The certificates in Bulgarian as a foreign language issued by the Department for Language Teaching and Continuing Education (DLTCE) have international validity.
On a broader scale, testing knowledge of Bulgarian as a foreign language at DLTCE began in 2001.
In 2004, with its Standardized Test in Bulgarian, DLTCE was accepted as an associate member of ALTE, and since 2007, it has been the only full member of this organization from Bulgaria.
ALTE (Association of Language Testers in Europe) includes institutions from EU member states that provide examination programs for national languages taught as foreign languages and issue certificates to successful candidates. ALTE is a non-governmental organization with participant status at the Council of Europe and consultative status with the UN on language policy issues. It aims to promote transnational recognition of language certificates in Europe, working closely with the European Commission and the European Parliament. ALTE currently has 34 full members representing 27 European languages.
Since DLTCE’s inclusion in ALTE, periodic audits have been conducted to assess test quality. This requires continuous optimization of test tasks, improvement of the test structure according to CEFR levels, analysis of test results. According to ALTE regulations the first audit (B2 level) took place in June 2007, the second audit was conducted in 2013, the third audit was conducted in 2020, including the newly developed B1 level, and the latest audit was completed in 2025. All audits were passed successfully. Since 2020, the tests for B1 and B2 have also been awarded the ALTE Q Mark quality label.
The standardized Bulgarian language test of DLTCE, Sofia University, complies with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) in the following ways:
- Test levels correspond fully to CEFR levels (except A1): A2, B1, B2, C1, C2.
- The test is designed for general purposes, assessing all four core language skills equally: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. It is independent of specific textbooks or curricula.
- Language content, format, task numbers, text types, themes, situations, and language use comply with CEFR requirements and cover the three main domains of language use: personal, public, and educational.
- Each candidate’s results include both a numerical score and a descriptive assessment of communicative competence based on CEFR “Can Do” descriptors.
- Standardization follows the Manual for Relating Language Examinations to the CEFR (2003), including pre-testing, post-testing, psychometric analysis, fairness analysis, reliability, and quality of assessment.
- Validation is carried out by a panel of experts, including at least two habilitated linguists and representatives of relevant institutions.
- Test administration follows standardized procedures.