SARAJEVO – A two-day conference on higher education ‘Building Capacity for Change in the Western Balkans’ will tomorrow open in Sarajevo at the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Secretariat. The event is organized by the RCC Secretariat, in cooperation with the Universities of Novi Sad, Sarajevo and Zagreb.

The aim of the meeting, which is the third one in a series of biannual conferences on higher education, built on the foundations laid by the Novi Sada and Dubrovnik Initiatives, is to support institutional reform in the Western Balkans by sharing the experiences of the higher education sector within the region and beyond. The participants will focus on finding ways to accelerate the convergence of the region towards European Higher Education Area and EU policy in higher education through a number of EU platforms.

The conference will gather a range of constituencies from the Western Balkans region, along with representatives of international organizations, European and regional experts involved in the creation of respective policies on higher education.

The event will be opened by Hido Biščević, RCC Secretary General. Introductory remarks will be delivered by Aleksa Bjeliš, Rector of the University of Zagreb, Faruk Čaklovica, Rector of the University of Sarajevo, and Miroslav Vesković, Rector of the University of Novi Sad.

The discussion is expected to centre around the topics of EU policy in higher education and institutional reform; the European and Regional Higher Education Area in the new decade; professionalization of public management of higher education; as well as the modalities for accelerated institutional reform in the region and for institutionalised cooperation in higher education in the Western Balkans through EU platforms.

The programme of the event is available HERE.

Journalists are invited to attend the opening of the conference on Friday, 30 October 2009, at 9.15 a.m., as well as its closing on Saturday, 31 October 2009, at 11 a.m., at the premises of the Regional Cooperation Council Secretariat, Trg Bosne i Hercegovine 1/V, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Welcome address by the RCC Secretary General, Hido Biscevic, at the Sarajevo conference on higher education in the Western Balkans is available HERE.