The number of full professors in Bulgaria was 1292, including 600 over the age of 65, but only 12 under the age of 44 and none under 35, Education Minister Daniel Vulchev told a March 24 round table on higher education held in Plovdiv, Focus news agency reported.

Low salaries, the lack of mobility and opportunities for growth were some of the reasons for the shortage of people willing to pursue a career in the academia, he said.

Vulchev was backed by Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev, who said that the system of awarding postgraduate degrees lacked transparency and had to be changed.

The procedure had to become quicker, Stanishev said. In some cases, the amount of time between submitting the necessary paperwork and receiving a degree exceeded three years, he added.

Bulgaria needed to update its law on postgraduate degrees, adopted in 1972 and only "cosmetically" changed since then, Stanishev said.