Veselin Todorov teaches in City University in Athens, however he was also the chancellor of the European college until 2003. He settles in Greece in the beginning of the ‘90s together with his wife who is Greek and is the main reason for him to be working in the field of scientific and research activities because Veso starts his career as a journalist – he was the youngest chief editor of a newspaper at the end of the 80s in Bulgaria. However Veso Todorov is currently successfully combining his academic career with the business – he is one of the founders of the consulting agency “Institute for corporate development” in Sofia. Marina Nikolova covers the story of his success…

What is the most interesting thing which Veselin Todorov would chose to present himself with?

I was the chief editor for the newspaper “Polet” – the Varna youth newspaper. Together with the team we created between the years of 1986 – 1990 we made the newspaper become one of the three legal publications supporting the publicity of the reshuffle of Bulgaria. The other two were “Narodna Kultura” by Stefan Prodev and the Plovdiv youth newspaper “Komsomolska iskra”, while Velislava Dareva was still there. I graduated journalism in 1984 in the Leningrad University. When we established the paper we were publishing things which we ourselves did not believe could be published – at that time the word “reshuffle” in Bulgaria was not allowed.

Was it easy for you to adjust when you first came in Greece?

It is not easy for anybody to change drastically the environment. The encirclement, the country, the culture, the language… A producer from the Greek channel Alfa offered me to become the subject of a documentary for five emigrants who live in Greece. It was supposed to be broadcasted in the show “Time machine”. I explained to him that I am not really suitable for this because – as opposed to the other people – I had no such difficulties and destitutions as they had to face. My way was also difficult, but in another way. I did not pass illegally through the mountain in the winter snow and storm. However it is not at all something small to leave behind a social statute like the one I had managed to achieve in Bulgaria. Because of my political activity I had not only professional, but also social status as well as the professional circles and friends, family, house etc.

However you did manage good, didn’t you?

Even though a person goes in a country he doesn’t really know, the first thing that person should take into consideration is that he cannot practice his profession because he doesn’t speak the language. The second – he doesn’t know anybody, which means he cannot count on almost anybody but himself. And me, after at the age of 32 I was the youngest chief editor in Bulgaria at the age of 34- 35 I had to start from scratch. Then my wife gave me an idea, which never before crossed my mind. Since when we were still students, she and my director of studies were telling me that I have to do scientific work. I however was claiming that I was born to work in the field of journalism and my strength is in the writing, in the media… In Greece I had to change the frequency and see what I can do under these circumstances.

I started from the American University which in 1991 was the biggest one and I started to look for my place in the new encirclement. Then was the time I understood something which I wouldn’t have been able to understand if I had stayed in Bulgaria – I started to understand my own value. Because a person can understand his own value only when you are in a completely new encirclement and you have to prove who you are and what you can do. And it turned out that there are things I can count on. In 1995 I started my cooperation with the European College, in the next year I became a director and I stayed at that position until 2003. For ten years now I cooperate with City University, in the last five of them very actively. I am a member of the academic council of the university, which is located in the office in Seattle. City University is a network of universities in Canada, America, Mexico, Europe, China and is still growing. In Bulgaria it also has a branch – the campus is located in Pravetz and in the business park in Sofia are the master programs.

If Bulgarian students want to come and study in a Greek university would you encourage them to do it

The public and the private universities are two different worlds. The Greek public universities are a rather confused institution, which stands in their way to develop the potential that they have. The Greek academic potential is enormous – only in the USA there are 6 000 Greeks teaching in American universities. And if we add Europe and Australia, they will probably add up to 20 000 people. This is a great potential – people, who work in all levels in dozens of research centers however for a number of reasons the educational system did not use them – it is a rather closed system. One of its main goals is to preserve the status quo and the quality of the education is constantly dropping. There are strikes all the time and universities are being occupied. The private universities in Greece are a franchise of foreign universities, which means that their programs are British, American, French. This means that what we do in City University is not in any way different that what our colleagues in Seattle do. 

Is there any difference in the fees between Bulgaria and Greece?

There is – a masters program, which you can graduate for two years here would cost you about 10 000 euro. Most of the students choose this option because they work.