CEEPUS III program (namely the third cycle of this program) will last seven years starting from May 2011.
CEEPUS: What's in a name? CEEPUS is an acronym for "Central European Exchange Program for University Studies".
Who is a member? Current member countries: Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia.
What is the legal basis? The legal basis for CEEPUS is an International Agreement CEEPUS II (CEEPUS III from May 2011) signed by the member states and it is open for accession.
What is the organizational structure? CEEPUS is based on lean management. The highest ranking decision making CEEPUS body is the Joint Committee of Ministers that meets once a year and takes all strategic decisions. Coordination, evaluation, program development and promotion are the main tasks of the Central CEEPUS Office. Each country has a National CEEPUS Office in charge of national implementation. In order to avoid setting up new administrative bodies, the National CEEPUS Offices are integrated into already existing structures, usually national agencies.
What about finances? With CEEPUS, there is no transfer of funds: There is an internal currency of "1 scholarship month" instead. Each country pays its INCOMING students and teachers and has to pledge no less than 100 scholarship months per academic year. The CEEPUS agreement also specifies that these grants are to be comprehensive grants linked to the local cost of living. The scholarship for the Republic of Serbia in 2011 is 18.000 for incoming students and 35.000 dinars for incoming professors. According to the International Agreement CEEPUS III, Article 1, paragraph 3, it covers living expenses, accommodation, medical insurance and laboratory experiments.
(Note that the University of Novi Sad does not cover medical insurance so that the scholarship holder intending to go there should arrange it in advance for his/her mobility period before coming to Novi Sad).
Which forms of cooperation are supported? CEEPUS supports university networks operating joint programs ideally leading to joint degrees. CEEPUS covers mobility grants for students and teachers in this framework.
CEEPUS: What are its main objectives? The main objectives of CEEPUS are to
- contribute to merging the European Higher Education Area and European Research Area
- use regional academic mobility as a strategic tool to implement Bologna objectives
CEEPUS III enables mobility of students and university professors as well as language courses and excursions. One of the most important activities offered by the program is establishing of university networks, which are based on cooperation of at least three universities, providing that two of the three are partners from different CEEPUS member countries. Comparing to the other programs there is no list of priorities and all fields of study are acceptable. University networks are selected by two, computer based (CEEPUS Scoring System) steps, one is on national level and the other is on international level. For the purpose of recognition of academic activities all participating universities in CEEPUS must have ECTS system or corresponding grading system. It is also important that a university offers academic subjects in English, German or French language. All students and professors from state universities, irrelevant to their field but with obligatory knowledge of English language, may apply for scholarships, both through the existing networks or as free movers.
More information on CEEPUS website: www.ceepus.info |
