Educational Alternatives, Volume 18, 2020

Abstract: Peace education represents an important tool to fight the repercussions of armed conflicts as well as to prevent the latter from occurring. Nonetheless and despite the existing challenges in terms of demographic trends, ethnic tensions, and the refugee and migrant flows, peace studies education in the Republic of Bulgaria at the tertiary education level has not still been developed to meet today’s peace and security challenges. What is more, the education system remains highly dependable on state funding, which in turn results in lack of understanding of the importance of peace studies and even in some controversial practices regarding the higher education in the country. The present paper explores the current challenges to implementing peace studies programmes at the higher education level in Bulgaria, and states that the education system in terms of peace studies should not depend only on state funding and market necessities. Taking this into account, and based on both quantitative and qualitative data, the paper is trying to raise awareness of the importance of having peace studies programmes at the tertiary education level in Bulgaria, as well as to provoke discussions on the topic among university teachers and researchers.