Slovenia Presiding over CEEPUS This Year
Slovenia has assumed the presidency of the Central European Exchange Programme for University Studies (CEEPUS) at the 10th anniversary of this network. According to Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Jure Zupan, the priority of Slovenia's presidency will be CEEPUS II with an emphasis on joint degrees.
These enable students to obtain degrees from two universities cooperating in the network. Students will thus be able to attend lectures at two different universities from the same network and also to earn a degree from both, provided they have compatible programmes.
As part of CEEPUS II, universities will introduce joint syllabuses that will be transparent. Zupan expects this to encourage the mobility of students and lecturers. Moreover, he said such programmes would also work against brain drain from less developed parts of Europe.
CEEPUS is a network of universities that want to improve mobility in Central Europe. They exchange students and professors for at least one semester. The project involves Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, while Macedonia and Albania were admitted at the latest ministerial.
According to Zupan, who attended the conference in Vienna last week, ministers then also backed the decision to launch entry negotiations with Ukraine.
As part of the programme, 1,222 Slovenian students and professors have studied or lectured at CEEPUS countries since 1994/1995, while Slovenian universities hosted 1,385 foreign students and lecturers. Since the very beginning, more than 60% of Slovenia's system of higher education has been included in the network, according to Andrej Kotnik of the ministry.
The CEEPUS today involves more than 400 universities and university colleges, Kotnik said. According to him, the system is very rational in terms of funding and organisation. "There is no transfer from one country to another, although Austria runs administrative matters."
Each country must provide funds only for months of study, but the money stays in the country and is intended only for foreign students and lecturers who come to Slovenia. The stipends are very good, Kotnik said, as they cover all the costs, including food, accommodation and health insurance.
At the 11th CEEPUS ministerial, an award was given out for the best network. It went to a network of 15 universities called Language and Literature in the Context of Central Europe, which included the Ljubljana Faculty of Arts.
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