International students from nearly 115 countries studied at universities and higher education institutions in Bulgaria during the 2017-2018 school year, according to data from Eurostat. This includes citizens of both EU Member States and third countries.

International students made up around 6% of the student population (about 14,000 out of 221,000 students in total). The top five countries of origin were Greece, UK, Turkey, Germany and Ukraine. Bulgaria has been growing steadily as a study destination. The share of international students grew 10% compared to the previous school year and 33% compared to the 2013-2014 school year.

While study fees are the same for all EU citizens, non-EU citizens pay fees that are multiple times higher. For example, for the 2017-2018 school year, an EU citizen medical student would pay about 475 EUR per year, while a non-EU student would pay 7,700 EUR. In the same year, for tourism studies, EU students paid about 215 EUR compared to 3,300 EUR for non-EU students.

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