The Department of Transport was established in May 1977. At that time students from the Department of “Automobiles, Tractors and Fork-Lift Trucks” were taught. Nowadays the Department provides training for the students who study at the Departments of “Transport Engineering” and “Automobile Transport Management and Technology”.
In 1999 the Department of Transport got a valid institutional accreditation from the National Assessment and Accreditation Agency and the right to educate and train students in the Bachelor and Master degrees for the degree course “Transport Management and Technology”. The then Head of the Department Professor Dimitar Georgiev Simeonov obtained “Ruse” science award in 2000.
Nowadays eight lecturers and two employees work in the Department of Transport of which five have a PhD degree, and four are Associated Professors and Professors.
In the summer of 2005 Associate Professor PhD Velizara Pencheva, was elected as Head of Department.
Stuff of the Transport Department
More then 600 engineers graduated and got their higher education at the Transport Department. About 250 engineers and specialists improved their qualification by attending qualification courses. The courses were organized and supervised from the lecturers who work at the Department with the help of Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Science and Education and other Departments. At the present moment students graduated at the Transport Department work in Ethiopia, Jordan, Yemen, Laos, Nicaragua, Syria, Turkey and Canada.
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New training rooms in laboratories in corpus 20
In 2003 the first bachelor graduates completed the program “Transport Management and Technology”. The students acquired professional qualification “Bachelor of Engineering in Transport Management and Technology”. From the same year the Transport Management and Technology Academic program prepares highly qualified Master of Engineering professionals.
The teaching laboratories are equipped with technical devices and this is an opportunity for the students to work in conditions close to the real ones. In 2005 were built two new teaching laboratories and one doctoral and lecturer’s study which are located in corpus 20. A part of the training is carried out in service-stations, transport terminals and companies.
The Transport Management and Technology degree course prepares professionals for scientific and practical work in the areas of systems theory, design and architecture, socio-technical enterprise systems and research methods, within a transportation framework. In order to increase the reliability, safety and effectiveness of the automobile transport and because of its significant influence over the European transport market condition, “The main rules for admission to the occupation of road haulage operator and road passenger transport operator” are developed. This rules are specified from the Directives 74/561/EC and 74/562/EC as last amended by Directive 89/438/EC.
The teaching process provides knowledge and competence, which guarantee our students a successful professional realization as engineers on the national and the European labour market and in the field of transport services.
The lecturers from the Transport Department are authors of nine textbooks and four handbooks which are used during lectures and exercises. During the teaching process educational and visual aids, as well as adapted transport information systems are used. A textbook of true merit for the students is “Intermodal Forms of Transportation”.
The Department of Transport got a valid institutional accreditation from the National Assessment and Accreditation Agency and the right to provide training of PhD for the degree course 02.14.07 “Automobile Transport Management and Technology”. At the present moment there are 5 PhD students, one of whom is going to defend her thesis in the nearest future.
It is nice to be with PhD students!
The members of the Transport Department conduct research and development activities in the following fields: Transport, Transport Technology and Logistics; Technical Exploitation of Transport Vechicles; Traffic Organization, Management and Safety. More essential scientific and applied scientific developments are: development of the organizational plans of the passenger transport in Ruse and Razgrad; development of technology for transportation of bread and baker’s goods in Ruse; development of security driving instruction methods that teach the students what to do in critical situations; development of about a 500 expert reports concerning car accidents; transport detectors and controllers are worked out; etc.
More than 400 articles and reports were published by the lectors of Department of Transport. The lectors participated in proceedings which were carried out in Bulgaria, Russia, Yugoslavia, Poland, Macedonia, Romania and Great Britain.
Professor D. Simeonov and Associate Professor M. Marinov are members of the editors’ board of Transport Reviews magazine, which is published in England.
New curricula for the preparation of students from the Bachelor's and Master's degree courses were developed by both the lecturers from the department of Transport and lecturers from analogue departments from European Universities. The curriculum has been developed thanks to the project TEMPUS YEP 4714 ”Updating the Structure and Education/Training in the Faculty of Automotive and Transport Engineering”.
The department stuff is well-known in the field of transport in Bulgaria and abroad with its educational, scientific and research work. The lecturer body collaborate with university lecturers, government officials and administration and organisation servants.
The Department has good contacts with Technical Universities from Sofia and Varna, Burgas Free University, Todor Kableshkov Higher School of Transport, etc. Also the department has contacts with the Institute for Transport Studies in Leeds (Great Britain), the Moscow Automobile and Highway Institute; the Technical University of Radom (Poland); the University of Pitest (Romania); the Technical University and Higher School of Technics and Economy – Berlin (Germany).
Different projects and programs have been conducted in collaboration with the: Ministry of Transport and Communications, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Ministry of Interior – Traffic Police, AEBTRI (Association of the Bulgarian Enterprises for International Road Transport and the Roads) and other departments and organisations.
The building of Ruse as a logistic center is the aim of the department at this stage. With regard to this the members of the department participate in a group of specialists who work in Ruse region on: the development of the river transport as a whole; the use of the Rhein - Main - Danube canal as waterway; the continuation of the channel from Ruse to Varna.
In conclusion, it can be said that the Department of Transport prepares highly-qualified specialists in full compliance with the EU requirements, who are able to reach optimal solutions to complex transportation problems and find professional realization on the United European Transport Market.
