Home

Home - Members In The News

University of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina: Rector Zoran Tomić: We are Developing a Modern European and World University (Excerpt)

发布时间:2021-01-19

During a recent visit to the University of Mostar, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia Gordan Grlić Radman, PhD, said that he was "impressed by the activities at the University of Mostar". Can we recognize the growth of the University and its meaning in this sentence?

Minister Grlić Radman gave an excellent lecture at the University of Mostar on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Dayton Agreement. On that occasion, we talked about the work of the University. He gave great remarks in the closed part of the meeting and we are very proud of that. Well-meaning people notice valuable things. They recognize European values and standards at the University. We are happy about that.


We are in a challenging time affected by the global coronavirus pandemic. How does the university operate in these conditions?

This is a very challenging time for the academic community. It is not easy to find the optimal model and reconcile several conflicting expectations. But accountability to students, administrative staff and teachers is crucial. There are many who selfishly look at these processes. They have no responsibility and try to be smarter than everyone. The university on that side is in constant internal dialogue and we are looking for models of optimal performance.


Establishing new international partnerships through the signing of a memorandum of cooperation is one of the strategic goals set in the Development Strategy of the University of Mostar?

Today, the University of Mostar has 68 different forms of Memorandum of Cooperation, signed with respectable institutions from our environment, the whole of Europe and the world. In the past academic year, we signed 12 agreements with international institutions of higher education, thus opening many opportunities for our University, primarily for students by joining the world space of higher education. We have agreements with universities from the United States, Austria, Italy, China, Slovenia, Germany, Great Britain, Russia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Romania, India, Poland, the Republic of Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates, etc.

I would like to emphasize the cooperation agreement with St. John’s University, a university with a 150-year history that offers over 100 majors on seven campuses, including three located in New York City. This is the first agreement between the University of Mostar and the higher education institution of the United States of America.


That's not all?

The last signed agreement is with the Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture from China. It is one of the most famous universities in this field and its tradition dates back to 1907. Within the signed agreement, we established academic cooperation in the exchange of teaching staff and students, work on joint projects and exchange of experiences on important academic issues, but also opened the possibility of access to world university networks.


International networks?

Today, the University is active in eight international networks and associations. We participate in the work of the Danube Rectors' Conference, the Association of European Universities EUA, the Rectors' Conference of the University of the Alps-Adriatic Region, the UniAdrion network and EUCEN of the European University Network for Lifelong Learning. The University of Mostar is an associate member of the Rectors' Assembly of the Republic of Croatia. In 2018, we also joined the Francophone University Agency, which brings together 1,007 university institutions on all continents in 119 countries.

Following an agreement signed with Beijing University of Civil Engineering & Architecture, the University was invited to join the international consortium Belt and Road Architectural University Consortium (BRAUIC). This international consortium was established at Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture with the aim of building a platform for university communication, collaboration and researching an innovative development mechanism for architectural disciplines and universities. The consortium currently has 57 members. The University of Mostar, after Beijing, Kuala Lumpur and Moscow, will be the co-organizer and host of the annual international conference of this consortium in 2021.


(Excerpt from SUM, Bosnia and Herzegovina, https://www.sum.ba/en/objave/novosti/rector-tomic-we-are-developing-a-modern-european-and-world-university)