International Projects | Western Balkans University
Western Balkans University

International Projects

At Western Balkans University, we pride ourselves on our extensive involvement in international projects that foster academic excellence, innovation, and cross-border collaboration. Our participation in prestigious programs such as Erasmus+, Horizon Europe, CEEPUS, and COST enables us to engage with leading universities, research institutions, and industry partners across Europe and beyond. These projects provide our students and faculty with invaluable opportunities to contribute to cutting-edge research, enhance their educational experiences, and develop a global network of professional relationships. Through these initiatives, Western Balkans University is committed to driving forward the frontiers of knowledge and making a significant impact on the global academic community.

Erasmus+ is the EU's programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe.

It has an estimated budget of €26.2 billion. This is nearly double the funding compared to its predecessor programme (2014-2020).

The 2021-2027 programme places a strong focus on social inclusion, the green and digital transitions, and promoting young people’s participation in democratic life. It supports priorities and activities set out in the European Education Area, Digital Education Action Plan and the European Skills Agenda.

Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation. Following the Multiannual Financial Framework Midterm Review (MTR) decision, the indicative funding amount for Horizon Europe for the period 2021-2027 is EUR 93.5 billion.It tackles climate change, helps to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and boosts the EU’s competitiveness and growth.

The programme facilitates collaboration and strengthens the impact of research and innovation in developing, supporting and implementing EU policies while tackling global challenges. It supports creating and better dispersing of excellent knowledge and technologies.

It creates jobs, fully engages the EU’s talent pool, boosts economic growth, promotes industrial competitiveness and optimises investment impact within a strengthened European Research Area.

A COST Action is an interdisciplinary research network that brings researchers and innovators together to investigate a topic of their choice for 4 years. COST Actions are typically made up of researchers from academia, SMEs, public institutions and other relevant organisations or interested parties. Open to all science and technology fields, including new and emerging fields; COST Actions offer an inclusive, pan-European environment for individuals of all levels of seniority to grow their professional research networks and boost their careers.

In today’s world it is essential for research to be interconnected, interdisciplinary, collaborative and data-intensive. By focusing on networking activities, COST Actions help to advance knowledge and strengthen the research and development sector, by creating networking opportunities for researchers to meet and discuss ideas, complex problems can be addressed in a targeted way, across a large geographical area.

Academic staff involved in COST Actions:
Name Project Title Project No. Position Project Duration Project Website
PhD Cand. Brunilda Mezani Identification of biological markers for prevention and translational medicine in pancreatic cancer (TRANSPAN) CA21116 Member 2022-2026 Click here
Dr. Eldores Sula Converting molecular profiles of myeloid cells into biomarkers for inflammation and cancer (Mye-InfoBank) CA20117 Member Ends in October 2025 Click here
Dr. Eldores Sula European Network on Optimising Treatment with Therapeutic Antibodies in chronic inflammatory diseases (ENOTTA) CA21147 Member Ends in November 2026 Click here
Dr. Eldores Sula European Network for diagnosis and treatment of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections (EURESTOP) CA21145 Member Ends in October 2026 Click here
Dr. Eldores Sula The role of IMMUnity in tackling PARKinson’s disease through a Translational NETwork (IMMUPARKNET) CA21117 Member Ends in September 2026 Click here
Dr. Eldores Sula Identification of biological markers for prevention and translational medicine in pancreatic cancer (TRANSPAN) CA21116 Member Ends on October 2026 Click here
Dr. Ana Uka Connecting Theory and Practical Issues of Migration and Religious Diversity (COREnet) CA20107 Management Committee Member, WG1 member and Task leader, WG 4 member, & Task leader October 2021 - October 2025 Click here
Dr. Ana Uka Maternal perinatal stress and adverse outcomes in the offspring: maximising infants´development (TREASURE) CA22114 Management Committee Member, WG 1, WG 3-Subgroup 2 - Leader, WG 4 member November 2023 - November 2027 Click here
PhD Cand. Brunilda Mezani Harmonizing clinical care and research on adrenal tumours in European countries (HARMONISATION) CA20122 Management Committee Member December 2023 – December 2025 Click here
PhD Cand. Marsida Ibro Grassroots of Digital Europe: from Historic to Contemporary Cultures of Creative Computing CA21141 Member of the WG1, WG2, and WG3 October 2022 - October 2026 Click here
PhD Cand. Marsida Ibro Computational Techniques for Tabletop Games Heritage CA22145 Member of the WG1, WG2, WG3, WG4 and WG5 October 2023 - October 2027 Click here

CEEPUS is the short form for Central European Exchange Program for University Studies and is a multilateral University exchange program in the extended Danube region based on an international Agreement. There are 15 member states who joined the current CEEPUS III agreement, each member state has a National CEEPUS Office. See list of National CEEPUS Offices.

The main activity of CEEPUS are networks of eligible universities of the CEEPUS member states operating joint programs. Within these networks CEEPUS covers mobility grants for students and teachers of those eligible universities. Since 1995 approximate 82.000 mobility applications have been awarded in the framework of our program.

CEEPUS is based on lean management. The highest-ranking decision making CEEPUS body is the Joint Committee of Ministers that meets once a year and takes all strategic decisions.