As one of the most unique higher education centers in Eastern Europe, the American University offers programs according the style and standards of United States of America. This university is a private higher education center, located in the city of Blagoevgrad.  This city is one of the most beautiful cities in Balkans area and offers some of the most stunning natural landscapes that anybody can ask for. This city is located 100 kilometers south of Sofia, near the border of Grece.

The American university was established in 1991 with the cooperation of US government and the Bulgarian government. The university is accredited by both the US accreditation agency and the Bulgarian one. This university was designed like American universities. It is the first of its kind in Eastern Europe. This university has reached high levels of academic excellence and is considered one of the best in the region today, for both its high-quality staff and programs and modern American style.

This university pays a great attention to the international students and internationality of its environment. Even at the very first year of its establishment, there were students from different European countries other than Bulgaria. Today, this university has one of the best multicultural environments with students joining from 40 countries and 5 continents of the world.

This university has more than 1000 students in both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. There are around 100 professors and lecturers in charge of 13 degree programs and 19 minor educational programs of the university.

Advantages

The main and the most notable advantage of this university is its style. Unlike all other Bulgarian and most European universities, this university was designed like American universities and offers programs with US standards. The facilities of the campus are also designed according to the American standards. Here, all students are offered dormitory rooms inside the campus and everyone stays in the university to be exposed to a great deal of academic experiences. The university has various social and sportive facilities inside the campus which will be discussed in the Student life section of this article.

The international environment of the university can also act as an advantage. In this environment, international students will not feel as outsiders and can feel very comfortable at the campus.

Another extremely outstanding advantage of this university is its rate of employability. More than 98% of graduates of this university are hired within 12 months from graduation. An outstanding fact about the graduates is that more than 68% of them earn above average salaries, both in Bulgaria and United States of America.

Choosing English as the medium of instruction have also acted as an advantage for this university since many international students were capable of joining American University conveniently.

Since 2021, the university is also a member of the European exchange program, called Erasmus plus. This program offers exchange possibilities for students and they can continue their studies in another university for several month under this agreement.

Student life

American university is an exceptional university in Bulgaria and its students are going to experience a one-of-a-kind life here. The main campus of this university is a student residential city, where students are going to study, live and do social activities all in the campus. Therefore, the university has prepared every needed facility for students and has also trained several people to new students overcome their problems whilst living in the campus.

The main campus of the university consists of 3 residential blocks. The dormitories consist of comfortable and modern facilities. There are various social activity opportunities inside the campus such as several student clubs and various gatherings and events that take place every now and then. There are several fully-equipped fitness centers and fields for different sports. The university has hired coaches and trainers who would help students exercise effectively and also manage and train university teams, which compete in various national and international competitions.

The university has a health care center inside the campus too.

Student clubs of the university are quite active and plan and operate several events regularly. The university choir and the musical group are among the most active and popular groups of the university and attract many students to themselves.

University Ranking

American university is one of the best and the leading higher education centers in Eastern Europe and has been ranked highly in most international university ranking websites. The QS world university ranking has ranked this university among the top 160 emerging European universities. It is also the 5^th best university of Bulgaria according to Unirank website. The same website has ranked this university among the top 4000 universities in the world, generally.

Department of Modern languages and Arts:

As a university accredited by an English-speaking country, the English program is most definitely one of the best ones in the region. This university offers high-quality programs in Chinese, Bulgarian and French too and students can enjoy studying these programs in a professional environment. Other than language programs, art programs, especially the Music programs are among the most popular ones at the university. The department offers various types of practical work for the students of the department.

Department of Computer Sciences:

Computer science program is one of the best programs offered by this university. The program is one of the leading ones in Eastern Europe and is considered the best computer science program in Bulgaria.

Mathematics and Science department:

This department offers high-quality courses in Math and Physics both as major and minor programs. This faculty is one of the best of its field in Bulgaria.

Admissions and application requirements

1. Application Form
2. Essay
3. Letters of Recommendation
4. Transcript
5. English Proficiency 
6. Portfolio
7. Interview
8. SAT / ACT Result (Optional)
9. Application for Financial Aid (Optional)

Why American University of Bulgaria?

The American university is a high quality research and education center in the republic of Bulgaria. This university is unique and offers conditions that can be seen in USA. The university is a completely different style from all other universities of the area and has adopted a American style. The main campus of this university has been developed with US standards and includes everything, academic, educational, social and sportive in itself, since in US universities, the university campus is a residence town for students where they can do everything inside the campus without any need of going out. The quality of the university is quite high and is certainly among the top 5 universities in Eastern Europe.