Skopje, 20 September 2023 (MIA) – Ministers of Education of 16 countries in Europe including North Macedonia signed Wednesday in Warsaw signed the agreement of the Central European Exchange Program for University Studies (CEEPUS).

CEEPUS promotes academic exchange in the field of training and in-service training of students and academics. The programme enables the intensification of contacts between higher education institutions from 15 partner countries by offering scholarships for academic placements within academic networks, short-term scholarships for "freemover" academic placements, and short-term scholarships for summer schools and intensive courses. Students, PhD students, and academics can apply for CEEPUS scholarships abroad.

During the signing of the new agreement valid until 2032, Education Minister Jeton Shaqiri noted with satisfaction that the cooperation between the countries participating in the program so far continues, and this, as he said, "confirms that we are large and a united family that functions successfully, providing new perspectives of human capital as the basis of the overall progress of the region,” Ministry of Education said in a press release.

“I wish the number of established relations, of realized academic exchanges to grow. That is the essence of this cooperation, which is gaining even more importance at a time when education and science are internationalizing at a high speed, and joint diplomas have more and more value,” Shaqiri said noting that since 2005, the Republic of North Macedonia is a member of the CEEPUS.

“We have an educational system that is progressing rapidly and science in which intensive investments are made. We have positive practices that we are proud of, such as a fundamental reform in primary and secondary education that is currently being implemented, a complete modernization of the laboratories of scientific and higher education institutions, a drastic increase in funding for scientific projects of public interest and the modernization of laboratories in within the framework of scientific and higher education institutions,” Shaqiri said.

The current signatories of the CEEPUS Agreement are Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Czech Republic, North Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Hungary and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Photo: Ministry of Education