New Bulgarian University

New Bulgarian University (Bulgarian: Нов български университет, also known and abbreviated as НБУ, NBU) is a private university based in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Its campus is in the western district of the city, known for its proximity to the Vitosha nature park. The university also owns multiple other buildings across the country, as well as its own publishing house and a library.
Among the list of NBU Honorary Doctors and Honorary Professors are Richard Rorty, Thomas Sebeok, Wolfgang Iser, Terry Eagleton, Julia Kristeva, Jean-Pierre Vernant, Ralf Dahrendorf, Steve Forbes, Geert Hofstede, Ennio Morricone, Milcho Leviev, Raina Kabaivanska, Alexander Fol, Vera Mutafchieva, and Georgy Fotev.
The mission of New Bulgarian University is to:
- be an autonomous academic institution that supports students in their entrepreneurial and personal development.
- be a liberal academic institution, based on the link between education, research and entrepreneurship.
- provide interdisciplinary general and specialised education, based on theoretical research and practical knowledge.
Since 2004, NBU has been an accredited partner of The Open University Business School.
NBU was established on 18 September 1991 by Bogdan Bogdanov and a group of Bulgarian intellectuals with a resolution by the Bulgarian Parliament. NBU's main purpose was to modernise Bulgarian higher education. 2,500 students were welcomed during the first year. A test of general education was introduced in 1995 and established as a uniform standard for the reception of students in 1996.
NBU's Educational Museum was founded on 23 April 2010. The first exhibition was "Museum Network Resources". It was the final stage of the project "Educational Museum at New Bulgarian University". The project was funded by the National Fund for Research at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Science, the Cultural Heritage (study on national historic and culture legacy as a part of European culture heritage and advanced methods for preserving).
Since 2010, NBU is the home of 'The Slug Theater', where the university's drama club present their shows.
The campus consists of two buildings (Buildings 1 and 2) housing the Aula, Library, University Theater, NBU Museum, UniArt Gallery, Medical Center, and a Sports Center surrounded with open green spaces.
The university has more than 100 halls, computer labs, language and simultaneous interpreting labs, a Mock Courtroom, an Arts Center with practice rooms and studios for students of music, fine arts, design and architecture with a total capacity of 2,500 seats.
NBU's academic library houses over 128,000 items accessed by 150,000 annual visitors.
NBU's IT and management departments rank high in the country. As of 2014, NBU ranked second in Bulgaria according to the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities.
The Central and East European Center for Cognitive Science (or CEEC of Cognitive Science) undertakes research in fundamental and applied cognitive science. Research topics include: memory, thinking, language, learning, perception, context, applications to robotics, AI, and cognitive systems, cognitive economics, human factors and usability, education and learning methods. The center is co-directed by Boicho Kokinov and Jeff Elman.
The CEEC of Cognitive Science grants M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in cognitive science and organizes an annual summer school.