Professor Dr habil Anastas Gerdzhikov thanked his colleagues for their support and expressed his hope that the coming term of office Sofia University will keep it on the track of its even more successful development. “I hope that we all shall work together … and, thus, we’ll score even higher achievements. Thank you!” Professor Gerdzhikov concluded.

Anastas Gerdzhikov completed his school education in 1982 at the National School for Ancient Languages and Culture. In 1984-1985 he read classics at the Department of Classical Philology at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. In 1986 he continued his academic studies at Humboldt University in Berlin where he graduated with an MA degree in 1990 with a thesis on Aristotle’s Critique of Plato’s Political Works.

Since 1990 he was a part-timer and since 1991 -- a full-time assistant-professor in the Latin language at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. He held a specialization grant in Austria (1994, the scholarship of the Austrian Office for Academic Exchange) and in Germany (1997, the scholarship of the German Office for Academic Exchange). In 2001 he was conferred a PhD degree for a thesis on The Concept of Clementia in the Roman Literature Tradition in the Period of the Republic and the Ideology of the Early Principate. Since 2004 he was an Associate Professor in ancient literature (with a habilitation work on The Image of the Ruler in the Corpus of the Latin Panagerics). In 2006 he was awarded a Dr habil degree in the philological sciences for his The Mirror of the Ruler. The Origin and Development of the Genre of Speculum regale in Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Since 2008 he has been a professor in ancient and medieval literature (habilitation work on The Development of the Genre Speculum regale in the XII and XIIIth Centuries).

Professor Gerdzhikov has delivered lecture courses on the Latin language (phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax) and Roman literature at the Department of Classical Philology of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” for BA and MA students.

Professor Gerdzhikov’s scientific interests are in the domain of Roman Literature and the political theory of Antiquity and the Middle Ages. He is the author of four monographs and of more than forty studies and articles in the field of ancient literature and of the high academic education requirements, and is also the translator of Aristotle’s Politics.

Anastas Gerdzhikov was a deputy minister of education and science (2001- 2003), manager of the Scientific Research Fund (2007-2008) and member of the Specialized Board for the Study of Literature at the High Commission for Attestation (2007-2010). Since 2010 he has been Vice-rector of Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” in charge of accreditation and scientific activities (2010-2011) and of the teaching process – PhD students and continuing education (2011- 2014). In the period 2015 – 2019 he was Rector of Sofia University.

He is member of the editorial board of Strategies in the Educational and Scientific Policy and of the Bulgarian Journal of Science and Еduсаtion. He is fluent in English, German, French, and Russian.