Bošnjak Meets with CEEPUS Leadership: Focus on Academic Mobility

The Minister of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dubravka Bošnjak, together with her associates, visited the Central Office of the Central European Exchange Program for University Studies (CEEPUS) in Vienna, where she met with CEEPUS Secretary General Michael Schedl to discuss strengthening international academic cooperation and student mobility.

CEEPUS enables students, professors, and researchers from 15 countries of Central and Southeastern Europe to participate in short-term exchange programmes at universities within member states. Minister Bošnjak emphasized that the CEEPUS programme has been implemented in Bosnia and Herzegovina since the 2008/2009 academic year and represents the only multilateral exchange programme in which Bosnia and Herzegovina has full membership status.

“Bosnia and Herzegovina has been actively participating in the CEEPUS programme for many years, as one of the most important forms of international academic cooperation, through which hundreds of students and professors take part in international exchanges every year,” Minister Bošnjak stated.

She added that the participation of higher education institutions from Bosnia and Herzegovina has been steadily increasing and that further growth is expected, especially after five private universities from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina joined the programme last year. More than 3,000 monthly scholarships were awarded to professors and students from Bosnia and Herzegovina for stays at partner universities abroad during the period from 2007 to 2023.

Bošnjak and Schedl highlighted their commitment to maintaining the high standards of the CEEPUS programme, improving transparency and governance, and strengthening academic mobility that contributes to the regional development of science and education.

During the past year, an increase was recorded in the number of students and professors from Bosnia and Herzegovina participating in international academic exchanges, with around 500 such exchanges successfully implemented. Short-term exchanges have shown significant growth across all CEEPUS member states.

Bosnia and Herzegovina remains strongly committed to active participation in the programme and to the further development of international academic cooperation.