Delegation from Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski Visits GDUFS

On the morning of November 12, Professor Maria Stoicheva, former Vice Rector of Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski in Bulgaria, led a delegation to Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS). Shen Minghao, Vice President of GDUFS, met with the guests in the VIP Hall of the Administration Building at the Baiyun Mountain Campus, and the two sides held discussions on further deepening cooperation.

Highlight from the Meeting

During the meeting, Vice President Shen extended a warm welcome to the delegation. He reviewed the progress of cooperation between the two universities since their last meeting, noting that GDUFS officially enrolled the first cohort of nine undergraduate students in the Bulgarian language program this year, marking a new stage in the cooperation between the two institutions. He emphasized that, as a key base for foreign language and literature, global economic governance, and the international communication of Chinese culture in South China, GDUFS currently offers 33 foreign language programs, including Bulgarian. The university’s language disciplines rank among the top 3 nationwide, and it is listed among the world’s top 90 for international collaboration in the U.S. News Best Global Universities Rankings. GDUFS attaches great importance to research on Central and Eastern European countries and actively promotes exchange programs for students majoring in less commonly taught languages to study in target countries. As a top-tier institution of higher education in Bulgaria, Sofia University has laid a solid foundation for cooperation with GDUFS. The Bulgarian language introductory courses previously offered by foreign teachers at GDUFS were highly popular among students, which is a vivid reflection of the increasingly close language and cultural exchanges between China and Bulgaria. He further stressed that with the sustained and rapid development of China–Bulgaria trade and investment relations, there is an urgent demand for interdisciplinary talent with both language proficiency and professional expertise. He also expressed the hope that the two universities will further expand cooperation in areas such as faculty and student exchange, continuously consolidate the foundation of bilateral cooperation, and jointly contribute to the development of China–Bulgaria friendly relations.

Professor Maria Stoicheva expressed her gratitude for the warm reception extended by GDUFS. She noted that as Bulgaria’s oldest and top-ranking institution of higher education, Sofia University serves as a key foreign language teaching center in Southeast Europe, offering a variety of language programs. She expressed strong appreciation for GDUFS’s educational philosophy in language learning, noting that Sofia University has also been advancing similar educational strategies in recent years, which has created a significant opportunity for deepening cooperation between the two universities. She emphasized that the cooperation between the two institutions carries strategic significance and has already made positive progress, particularly in fields such as international relations, European studies, and country and regional studies. She commended GDUFS for establishing the Bulgarian language program and pledged to continue supporting the program’s development to facilitate teaching and talent cultivation. She also expressed the hope that this would serve as a new starting point to jointly open a new chapter in the cooperation between the two universities, and presented GDUFS with original Bulgarian-language books as gifts.

Group Photo

Representatives from the Office of International Cooperation and Exchange and the School of Global and Area Studies at GDUFS were also present at the meeting.