International cooperation

International cooperation has an extremely important position in modern higher education institutions. Its importance is evident in the fact that international cooperation is used as one of the factors in ranking higher education institutions. The strategy of international cooperation of the Faculty of Economics is based on the National Strategy for Higher Education and the Strategy of Scientific and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia. The amount and intensity of cooperation with universities and higher education institutions in the European Union, the United States, Canada and other developed countries is a reflection of the competence and competitiveness of universities and faculties. It follows from all the above that international cooperation should be a strategic commitment of the university/faculty. These requirements and needs are built into the concept of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), through the principles of: mobility, competence, compatibility and incorporation of new values.  

Inclusion of Serbia in the European area of higher education, science and culture, as well as in other areas, especially with developed countries, is a continuous process. Increasing the effectiveness and speed of Serbia's involvement has been greatly fostered by various European funds and funds of other countries and associations. This is supported by the fact that, in early 2018, in collaboration with the University of Kragujevac, data were collected and prepared that were necessary for the application for the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education (ECHE) and the University of Kragujevac officially received the Erasmus Charter on October 24th 2018. The ECHE contains the basic principles that higher education institutions must respect in order to ensure the quality of European and international cooperation. In this way, the Republic of Serbia changed its status within the Erasmus+ program from a partner to an (associated) program country. Therefore, the Erasmus+ program is the most frequently used program for the realization of the mobility of teaching staff, non-teaching staff and students at the Faculty of Economics, University of Kragujevac.

On this account, the goals of international cooperation of the Faculty of Economics, University of Kragujevac, consist in:

  • Improving the knowledge of teachers and teaching assistants;
  • Mobility of teachers and teaching assistants;
  • Recognition of study programs;
  • Development of joint study programs (double, triple, joint diploma);
  • Intensifying participation in international projects;
  • Involvement and exchange of teachers;
  • Organizing student exchanges, etc.

During the course of its existence, the Faculty of Economics proved to be open for cooperation with scientific and research institutions and economic entities in the country and abroad. The international activities of the Faculty are still focused on expanding scientific collaboration, exchange of students and teachers, publishing, organization of scientific conferences and various types of scientific, professional, educational and cultural events. There is an international recognition of the teaching staff and the Faculty (publishing papers in foreign scientific journals and participation in international conferences, engagement in program committees of international journals, publishing papers of professors from abroad in the scientific journal of the Faculty of Economics, University of Kragujevac, publishing co-authored papers with colleagues from abroad, joint research projects, projects focused on the development and improvement of Bachelor, Master and PhD study programs, organization of scientific meetings, conferences, counseling, workshops, seminars, summer schools, mobility of teachers, teaching assistants and students, cooperation of student associations, etc.), but there is certainly still room for improvement. For this reason, the Faculty has successfully implemented numerous cooperation agreements with many partners internationally, the most important of which are:

  • Cracow University of Economics (Poland),
  • University of Economics in Katowize (Poland),
  • Powiśle University in Kwidzyn (Poland)
  • University of Lodz (Poland),
  • Philipps University in Marburg (Germany),
  • Otto Friedrich University in Bamberg (Germany),
  • Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece),
  • University of Vigo (Spain),
  • University of Jaén (Spain),
  • University of Minho – Braga (Portugal),
  • University of Maribor (Slovenia),
  • Dimitar A. Tsenov Academy of Economics in Svishtov (Bulgaria).
  • Varna University of Management (Bulgaria),
  • Ismail Qemali University of Vlorë (Albania),
  • University of Economics in Bratislava (Slovakia)
  • Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica (Slovakia)
  • Tallinn University of Technology (Estonia),
  • Vilnius Gademinas Technical University (Lithuania),
  • Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics (Ukraine),
  • Saimaa University of Applied Sciences in South Karelia (Finland),
  • University of Messina (Italy).

In order to continue and further develop multilateral relations, the four-party cooperation agreement has been extended in 2018, at the initiative of the Cracow University of Economics, and the parties of the agreement are, in addition to the University of Kragujevac, the Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics (Ukraine) and the University of Messina (Italy). One of the results of this very successful cooperation is the Quadrilateral Symposium, which is held every year at one of the four mentioned universities.

Furthermore, teachers of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Kragujevac take part in a large number of international conferences and symposiums - Oslo (Norway), Lappeenranta (Finland), Split (Croatia), Becici (Montenegro), Vienna (Austria), Bansko (Bulgaria), Thessaloniki (Greece), Jahorina (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Brenna and Cracow (Poland) and Porto (Portugal) and thus, in addition to the mobility of teaching, non-teaching staff and students, they continue to work on establishing successful cooperation with colleagues from abroad.

Besides, our Faculty is organizer of the International Scientific Conference on Contemporary Issues in Economics, Business and Management (EBM) – a two-day conference that provides a framework for discussion and exchange of ideas, knowledge and experiences among academic researchers, practitioners and PhD students in various fields of economics, business and management. The Conference provides an opportunity for researchers to present the results of their recent studies, as well as to stress the ongoing shifts in paradigms and theories. EBM also represents an excellent opportunity to network with researchers from different countries, potentially leading to successful collaboration in the future among the Conference participants. More information on the EBM Conference please find here: https://ebm.ekfak.kg.ac.rs/.

In a word, the Faculty of Economics in Kragujevac tends to renew, establish and promote international cooperation by fostering every form of it: organization and participation in international conferences, forums and other expert meetings; mobility of students and staff; participation in international projects; organizing visits of foreign lecturers – professors and public figures from abroad etc.

International cooperation

The Faculty of Economics in Kragujevac, as one of the founders of the University of Kragujevac, has always had a very prominent and active role in the development of higher education and research in the fields of Economics and Management. International projects, as a special segment of the Faculty's activities, have been particularly intensified since 2001. In that period, international projects were conducted for the first time, which gave the opportunity to higher education institutions to take part in various roles: project coordinators, project partners, project grant holders. The most famous funds of the European Union that have supported various aspects of the development and improvement of higher education, as well as mobility of teachers and teaching assistants are: TEMPUS, Erasmus Mundus, Basileus, JoinEU-SEE, WUS, DAAD and others.

The Faculty of Economics was very actively involved in the preparation of project proposals for open calls of EU foundations (above all) for Tempus projects. The Faculty can pride in being engaged in 15 TEMPUS projects so far, taking on different roles. Knowledge and experience of the teachers and teaching assistants of the Faculty of Economics, intensive cooperation with other universities/faculties in the country and abroad enabled the Faculty to be the coordinator of two extremely important international TEMPUS projects, related to the reform of higher education with regard to Bachelor and Master studies in the field of Economics and Management, in line with the Bologna Process:

TEMPUS project in which the University of Kragujevac was both grant holder and project coordinator, and the project manager was professor of the Faculty of Economics:

  • JP 145010-2008 – Development of Lifelong Learning Framework in Serbia, project manager: Prof. Verica Babic, PhD.

Furthermore, the Faculty of Economics of the University of Kragujevac has participated in different ways in the following Tempus projects:

TEMPUS projects where grant holders were universities from the European Union, and the University of Kragujevac – Faculty of Economics was the project coordinator:

  • JEP CD 19087-2004 – Reorganization of Economics Studies in Serbia, project manager: Prof. Zora Arsovski, PhD;
  • JEP CD 41146-2006 Rationalization of the postgraduate studies in Business Management and Economics in Serbia, project manager: Prof. Zora Arsovski, PhD.

TEMPUS projects coordinated by the University of Kragujevac which was also the grant holder and the teachers of the Faculty of Economics were members of the project implementation teams:

  • JPHES 510985-2010- Improvement of Students’ Internship in Serbia;
  • SMGR 511126-2010 – Enhancing the quality of distance learning at Western Balkan higher education institutions.

TEMPUS project whose grant holder was university from the European Union, the University of Kragujevac was the coordinator of the project, and the teachers of the Faculty of Economics were participants in the project:

  • JEP – 16156- 2001 Computer Science Curricula Founding and Upgrading.

TEMPUS projects whose grant holders were universities of the European Union, the University of Kragujevac was project partner, and teaching staff of the Faculty of Economics were members of the project implementation teams:

  • JEP CD 16098-2001 – Building of the Network for the Further Development of the Small and Medium Size enterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Yugoslavia;
  • JEP CD 17040-2002 – Implementing Quality Assurance in Serbian Universities;
  • C032B06-October 2006 – West Balkan Bologna Promoters Network;
  • JP 145009-2008 – Conversion Courses for Unemployed University Graduates in Serbia;
  • SM 145677-2008 – Internal Quality Assurance at Serbian Universities;
  • JP 158999-2009 – Strenghtening Quality Assurance System within Western Balkans HEIs in Support of National and Regional Planning;
  • JP 158926 – 2009 – Governance and Management Reform in Higher Education in Serbia;
  • SMGR 511332-2010- Strengthening the Student Role in Governance and Management at the Universities of Serbia in line with the Bologna Process;
  • JPCR 511366-2010-1-Reforming Foreign Language Studies in Serbia.

On the mentioned Tempus projects, partners from the Republic of Serbia were:

  • Faculty of Economics – University of Belgrade and
  • Faculty of Economics – the University of Nis,
  • Faculty of Economics in Subotica – University of Novi Sad,
  • Department of Economics – State University of Novi Pazar.

and partners from the European Union were:

  • University of Udine (Italy) – grant holder,
  • Aarhus University (Denmark),
  • University of Technology and Life Sciences in Bidgoszcz (Poland),
  • University of Craiova (Romania),
  • University of Maribor (Slovenia),
  • University of Vienna (Austria),
  • Cracow University of Economics (Poland),
  • University for Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow (Poland) and
  • Comenius University in Bratislava (Slovakia).

              

               After this very successful period, the Faculty of Economics continues to implement international projects. The new Master study program Financial Management of Public Administration was accredited in 2018, as a result of activities on the Erasmus + project Financial Management, Accounting & Controlling curricula development for capacity building of public administration (Finac), whose partner was the University of Kragujevac, and project coordinator was the University of Belgrade. Moreover, teachers of the Faculty of Economics in Kragujevac participate in the implementation of two more Erasmus+ projects – Advanced Data Analytics in Business (ADA) coordinated by the Faculty of Economics, University of Novi Sad and Implementation of Dual Education in Higher Education in Serbia (DualEdu) whose holder is the Faculty of Economics, University of Belgrade.