We asked our seniors... What can AUBG improve? I think that AUBG’s response to the pandemic and notifying students could have been a lot better in the Spring 2021 semester because we basically kept being told that we would have a hybrid semester, and then oh, 3 weeks online, 2 additional weeks online, and then online entirely. In regards to that semester and the previous semester, the fact that we students had absolutely no Fall or Spring Break and that the semester was shortened entirely had a major detrimental effect on the mental state of a lot of students - a lot of students experienced burnout, including myself. The enormous workload plus the stress of the pandemic, plus lack of free time and time to recuperate/rest, I think it had a very detrimental effect on the psyche of students, and I would not like that to be repeated going forward, if there was another pandemic state of emergency. Alexandra Gouleva, Bulgaria I can’t really identify significant drawbacks in terms of my personal experience. But from a club member perspective: more communication, more cooperation, and more encouragement projected by the institution would help. It was hard at times to get things done due to the bureaucratic barriers from the officials — we know AUBG has the capacity for more; we’ve seen it. Viktor Kharyton, Ukraine I think it would be really helpful to have a couple of iMacs in the residence halls. That way, all the JMC students, and not only them, would have a chance to work on their projects without being dependent on the working hours of BAC. Yenlik O’Neill, Kazakhstan I think clubs should allow more people to become part of them. The selection procedures could be a little bit different than they are now. For most clubs, it’s just an interview, and it’s like a 5-minute or 10-minute interview, and you don’t really get to know the people, you can’t really make a decision based on that. So I think more inclusivity when it comes to clubs’ accession, this should be addressed. Zheko Stoykov, Bulgaria I think we need to have more diversity on clubs in terms of more artistic places to go and do, because the musical and dance creating is not enough, and I would really like to have some more of acting clubs, and also places where we can dance, draw, act, and do some other types of performance, more modern. So yeah, I think that would be a great diversity - to have more film and acting here. Mihaela Bogdanova, Bulgaria More emphasis is placed on Gen Eds than major courses. This should be changed. Geni Trayanoff, Bulgaria I think one of the main things AUBG can improve for enriching the experience of students would be working more closely with student advisors because they could be the ones who guide students in defining their academic path, meaning that it will be easier, and better, and much more of a pleasant experience for the students. Kristina Borisova, Bulgaria I would say, out of the entire experience, what I dislike the most, and I think they could have done better, is the registration and how you do it. Oftentimes, especially if you’re a freshman or a sophomore, you cannot reach the courses which you want - they’re always full, always taken. I don’t know how they would go about that. I cannot offer a solution, but I guess if a good brainstorming would come down to it, it would be really helpful for the new people to have an easier process with their desired courses. Yordan Toshev, Bulgaria I wish AUBG also offered Bachelor of Science programmes with revised Gen Ed requirements. It would’ve been awesome to have the freedom to choose between a BA or BS programme and have general education courses more relevant to my interests. Georg Davidovski, Bulgaria In terms of academia, I would definitely say that the POS department needs more professors, and needs more topics in the field because, for example, I’m interested in politics in the Middle East, and we didn’t have the chance to look through that for four years. It’s only about Europe, North America, and the Balkans. So it would’ve been nice to also see other parts of the world and have more professors in those fields. In terms of just the whole campus experience, Skapto needs a lot of renovations and this is something we should be working on - instead of just expanding other Skaptos, we should try and renovate the old Skaptos. Ayah Besaiso, Palestine The first that comes to my mind is that I was on an exchange semester in Lithuania, in a city bigger than Blago. Freshmen, when they applied there, had the requirement to take beginning Lithuanian for a semester. There were split opinions about it, but when I asked my friends, it actually helped them settle themselves within the community - they knew basic Lithuanian to communicate with people, ask for directions - they didn’t feel left out from what was going on within the city. So I think if AUBG could offer beginning Bulgarian for freshmen for a semester - that would be better since we have all of these required classes. It would really make my experience better - for living in Bulgaria. Nino Kutubidze, Georgia I think moving towards integrating online platforms and content providers would have been helpful. Even though each professor is free to structure his own courses, I learned more with those who adopted these methods. Emilio Valverde, Mexico It would have been nice to have more practical courses during the years just like digital marketing. We got certificates for the course and they will come in handy when we graduate. Elinor Toneva, Bulgaria It is great that AUBG offers so many facilities where we can do our events. However, I think it will be a great idea to think of one more place to set up one more theater where club events and theater plays can be presented. Helin Guler, Bulgaria AUBG is the best university in Bulgaria. But to make students’ experience here even better, AUBG could establish more partnerships with foreign universities to provide a bigger diversity of courses and bring experienced professors. More majors could also be introduced to make AUBG more attractive to potential students and encourage them to stay in Bulgaria. Desislava Arnaudova, Bulgaria The mental health facilities were insufficient and the counseling center felt almost disinterested in helping. Stefan Genev, Bulgaria SPRING 2022 | AUBG DAILY 5
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