Abstract:

Albeit in the early 21st century, a century of e-society and massive integration of information and communication technologies in the life, yet in many places is observed a phenomenon of "digital divide". Digital skills and digital competence represented a special case of this phenomenon. They are influenced by many factors, including place of residence, social status and environment of the individual, which in a natural way define the priorities and displace development of people in different directions. Increasing the digital skills and competence of the population are important for higher education of the population, which directly affects the productivity of labour and the national economy, and then the world economy. There is a direct relationship between the distance of residence of the persons from larger cities and its level of computer skills. In the Strategy of the European Union (EU) to growth - "Europe 2020",and in the Digital agenda for Europe and its seven interlinked priority ladder is enshrined to provide access to bandwidth communications, in order to overcome barriers to the free provision and use of online services in the EU, regardless of national borders, create a unified space for online payments, consumer protection in cyberspace within the digital single market as a prerequisite for entering the EU in the digital era. According to these strategies, Bulgaria implemented a number of measures to provide an opportunity for free access to information on the Internet and thus to improve the process of learning and self-study.

Keywords:

Digital divide, digital skills, digital competence, education, computers skills.