Originated as the Faculty of Pedagogy, opened on 7th July, 1994 by the Academic Council of the Higher Technical School "A. Kanchev" (now Ruse University) and finally approved by the official decision of the Council of Ministers No. 413 of 11.H. of this year with four specialties: Primary School Pedagogy, Preschool Pedagogy, Mathematics and Informatics and Kinesitherapy, today the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Education is one of the main study units at the University of Ruse. The faculty has ten departments and is headed by Prof. Svetoslav Bilchev, PhD.
In the second half of the last decade of the 20th century, the Departments of Physical Culture and Sports and Kinesitherapy with the specialty of the same name were separated into an independent study unit with the rank of a faculty.
Over time, new specialties began to be revealed: Preschool and Primary School Pedagogy, Primary School Pedagogy and a Foreign Language, Bulgarian Language and History, Mathematics and Informatics, Informatics, Computer Science, Informatics and Information Technologies in Business, and later Social Pedagogy and Financial Mathematics. The legalization of all of them over the years takes place through their periodic evaluation with the highest marks by the National Agency for Evaluation and Accreditation.
Currently, 62 full-time teachers participate in the teaching process of the faculty, of which 26 have a post-graduate degree and 16 have PhDs. Teachers from the University of Ruse Branch in Silistra, as well as leading scientific and teaching personnel from universities in Bulgaria and abroad, are also involved in the training.
During the entire period of its operation, the faculty taught students in the following undergraduate majors: Elementary School Pedagogy, Preschool Pedagogy, Preschool and Elementary School Pedagogy, Elementary School Pedagogy and a Foreign Language, Mathematics and Informatics, Informatics, Bulgarian Language and History, Psychology, Social Pedagogy, Informatics and Information Technologies /now Computer Sciences/, Informatics and Information Technologies in Business, Financial Mathematics.
The Master's majors and programs during the past period are the following: Kinesitherapy, Preschool and Primary School Pedagogy, Ethnology and Linguistic Didactics, Problems of Educational work in Kindergarten and Primary school, Psychology of Pedagogical Impact, Cultural and Historical Heritage and Excursion Guidance, Social Pedagogical Work with Children and Families, Psychology of Pedagogical Interaction, Problems of Educational work in Kindergarten and Primary school, Special Pedagogy, Career Development Consultant, Management in Education, Modern Educational Technologies in Kindergarten and Primary School, Pedagogical Crime Prevention and Probation Practices, Informatics and Information Technologies, Application of Information Technologies in the Learning Process, Informatics, Informatics and Information Technologies in Education, Information and Educational Technologies, Software Engineering, Information Technologies in Mathematics and Informatics Education, Information Technologies in Publishing, Mathematical Modeling in Engineering.
The faculty also trains dozens of doctoral students in various accredited doctoral programs in Theory of Education and Didactics; Teaching methodology /by branches and types of sciences/: mathematics, informatics and information technologies, physics; Informatics; Differential equations; Mathematical Modeling and Application of Mathematics; Bulgarian language; General and Comparative Linguistics.
Over the past years, the faculty has been led by dean's leadership, headed by Assoc. Prof. Svetoslav Bilchev, PhD, Assoc. Prof. Rusi Rusev, PhD and Prof. Margarita Teodosieva, PhD.
FNSE cooperates and implements joint projects under the Socrates/Erasmus international program. For example, in Portugal, Cyprus, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, England, Belgium, Greece, Italy, Poland, Estonia, Turkey, etc. more than 50 students and doctoral students have been studying for one semester each, as well as many professors have given lectures at various European universities.
Clearly, relationships between faculty and students and dean leadership and students are well maintained. This is evidenced by the annual surveys conducted among students regarding the organization of the learning process and the administrative service for students.
The close ties between the teaching staff and the students is also reflected in the involvement of the latter in research work. Thus, in the Scientific works of the University of Ruse, scientific developments made by the teachers with students or former graduates appear. The students are also included in the scientific teams developing projects for the Scientific Research Fund of the University of Ruse.
Over the years, active student artistic and creative activity has developed. Poetry collections with student works are printed, contests are organized for essays, painting, graphics, sculpture and artistic performances - instrumental-singing and reciting. Student puppet theater productions, which are performed in front of children from various kindergartens in Ruse, are traditional.
The achievements of the students of mathematics and computer science are also significant. At national and international Olympiads in mathematics, informatics and computer linguistics, many of our students take first place. Their sports achievements are also many.
The concern for establishing a higher level of training and education in accordance with the goals of individual specialties stimulates the teaching staff to annually develop and publish textbooks and study aids, scientific reports and announcements, articles, studies and monographs.
In parallel with the educational process, the scientific development and growth of the teaching staff in the faculty also goes on. In the studied ten-year period, dozens of doctoral programs were protected. There are not a few teachers who have acquired the scientific titles of "Associate Professor" and "Professor".
The scientific team of FNSE is often the initiator in the organization of various scientific forums such as: "Integration Kindergarten - primary school", national conference with international participation "Ruse through the ages" (2 editions), Arnaud's readings, Round tables: "Science, Education, Society", "Evaluation in/of Education", "Light of Revival", international conferences "Creativity and the Training of Talents" and NODDEA.
Periodic scientific magazines are also published on this basis: Arnaud's readings, Almanac for the history of Ruse and others. Every year, the teachers participate in the traditional annual scientific conference with international participation, after which the scientific reports are published in the "Scientific Works of the University of Ruse". The teachers collaborate and participate in the writing of the scientific journal "News of the Union of Scientists in Ruse".
The success of teachers and students at FNSE is due not only to the personal efforts of each of them, but also thanks to close contacts with various companies, schools and institutions covered by the concept of "employers", contacts with which allow the faculty to probe an opinion about the effectiveness of curricula and programs in which students are trained, with a view to their highly useful preparation for practice.Thanks to this, our students have a very good realization after graduation, and this is the reason why we often receive very good feedback about their preparation for practice and life.
