Prof. Sergei Ignatov
Minister of Education and Science
Prof. Sergei Ignatov, PhD, D.Sc. is a Bulgarian historian-egyptologist, university lecturer, founder of Egyptology in Bulgaria.
He was born on 6 August 1960 in Vidin. He graduated from the 35th Russian Language High School in Sofia (1978), and in 1985 he graduated with a degree in “Egyptology” and “Foreign Studies of Asia and Africa” at the Faculty of Eastern Studies of St. Petersburg State University. There he also defended his doctoral degree in History. In 1993 and 1995, he specialized at All Souls College at the University of Oxford. In June 2009, he obtained a doctoral degree in historical sciences from the Higher Attestation Commission. He is a professor of Egyptology.
He is fluent in English, French and Russian. He teaches and researches ancient Egyptian and Coptic languages, and uses Assyrian-Babylonian (Akkadian) and Ancient Greek.
Academic career
Sergei Ignatov began his academic activity in 1985 as a lecturer in Egyptology at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. In 1991, he became an assistant professor at the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology, and in 1997, he became an associate professor of Semitic-Hamitic languages (Egyptology).
Since 1994, he has been part of New Bulgarian University (NBU), where he held the positions of Lecturer, Director of Programme, Head of the Department of Mediterranean and Eastern Studies (since 1998), Dean of the Bachelor’s Faculty (1998), Rector (2002-2009), Professor (since 2010) and Honorary Professor (2025). In the period 2002-2009 he was a senior research associate at the Institute of Thracology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. From 1 March 2018 to 2 April 2023, he was Rector of the European Humanitarian University in Vilnius, Lithuania – the first Bulgarian elected rector of a European university, as well as the first and so far the only Bulgarian to hold the position of rector at two different universities.
He is the founder and director of the Bulgarian Institute of Egyptology (since 2006). He is the author of numerous books and over 60 scientific publications on Ancient Egypt.
Public and administrative activities
In August 2009, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Education, Youth and Science, responsible for Higher Education and Science. On 19 November 2009, he was appointed Minister. He held the post until 6 February 2013.
During his term of office, key reforms related to the decentralization of higher education were adopted. In 2013, the highest gross budget for education for the previous five calendar years was agreed – BGN 2.92 billion.
Memberships and international activities
Sergei Ignatov is a member of the International Association of Egyptologists, Egypt Exploration Society, Great Britain, the Russian-German Society for the Study of the Cultural Heritage of the Ancient World, St. Petersburg, as well as Vice President of the International Association for Ancient Oriental Studies.
He is a member of Friends of Europe, the Board of Trustees of the South-East European Research Centre (SEERC) and the Board of Trustees of New Bulgarian University. He was a member of the specialized scientific council of the Higher Attestation Commission.