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  • Silvia Toneva, Kristina Stefanova
    PROMOTING THE PARTICIPATION OF SMEs IN DUAL TRAINING IN THE CONTEXT OF REGIONAL DISPARITIES IN BULGARIA
    JEL: E24, I21, I26, O52
    Keywords: dual training, SMEs, NUTS 2, educational structure of the population, youth unemployment.
    Summary: The aim of the paper is to make recommendations for the development of the dual system in Bulgaria in terms of increasing the participation of SMEs and taking into account the regional specificities of the educational structure of the population and youth unemployment. Financial incentives, a large-scale information campaign and visibility of participating enterprises are some of the important factors to encourage SMEs to become partners in the dual system. In order to ensure a wider participation of enter¬prises, it is important to gradually increase financial incentives (through support in the form of grants, tax relief, etc.). The existing differences between regions in Bulgaria suggest that a more substantial incentive for SMEs to become partners in dual training could be achieved by applying a regional criterion. When planning measures for the development of the dual training system in Bulgaria, efforts should be made to cover more persons at risk of dropping out of the education system and persons who will not enter higher education.
  • Martin Harizanov
    PERSPECTIVE SPATIAL MODEL FOR SUSTAINABLE REDIVISION INTO REGIONS AND PROVIDING FOR BULGARIA’S REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
    JEL: R51, R58
    Keywords: division into regions, financial security, NUTS 2, planned North-west region
    Summary: Bearing in mind the process of depopulation of Bulgaria’s North-west region, the planning and further worsening of the socio-economic indicators of the region necessitate taking actions for the redivision of the NUTS 2 regions. The need of differentiating new division into regions is determined by the high degree of the region’s lagging in key socio-economic factors such as: transport infrastructure, demographic characteristics, GDP per capita, average gross salary, etc. The proposed model for division of Bulgaria’s regions preserves in the long run the number of citizens in the level 2 regions set in the normative base and allows the differentiation of five regional centers. This means that in a case of lack of force majeure circumstances in the socio-economic aspect in the country, we can achieve economic integration among the regions and development of regional policy for the purposes of the implementation of financial securing of the development of the lagging regions, which as of this moment, encompass the planned North-west region.