Letters of Support

Prof. Alexei Semeonov

UNESCO King Hamad bil ISA Al Khalifa Prize for the Use of ICT in Education Laureate

Academician of Russian Academy of Sciences

Rector of Moscow Institute of Open Education, Russia

As a leader or Russian team developed the most successful break-through project in using ICT in school education in Russia (so called E-learning Project of Russian government with the World Bank support) I was impressed by the expert work of Prof. Nikolov in it. International expertise (including this of Prof Nikolov) was the key factor in the success of this project awarded with the Prize of the Government of Russia

Prof. Edward A. Friedman

Professor Emeritus of Technology Management

Director, Center for Technology Management for Global Development Stevens Institute of Technology, NJ, USA

Professor Nikolov's initiatives have emphasized the integration of information technology into mainstream educational pursuits. His work has been at every level of ICT development including lesson plan enhancements, text book writing, curriculum development, teacher training, conceptualization of national and international policy and articulation of a vision of ICT as a creative factor in advancing education. It is the comprehensive nature of his work that makes clear the role of ICT as a fundamental building block in enabling communities of teachers and learners to pursue excellence in education. Through his participation in UNESCO and EU initiatives he has brought these values to international audiences, thereby sharing the ideals that underlie the basis for this UNESCO Prize.

Wallace Feurzeig

Principal Scientist, BBN Technologies
Department of Educational Technology
Cambridge, USA

He pioneered the development of the first version of Logo in Bulgarian and developed extensive high-quality Logo-based mathematics curriculum materials for junior high school instruction. He authored the first Bulgarian textbook on informatics for 5th grade pupils.He is an active member of the International Federation for Information Processing and the organizer of a UNESCO international workshop on the innovative use of digital technologies in improving practices for enhancing the quality of education. He seeks to address and clarify key issues at the leading edge of basic research and instructional practice. He can be counted upon to provide a rich source of original and compelling ideas.

Prof. E. Paul Goldenberg

Distinguished Scholar:
Learning & Teaching

Division:
Science and Mathematics Programs

Prof. Ivan Kalas, PhD.

Department of Informatics Education, head
Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

The first news in Slovakia about productive integration of computers into other - I mean, modern and creative - learning of children of the digital age, have reached us already in 80s through the Bulgarian Research Group of Educaiton... In their work they managed to advocate so called Logo culture through seemingly surprising bridge between modern informatics and a mother tongue educaiton.... For me Roumen is the person to whom I want to say Thank you for so much he has done for better learning and better living, enahanced by new technologies.

Prof. Celia Hoyles, OBE

London Knowledge Lab
Institute of Education,
University of London, UK

My main expertise is in mathematics education and his (Prof. Nikolov's) work in this area has had a huge influence on me and on others in the field. What is noteworthy, is that Prof Nikolov has always led a wonderful team of researchers and practitioners - a tribute to his leadership. We have collaborated with many mathematicians and mathematics education researchers in Bulgaria and have been always impressed by their expertise, creativity, diligence and team spirit.

Prof. Richard Noss PhD

Co-director: London Knowledge Lab,
Institute of Education,
University of London

Director: Technology Enhanced Learning Research Programme, UK

I first met him some 30 years ago, when he was a leading figure in what was then, one of the most important and significant research projects in the world, in the field of mathematics education. His vision of how digital technology could radically change the face of mathematics education was an inspiration to me, and to many of those who came into contact with it.

Dr. Joke Voogt

Assoc. Prof. Curriculum and ICT,
University of Twente, The Netherlands

Editor in Chief of the International Handbook of IT in Primary and Secondary Education

Co-chair of EDUsummit

This project (Children in the Information Age) was well-known in Bulgaria and world-wide. It was the start of many projects initiated by professor Nikolov that dealt with the potential, and implications of information technology on children and children's learning in Bulgaria, often with European partners.
One of the strengths in the work of professor Nikolov is the strong relationship between his scientific contributions and the practical impact of his work.

Dr. Piet Kommers

Associate Professor
at the University of Twente
The Netherlands

I would like to bring forward some special support notes that relate back to the early years 1985-1992 when Roumen was pioneer in the integration of Computer Science and Educational Technology.
First of all, Roumen joint the initiative between the University of Twente and Sofia University to build a master program Science in Educational and Training Systems Design. It became a long term cooperation project called “MATEN”. Prof. Roumen Nikolov showed the MATEN consortium how to make ICT and Multimedia effective for learning.

Prof. Dr Avram Eskenazi

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Member of the Governing Board of UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education-Moscow, 2003-2007

Representative of Bulgaria to UNESCO Intergovernmental Informatics Programme 1995-1999

Our last joint experience has been within the frame of EU FP7 SISTER project, whose leader was Prof. Nikolov. One of the results achieved was that clear and unambiguous objectives for further qualification were formulated for students and young lecturers and researchers. By contrast, Prof Nikolov gained during the years a worldwide recognition for his numerous contributions to all aspects of using Logo environments and this demonstrates his deep commitment to children' education - a group on the other end of the age scale.

Peter L. Stanchev, Ph.D., D.Sc.

Prof. and chair of Computer Systems Department, IMI, BAS, Bulgaria
Prof.of Computer Science, Kettering University, Michigan, 48504 USA

He is an excellent specialist. What I appreciate very much is that he is always ready to take the challenge and experiment new ideas. His become a leading specialist and supporter to better education over the world.

Dr. Georgi Todorov

Assoc. Prof.,
Dean of Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics
University of Veliko Turnovo

I would like to mention that he was among the founders of the Bulgarian Vurtual University in 2004 and one of the most active members. He is a world wide recognized person of a very high qualification. His book The Global Campus outlines the main features of modern Education, which is influenced by rapidly developing Information and Communication Technologies.

Plamen Nedkov

Chief Executive of the regional ICT Association in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe (IT STAR)

Former Executive Director of the International Federation for Information Processing, delegate to sessions of UNESCO's General Conference and elected representative to the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee.

Prof. Nikolov was involved in UNESCO projects related to ICT in Education, and in UNESCO's missions in Egypt and Syria during the period 1990-1992. Most recently, I was pleased to interact with him on program and organization matters of UNESCO's International Workshop "Re-designing Institutional Policies and Practices to Enhance the Quality of Education through Innovative Use of Digital Technologies", June 2011, Sofia.

Prof. Dr. Habil Angel Popov

Former Vice-rector of Sofia University

Prof. Nikolov enjoyed a substantial national and international recognition as one of the leading educators and researchers in the area of ICT. He has been involved as advisor and consultatnt at the Ministry of Education and Schience, European Commissison, UNESCO, World Bank, International Association of the Evaluation of Educational Achievements (IEA), International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP) and other organizations.

Prof. Dr. J.C.M.M. Moonen & Prof. Dr. B. Collis

Emeriti Professors,
University of Twente,
Enschede, The Netherlands

We are very pleased that he is now Chair-Holder of the UNESCO Chair on ICT in Library Studies, Education and Cultural Heritage at the University of Library Studies and Information Technology in Sofia as we feel he is extraordinarily qualified to hold the chair and build its reputation.

Prof. Valentin Kisimov

Head of Dept. Information Technologies and Communications

Vice Rector, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria

Prof. Dr. Habil Valeria Fol

Director of Institute for Scintific Research in Cultural and Historical Heritage, SULSIT;

Professor at the Institute of Balkan Studies with a Centre of Thracians Studies,
Bulgarian Academy of Science

He ie also memeber of the Scientific Council of the Institute for Scientific Research in the Area of Cultural and Historical Heritage at SULSIT, coordinator of the MSc program in Technology Enterpreneurship and Innovation in IT, and co-manager of the MSc program in Digitalization and Digital Libraires. Prof. Nikolov has a strong national and international reputaion as one of the global leaders in the area of ICT in Educaiton, especially in the 2011 award theme Educating Youth for Responsible Global Digital Citizenship..

Prof. Tapio Varis

Professor Emeritus

Unesco Chair in Global e-Learning

acting president of Global University System (GUS)

I have had several occasions to recognize the international reputation of Prof. Nikolov. For instance, he is a section editor and author in the International Handbook of Information Technology in Primary and Secondary Education, published by Springer Verlag in 2008. Our last meeting was at the International UNESCO Conference IITE-2010: ICTs in Teacher Education: Policy, Open Educational Resources and Partnership in St. Petersburg in November 2010 where Prof. Nikolov had a presentation entitled Teacher education in the Global Campus.

Dr. Stephan Pascall

Europlan UK Ltd
Former Advisor
International Cooperation,
New Member States Integration,
Regional Aspects and Communications
European Commission DG Information Society - Dir.G

I am privileged to work with Professor Roumen Nikolov for more than a decade. His tireless pursuit of excellence in education using the state of the art ICT tools is well known not only in Bulgaria but also in Europe as a whole. This excellence is exercised by Professor Nicolov both at the Academic and the Commercial level as besides being a respected Professor he has founded some innovative companies. Professor Nikolov deserves the UNESCO Award.

Bojil Dobrev

Director
Scientific & Research Center at Sofia University

I have always been impressed by his enormous enthusiasm and initiative to be explorer in the field of ICT applications in education, training, business and government.

Prof. Nikolov is one of the few Bulgarian academic people who works closely with the Bulgarian and international business organization for development and implementation of innovative ICT products and services. For instance, his team provided very valuable contribution to the national infrastructural project Develpment of Workforce Competence Assessment System by Sectors and Regions funded by the Structural Funds...

Bulgarian Chamber of
Commerce and Industry

Prof Nikolov is a member of the Innovation Council of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industy and actively works for establishing fruitful cooperation between iniversities and industry. He is the main organizer of the European Day of the Entrepreneur, which is the first event of the kind in the countries from Central and Eastern Europe. This annual event brings together all skakeholders in the process of innovation and academic research and provides ground for building new partnerships, opening up access to the best European and world practice and catalyses new business undertakings.

CISCO

Prof. Nikolov has been leading the Sofia University CISCO Regional Academy since the year 2000 where more than 2500 students and professionals were trained.

Virtual Technologies Ltd.

Virtech is an R&D software company established in 1996 in Sofia and from the beginnig Prof. Roumen Nikolov is the company head, leader and strategist. For more than 15 years he organized and was directly involved in the company activities, most of them focusing on the use of ICT in education and training.