The Department of Language Training, Physical Education and Sports at the University of Food Technologies – Plovdiv is an academic structure with an independent organizational status. The Department comprises two centres, The Centre of Language Training and the Centre of Physical Education and Sports, whose functions are incorporated into a whole by an essential idea, i.e. the optimization of education in order to improve the quality of the students’ language and physical education skills in accordance with the new methodology standards, requirements, and trends as stipulated by the European educational space.

The Centre of Language Training is responsible for the language education of students and lecturers from all UFT departments. The Centre takes into account the changes in the sphere of education and business without neglecting the individual needs of every student. The methodology and teaching materials used, developed on the basis of modern research on language training and educational technologies, are oriented at the improvement of language competencies and skills in view of the image of the highly qualified professional with a higher education degree who is to find his or her place in the world of business.

The Centre of Physical Education and Sports is in charge of the training of first-year students in seven sports disciplines. The UFT sports education is

focused on the improvement of the students’ health, the acquisition of knowledge regarding the role of motor activity in health-promoting habits, the stimulation of the students’ life-time learning habits as well as their creativity.

E-mail:tsveta.horeva@gmail.com

The preparatory language and specialized training carried out at the Department of Language Training, Physical Education and Sports at the University of Food Technologies – Plovdiv consists in education in Bulgarian for foreign students from all over the world (Greece, Turkey, Vietnam, China, the Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Jordan, Macedonia, etc.). The aim of the one-year crash courses in Bulgarian is to develop the skills necessary for the students’ education in the special major-related disciplines which are part of the Bachelor’s, Master’s and post-graduate degree programmes at the university.