Western Balkans

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.

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News archive - On the Way to CEEPUS III

The 2007 meeting of the Joint Committee of CEEPUS Ministers, held in Zagreb on March 16, has proved to be a meeting of milestones in several ways. With the accession of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the objective of integrating all the South East European Countries into CEEPUS has been accomplished. CEEPUS now comprises 14 countries: Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, FYR of Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia. Exchange with Bosnia-Herzegovina is scheduled for the academic year 2008/09, provided that all the necessary legal steps at local level will have been completed by then.

Impressed by the performance of the programme, the ministers have pledged an all time high of scholarship months: a total of 5925 scholarship months which allows CEEPUS to operate 50 networks including 534 institutions during the academic year 2007/08. As for the future development of CEEPUS, the ministers are convinced that CEEPUS has great research potential that should definitely be made use of. They have outlined the following areas for future activities: Joint PhD Programs, CEEPUS grants for research activities, the operation of joint regional expert pools and the iden-tification of regionally relevant research topics in order to develop joint projects. The ministers have also strongly expressed their belief that CEEPUS could be an important tool to prepare for FP7 projects. Concrete proposals based on these political guidelines will be worked out at a conference of experts to be held in Vienna. In order to allow for optimal timing, the ministers have decided to prolong the current term of CEEPUS II from 2007 to 2009. Thus, there will be enough time to develop new strategies while at the same time to speed up the move from exchange to mobility and implement CEEPUS III.

Article published in eJournal spring 07.