History
The first settlers of the site near the town of today came here in the time of the Middle Neolithic (3000 - 2600 BC). Novae - the former Roman castle - initially sprang as headquarters of a Roman Legion. Gradually it turned into an important economic and cross-roads center. The archaeological excavations near the town of Svishtov revealed ancient city remains of inestimable historic value.
There are various attitudes concerning the origin of the name "Svishtov". Some are seeking in Greek root there - Sebas-tokastron, Sbestokastron, Sestos; and others Slavonic - Svishtov by analogy with Velika and Mala Svishtovka in Check Republic.
Under the Ottomans the town of Svishtov was a private, inviolable possession of the sultana, with independent administrative and financial government. All these and the enterprising spirit of the men of Svishtov turned out to be decisive for its recognition as a commercial and cultural centre.
During the 18th trough the 19th centuries caravans of carts brought to Svishtov cereals, leather, vegetable oil, honey, wax, rose oil, wool, cotton, silk, silkworm eggs and industrial articles. The goods were loaded on sailing vessels for export to Braila, Galatas, Constantinople, and Central Europe. During the period 1850 - 1860 there were about 150 Danubian sail-vessels in the Svishtov harbor. Part of them were possessed by merchants of Svishtov. Nikola Stanchov - a merchant from Svishtov was a main shareholder of the Danube Vapour Company (established in 1867), which bought a ship and three barges for cereals from Austro-Hungary. At the time Svishtov had the reputation of an European town. The crafts, silkworm breeding, vine-growing, and stock-breeding experienced a blossom. Forty-five companies carried on business with Veles, Ohrid, Ser, Melnik, Razlog, and Bansko. In 1869 a great fire burned to ashes the harbor and many of the shops but new 260 shops were built in short time. Svishtov was the first Bulgarian town liberated by the Russian liberators in 1877.

Education
Svishtov Municipality has an exceptionally well-developed educational infrastructure. It fully meets the needs of the Municipality both in terms of territorial coverage and education levels. Moreover, the traditions in this field and the quality of education have helped shape the image of Svishtov as an academic town - a town of young people.
As of 31 December 2000 the leading higher economic school in the country - D.A.Tsenov Academy of Economics employed a total of 245 teaching staff and 379 administrative and supporting staff, with over 10,000 students enrolled in full-time, part-time, and distance learning Baccalaureate, Master's and Ph.D. programs.
The presence of competent teachers, high-quality textbooks and learning aids, modern information environment and resources make Svishtov Municipality a leading academic center. Thus every year thousands of specialists in the fields of finance, accounting and economics graduate from the former trade college, opened 65 years ago thanks to the generous donation of the prominent Svishtov entrepreneur Dimitar Apostolov Tsenov, and they will always carry in their hearts Svishtov and its academic spirit. The extensive international contacts, active development of the instruments of educational marketing, and most notably, the assurance of highest quality make Svishtov and its Academy of Economics a kind of Cambridge in the Balkans. Compared with the other academic towns in Bulgaria, Svishtov has the highest rate of students relative to the general population.
The needs in the sphere of education include building up an effective management structure and ensuring optimal distribution of the funds from the municipal budget. The more serious concerns include retaining the children and adolescents of school age in the community, analyzing education needs and adjusting the system of education to the labor market, priority development of students' communication capacity through foreign language instruction and computer and information technology training.

Source: svishtov.bg