CEEPUS

CEEPUS (Central European Exchange Program for University Studies) is a regional mobility program in higher education. The aim of CEEPUS is to improve cooperation in the field of higher education and related scientific activities, with an emphasis on inter-university cooperation and mobility. It became operational on 1st December 1994, when the 1993 CEEPUS agreement entered into force in Budapest. Croatia joined the CEEPUS agreement in 1995 and along with Croatia, the following countries traditionally participate in the program: Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Czech Republic, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia and Kosovo. The current CEEPUS III contract is currently in force, starting on 1st May 2011 for a period of seven years.

The network consists of one coordinator and at least two partners from at least two CEEPUS signatory countries. Coordinators and partners can be universities, polytechnics and colleges or their components (faculties / departments / divisions / chairs) that are on the list of eligible institutions for participation in CEEPUS in each country. Each year, CEEPUS signatory countries set a quota of available scholarships for incoming mobility in the „one month scholarship“ currency. The signatories also determine the amounts of scholarships for different categories of scholarship holders (students, doctoral students and teaching staff) as well as other conditions of residence of CEEPUS scholarship holders (free or subsidized accommodation, meals, health insurance etc.).

At the request of the CEEPUS Central Office the ministries responsible for education submit a statement on the number of months of scholarships to be provided in the next academic year, so-called pledges, signed by the competent ministers and approved by the Joint Committee of Ministers. Scholarships depend on the standard of living in each country and must be sufficient to cover the costs of mobility. Students are also exempt from paying tuition. Information on scholarships in each country participating in CEEPUS is available at www.ceepus.info by clicking on the flag of each country.

Detailed information on CEEPUS mobility, how to apply and other conditions can be found at the following link.

• New procedure for reimbursement of travel expenses (effective from June 12, 2018 – in Croatian)

The CEEPUS III Agreement defines the following categories of beneficiaries of the CEEPUS program:

1. Students enrolled in higher education are potential candidates for CEEPUS III scholarships (full-time student status with at least two semesters of study completed), including a doctoral level provided that the period of study, training or traineeship is spent at the host university or host institution in accordance with CEEPUS Agreement, and is in line with the curriculum of the home university and fits into the study program of the candidate.
2. Scholarships are also awarded to students for practical training and traineeships in companies, research institutes, government bodies or other organizations in the host country, if the candidate proposes a comprehensive plan.
3. The CEEPUS III program supports the mobility of university staff (teaching, research and/or artistic staff) in higher education institutions by awarding CEEPUS III scholarships in order to promote transnational inter-university cooperation and to increase the Central European dimension of university curricula.
4. Scholarships may also be awarded to students and university staff outside the CEEPUS III network (so-called freemovers), provided that special arrangements are made for studying or teaching and supervising.

The EU Agency for Mobility and Programs is introducing new procedures following the Emergency Technical Decision of the CEEPUS Secretary General of 30th September 2020 and the Opinion of the Ministry of Science and Education on online mobility in the CEEPUS system from 1st October 2020. You can view the official notice on the introduction of new procedures via the link.

Unfortunately, other countries participating in CEEPUS are not yet able to pay financial support for incoming virtual mobility, despite the fact that the National Offices in principle support the idea of paying part of the scholarship for virtual mobility. The national offices for CEEPUS are doing everything in their power to change their procedures at the national level in order to facilitate the continuation of cooperation in CEEPUS. However, measures vary from country to country, depending on national regulations (eg some countries may not even recognize virtual mobility).

According to the new procedure, incoming professors no longer need to attach signature lists from lectures. The usual form of signature sheets that was part of the information package has been replaced by a simpler „Teacher report“ form which can be viewed at the following link.

For the winter semester, applications via the CEEPUS online system are enabled from the moment the network cycle ends, ie when all approved networks and „umbrella networks“ are in the „ready for mobility“ status and last until approximately 15th June. According to the general recommendations of the CEEPUS Central Office, this deadline is only open for network mobility, but some countries also allow applications for freelancers, as they know from experience that each year a certain part of the quota remains unused and therefore available for offline mobility.

The application deadline for the summer semester of the current academic year is 31th October. As mentioned above, it is generally recommended that only two application deadlines for network mobility be followed by a deadline for applying for mobility outside the network. The deadline for mobility outside the CEEPUS network is 30th November, but applications for freelancers in the CEEPUS system are already available in June.

The online application is preceded by a selection procedure at the home Faculty according to the announced competition, before the stated deadlines.

Students and scientific-teaching staff of the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Rijeka are hereby informed that a competition for submitting applications for the winter semester (as well as mobility in the summer semester, although it will be formally implemented until 31 October 2023) mobility in within the CEEPUS network. The Faculty of Civil Engineering of the University of Rijeka participates as a partner in the CEEPUS network called “Building Knowledge and Experience Exchange in CFD” (CIII-RS-1012-08-2223). Instructions for applying for CEEPUS mobility can be viewed via the link.

All interested students, doctoral students, post-doctoral students and scientific-teaching staff who plan to perform outgoing mobility at one of the foreign institutions (within the mentioned network) in the winter and summer semesters are invited to complete their online application as soon as possible via the CEEPUS website (https:// www.ceepus.info).

Detailed information about CEEPUS networks, the list of institutions with which the Faculty of Civil Engineering Rijeka is networked, the possibilities and method of application, and the method of scholarship can be found on the website of the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the University of Rijeka under the “CEEPUS” folder. For all further information and questions, you can contact the local coordinator, Assist. Prof. Elvis Žic, C.E.

As part of the CEEPUS network entitled „Building Knowledge and Experience Exchange in CFD (CIII-RS-1012-04-1819)“ the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad (as the coordinator of the entire network) organizes in early July 2019 a summer school called „The 3rd Summer School of Computational Fluid Dynamics„.

The 5-day summer school is an ideal opportunity for students to get acquainted with new possibilities and software packages within Computational Fluid Dynamics and at the same time exchange their study experiences with colleagues from related fields of science. All costs of accommodation (accommodation and food) in Novi Sad are covered by the National CEEPUS Office in Serbia, while travel costs (return bus ticket) are covered by the National CEEPUS Office in Croatia. Therefore, all interested students who want to actively participate in the summer school are asked to contact the local CEEPUS coordinator Assist. Prof. Elvis Žic by Tuesday, 23th October  2018. so that the realization of the same can start as soon as possible. The number of students from the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Rijeka is limited to a maximum of 20 students.You can view the program of last year’s summer school here, while the program and additional information for the upcoming summer school in 2019 will be known after the exact number of all participants.

Within the CEEPUS network called „Building Knowledge and Experience Exchange in CFD (CIII-RS-1012-04-1819)“ in Novi Sad was held from 5th to 10th July 2019, the 3rd summer school called „The 3rd Summer School of Computational Fluid Dynamics”.

The organizers of the summer school were the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad (Associate Professor Siniša Bikić as the coordinator of the entire network) and the Faculty of Civil Engineering Rijeka (as a partner in the CEEPUS network). The summer school was held at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in Novi Sad.

A total of 11 students participated in the summer school (three students from our Faculty of Civil Engineering Rijeka – students Aleksandra Daić, Maja Šišović and Monika Delač), 6 professors (one from our Faculty of Civil Engineering Rijeka – Assist. Prof. Elvis Žic) and 3 doctoral assistants with Faculty of Technical Sciences from Novi Sad.

The summer school was extremely successful, with very interesting topics in the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics and discussions during and after the presentations. A preliminary agreement was also reached on the potential possibility of organizing the 4th International summer school with the same theme at the Faculty of Civil Engineering University of Rijeka, which will be held in two years. It is also a great opportunity for our students, as well as scientific and teaching staff to get involved and get acquainted with new methods, research and development within the Computational Fluid Dynamics.