, fewer students per university in Bulgaria than anywhere else in the EU."

I agree with the first paragraph in principle, but this is some lousy quoting of the education ministry report. The 52% only applies to elite high-schools, not all high-schools. I doubt 52% of graduates apply to college, period, let alone foreign universities. It is however, a concern if the best and brightest are leaving the country in droves. A better system for funding education could improve standards but in a lousy economy job placement is hardly the factor on which to base your university funding, especially when unemployment is largest among those 25 years old or younger. I can't even count the ways in which such a system would be detrimental. In any case, talking to colleagues in Bulgaria, the current funding scheme is not based on job placement but on enrollment which is most detrimental to experimental science disciplines that have higher per student expenses. What would actually help universities is decreasing corruption and bringing in some foreign expertise to clean house and raise standards. The flailing secondary education standards are not helping higher education either.

Last, but not least, it is odd to have this advice coming from a person who was just in office until a few months ago. He was obviously not part of the solution. Now that he has stepped down, he has become part of the problem, "preventing normality from setting in".

PS. It is utterly false that the increase in life expectancy is due to decrease in smoking rates. In fact Bulgaria is one of the few European countries where smoking rates have increased during the last two decades. As of 2008, 29.1% of Bulgarians smoke and we are second only to Greece in the EU. Also, the life expectancy has only increased by 2.5 years over the last two decades, not seven. I sure hope Mr. Djankov is better at economics than he is at using Google.