Increasing the professional qualification of employees in the Bulgarian state administration is undoubtedly a priority of all interested parties in the process: human resources, educational institutions, government, state administrations. It is obvious that the system for professional and career development of civil servants needs to be modernized in accordance with the economic and social changes and the need for continuous improvement of the professional capacity of the administration. Therefore, the model of continuous professional development of the employees in the state administration needs to be modified and optimised in a way that takes the advantage of the new technologies and elearning. Introduction of e-learning has the potential to increase the flexibility and accessibility of learning, both in terms of logistics and economics and to respond in a personalised way to the needs of the learners and the specifics of the learning context.This paper presents a model of e-learning. The main characteristics of the current model are outlined. The empirical research was conducted in June-July 2020 with 1428 civil servants from all over the country and 18 lecturers. The study aimed to investigate what were the perspectives of the trainees and trainers towards the introduction and delivery of online coursed in professional continuing qualification of public administration. Based on the data analysis and the specifics of the learning context recommendations for the model of e-learning improvement in public administration are suggested. The findings of the conducted research are a reliable basis for future improvement of the e-learning model at the Institute of Public Administration as a leading organization training the state administration in Bulgaria.
Authors:   Sofia University, Yovkova Blagovesna , Peytcheva-Forsyth Roumiana ,   Sofia University
Published: February 2023

Increasing the professional qualification of employees in the Bulgarian state administration is undoubtedly a priority of all interested parties in the process: human resources, educational institutions, government, state administrations. It is obvious that the system for professional and career development of civil servants needs to be modernized in accordance with the economic and social changes and the need for continuous improvement of the professional capacity of the administration. Therefore, the model of continuous professional development of the employees in the state administration needs to be modified and optimised in a way that takes the advantage of the new technologies and elearning. Introduction of e-learning has the potential to increase the flexibility and accessibility of learning, both in terms of logistics and economics and to respond in a personalised way to the needs of the learners and the specifics of the learning context.This paper presents a model of e-learning. The main characteristics of the current model are outlined. The empirical research was conducted in June-July 2020 with 1428 civil servants from all over the country and 18 lecturers. The study aimed to investigate what were the perspectives of the trainees and trainers towards the introduction and delivery of online coursed in professional continuing qualification of public administration. Based on the data analysis and the specifics of the learning context recommendations for the model of e-learning improvement in public administration are suggested. The findings of the conducted research are a reliable basis for future improvement of the e-learning model at the Institute of Public Administration as a leading organization training the state administration in Bulgaria.