The Executive Board of the CEI University Network (UniNet) has recently gathered in Budapest for its annual meeting (4 June).
Hosted by the Eötvös Loránd University, representatives of the CEI UniNet Coordinating Universities focused on the results of the Call for Proposals 2009, taking into account the outreach of the Network in geographical terms: According to statistical data provided by the CEI- Executive Secretariat, great steps forward have been made since the Network’s inception in 2004. Within the last Call, countries such as Albania, Belarus, Bulgaria and Croatia, which had not yet benefitted from the UniNet as applicant country, submitted valuable proposals. During the meeting participants reaffirmed that the CEI UniNet was a unique instrument for promoting cooperation across the CEI Region especially because it offered financial support for small scale programmes such as summer schools, seminars and workshops - not the case with programmes financed by other mobility programmes (e.g. Erasmus). Discussions also focussed on the need to ever more shift the mobility of teaching staff from CEI - EU to CEI non - EU countries. The addition of an extra area among the existing 6 Areas of Cooperation, i.e biotechnology, was also suggested along with the creation of a forum, on the CEI Website, as a source of information for teaching staff and students. Next year’s gathering will be organised in the form of a General Assembly where both the representatives of the Coordinating Universities as well as the Coordinators of selected Joint Programmes will have the chance to meet and exchange opinions (venue still to be decided). For more information: pibernik@cei-es.org