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Dear Prof. Bobeva, you have been lecturing Finance for several years across different countries. Tell us about your experience in Bulgaria and is personal finance a well-known topic at the Bulgarian educational institutions? How do you find Bulgarians’ financial literacy level?

I introduced the “Personal Finance” subject in five universities in Bulgaria in 2017. Compared with other countries I find that Bulgarian students have less knowledge and what is even more important is that they have less experience in using financial services. What worries me is that Bulgarian students have little appetite for risk and fear to access the financial markets. We have a very specific traditional perception about finance and finance behavior is dominated by saving, opposing borrowing and fearing about investing. Those are the problems in teaching personal finance I have to combat. The most rewarding mission one professor could have is empowering students with knowledge and skills to overcome prejudices and become active players in financial markets and build their financial prosperity. Personal finance is something very personal and no one could better manage their finances than themselves. Students could and have to become finance ministers of their personal finance.

What does VUZF do in the direction of improving knowledge in Finance?

VUZF is a university specializing in finance and insurance with top lecturers who combine their academic careers with hands-on experience in top regulatory authorities, financial sector management, and government positions. Our team members are the CEO of Bulgarian Stock Exchange, former deputy prime minister, head of Banking Supervision, etc. While the revolution in financial technologies is advancing, we are trying and we are supposed to do that to incorporate in all our lectures across the entire academic courses in finance (corporate finance, public finance, etc.) the respective financial technologies. Moreover, teaching statistics, for example, you cannot avoid lecturing about big data and in public finance lectures, the topics of Regtech and Suptech should be compulsory. We are though convinced
that there is a need to have an integral course of lectures applying Fintech in personal finance. We are trying to build the capacity of our students to cope with the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities which the financial sector offers.

How is Fintech incorporated in VUZF’s lectures?

I’m happy that we cooperate with the Fintech association in teaching this subject. Joining the academic education and practical training best
fits this interesting and important subject. The students easily comprehend the Fintech Association lectures and the results are very encouraging. Most of them start using more services based on fintech and some start looking for a job in this sector. It seems that working with the Fintech association we could reach the ambitious task to navigate and encourage our students in the world of financial technologies.

Is Fintech an interesting topic to your students and why?

In the introductory lecture, I usually ask the students if they use financial technologies. Most of them answer “No” but when they learn what is Fintech, they admit they use some. This is an example that they know little and there is something like a barrier which we demolish at the end of the course. It is not easy because most conservative lecturers in finance try to build fears about fintech. My approach is totally different: Fintech is the students’ present and future. You cannot escape from reality and you have to be in this real world because this is your world and your life. The best you could do is to learn about risks and opportunities and get there! Yes, you may lose, but if you would
like to prosper definitely you are going also to lose. (Ask Warren Buffet how much he lost to create his fortune).

Still, we have a long way to go. The students’ attitudes towards Fintech are rather fragmented with huge differences between men and women, between students in the big and small cities, between the different professional backgrounds, etc. Let’s enlarge the teaching of Fintech together!

https://vuzflab.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Fintech-Report-2021-Draft-version-1-Digital-copy-3.pdf