On December 17, 2021, the Access to Information Programme (AIP) presented certificates to the students from professional program “Public Communications and Information Sciences” at the New Bulgarian University for successfully passing the practical course “Access to Information Public Communications.” The AIP delivered the course for a sifth consecutive year - and for a second year online.
This year's course was held in November – December 2021 with a record number of 24 students successfully finished the course. Lecturers were AIP's executive director Gergana Jouleva, and the lawyers from AIP legal team Kiril Terziiski, Stephan Anguelov and Alexander Kashumov.
23 students from New Bulgarian University's BA programmes Journalism and Public Relations, as well as one Sports Journalism student from the National Sports Academy were introduced to the most important elements of access to information (ATI) in Bulgaria, including legislation, practical examples of access to information litigation cases, and AIP's history, initiatives and campaigns in the field.
The students filed ATI requests to various public institutions concerning topics of interest, such as infrastructural problems or investments in the areas they live, or matters of public interest in their home towns, or covered by the news in recent months. AIP legal team members Stephan Anguelov and Kiril Terziiski consulted the requests prior to their sending and helped students with practical tips on research, filing and analysis of the disclosed information.
In 2021 the coursists were not only many in number, but also very active during lectures and persistent when carrying out their final task.
The course is held for a sixth consecutive year with the partnership of "Mass Communications" department at New Bulgarian University and is part of the "Transparency in Administrative Justive" project funded by the America for Bulgaria Foundation.