Established as a Higher School in 1888, in 1904 the Sofia University was granted autonomous status as university. By 1944 his autonomy had been violated twice by the Bulgarian governments.
In 1907, when all the students hooted at the monarch, all university lecturers were dismissed. The one-year struggle of Bulgarian scientists is supported by the Bulgarian public. It led to a government shift and the return of the whole teaching staff.
The other major university crisis was in the early 1920s. It began when the government of the agricultural party fired a university lecturer. The conflict was growing and on March 10, 1922, the Academic Council suspended the lectures at the University. Petitions, rallies and processions were backed by the Bulgarian public with a successful ending, the university autonomy was protected again as guarantee of freedom of science.
In the first months after the 9 September 1944, dozens of university lecturers were dismissed. In the face of political repression, protests were unthinkable. Officially, the autonomy of the University was abolished at the end of the forties. Until the fall of the communist regime in 1989, science and higher education in Bulgaria were subordinate to the political power.
