Enrollment

"Your Highness is correct. Our University of Bulgaria has just been established, and we must ensure the quality of our intake! In fact, the school's current faculty strength also restricts the number of students we can admit; the Ministry of Education estimates the first cohort will be between three and five hundred students," Chekhov added, twisting the knife in everyone's hearts.

"We understand these circumstances, and I agree that we must reduce the numbers, but this is less than one-tenth of the original plan!" Ako, the representative of the History Department, said gloomily.

"No, sir, you are mistaken; it is not one-tenth. To conserve educational resources, some majors may see little change, while many others will be canceled outright!" Chekhov delivered the harsh ultimatum.

"What? How can this be?" The crowd was shocked.

"Mr. Minister, this..."

Seeing that things were about to spiral, Ferdinand waved his hand and said, "Gentlemen, allow me to interrupt. Do not make things difficult for our Minister; he does not wish to do this either, but there is no choice. Who told us we were poor? I can answer this for him and provide you with an explanation!"

"This is a critical moment for Bulgaria's development, and all resources must be poured into industrialization. Therefore, at this stage, the University of Bulgaria exists entirely to serve industrialization!"

"For the sake of Bulgaria, everyone must make sacrifices. You are all the elite of Bulgaria; tell me, can you make sacrifices for this country?" Ferdinand demanded.

The crowd responded in a ragged chorus:

"We can!"

"We can!"

Ferdinand was satisfied with their reaction. It seemed everyone cared about their reputation, or at least, they were all patriots on the surface.

Ferdinand did not interfere with the specifics of which majors to cut, leaving that entirely to the Ministry of Education.

He only gave the Ministry one principle: all science and engineering majors were to be retained, with the government covering tuition and fees, and graduates would be guaranteed job placements.

As for the liberal arts, sorry, not a single cent would be provided. All expenses would have to be covered by the schools themselves. No fiscal appropriations, private donations, or other income would be allocated to liberal arts majors, and the state would take no responsibility for their employment.

In effect, this was a clear message to the Ministry: cut the liberal arts departments, or the schools would have to fund themselves.

The reason was simple: historically, most liberal arts graduates in Bulgaria were arrogant but incompetent, unable to find work.

These unemployed individuals, seeking revenge on society, would eventually join either the revolutionary parties or anarchist groups. Later, when the Soviet Union exported revolution, they became the successors of communism.

To protect his position, Ferdinand naturally had to weed out these hidden dangers in advance. Without these people involved, it would be nearly impossible for the Soviet Union to infiltrate Bulgaria.

The final result did not exceed Ferdinand's expectations; the educational community chose to compromise. Most liberal arts subjects became electives, while subjects like history and language were fortunately kept as mandatory courses, though they would not recruit students independently.

This was a result everyone could accept; at least the liberal arts majors were preserved, and everyone kept their jobs.

Ferdinand was happy with this as well. Spending a little money to keep these scholars in school saved them from causing trouble for him.

The only unlucky ones were the students of the University of Bulgaria; they would never get to experience the freedom of universities in later generations.

Ferdinand felt his scalp tingle just looking at their dense course schedules. They were treated the same as high school seniors in his past life—weekends did not exist. They were arguably the most miserable university students in the world.

Setting aside Ferdinand's schadenfreude, the news of the University of Bulgaria's rules caused a sensation across the country.

Everyone was focused on the school's twelve majors, all of which were science and engineering, which left people astonished.

The media fought verbal battles daily, but ignore those people; previously, they had argued fiercely to preserve the liberal arts majors to protect their own interests.

Now, each one of them had transformed into a patriot, claiming they had voluntarily requested these cuts to save educational resources for the sake of Bulgaria's development.

They all dared to swear to God that they had absolutely no selfish motives and were sacrificing themselves entirely for the country and the people.

Ferdinand was almost moved by the sight. They were so patriotic that if he hadn't preserved their benefits, the scene would likely have been quite different.

Bulgaria has a continental climate with four distinct seasons, influenced by the Black Sea in the north and the Mediterranean Sea in the south.

The summer temperatures were not very hot. Students arriving from all over were high-spirited and full of youthful vigor, each brimming with confidence and a sense of "who else but me."

The streets and alleys of Sofia were filled with them. To cope with this major examination, several hotels under Ferdinand's banner opened early.

At the Hilton Hotel in the east of the city, several students were in discussion.

"Ram, do you know what will be on the exam this time?" Andrea asked.

"Andrea, isn't that a stupid question? How could I possibly know! But I heard this exam will be very strict. If you don't study hard, it will be embarrassing if you fail!" Ram replied.

"Ram, you are still so boring. This is Sofia, our capital, the largest city in Bulgaria. Don't you want to go take a look?" Andrea said.

"Andrea, I think Ram is right. We should focus on studying now. I heard the admission numbers are very low. If we get eliminated by mistake, how could we have the face to go home?" Annabel added.

"Oh, God, you all have your points! We'll study, but we don't even know what's on the test, so how are we supposed to study? A bunch of boring guys!" Andrea complained.

Such small episodes were constantly playing out across Bulgaria. Those who could successfully graduate from middle school usually came from decent families; in that era, schooling was not something an ordinary family could afford.

Coming to Sofia from all over the country, some naturally couldn't help but go out and explore, which boosted consumption in Sofia, but most people chose to study.

University students had always been a high-status term in Bulgaria. Previously, to attend university, one had to study abroad.

The massive expenses were enough to cripple a wealthy family, and the number of people who could study abroad each year was countable on one's fingers—it was mostly an unattainable dream.

This exam was an opportunity for many. Don't let their casual words fool you; in reality, almost everyone was working hard.

As the exam date drew closer, influenced by his past life, Ferdinand was tempted several times to sell study materials to make a profit.

In the end, he forced himself to stop. He was no longer that Taobao merchant selling pirated goods. How much money could a few thousand sets of materials make? A few thousand Lev or tens of thousands of Lev?

It wasn't even as much as Ferdinand earned in a day now. If it affected the fairness of this exam and resulted in selecting a bunch of dregs, that would be trouble.

The first batch of graduates was his future foundation—the future leaders of every industry in Bulgaria.

Although he dismissed the thought, he could still imagine that future Bulgarian students would inevitably be buried under study materials; Ferdinand's integrity was always quite low when faced with profit.