11th ACRU Annual Conference
Kosice, Slovakia, October 17-18, 2002
The meeting was begun at 3:00pm October 17, 2002.
Secretary General Tomas Sabol opened the meeting and then asked prof. Juraj
Sinay, rector of the Technical University of Kosice, for welcome speech. Prof.
Sinay welcomed all the participants. He mentioned also the early history of
the ACRU when he in 1993, after a meeting of the conference organized by the
Carpathian Euroregion in Poland came with the idea to establish a regional network
of universities in the Carpathian region. Prof. Sinay also handed over to the
participants honorary “Kosice passports”. On the same occasion Prof. A. Korbel
- president of ACRU, prof. L. Bukovsky, prof. A. Nagy, prof. G. Heltai were
awarded by Rector of the Technical University of Kosice a bronze medal of the
Technical University of Kosice.
After introduction of all members present at the meeting, it was concluded
that 11 ACRU member universities are represented at the meeting and that there
are four justified absences (confirmed by emails, personal announcement). It
meant that the General Council was deemed to be constituted, since according
to the Constitution (Article 10, paragraph 6) justified absences are not taken
into account for deciding the quorum.
Prof. L. Bukovsky, the former rector of the University of P.J. Safarik in Kosice
and former chairman of the Accreditation Committee of the Slovak Republic gave
a presentation on the new Act on Higher Education in Slovakia and some current
issues in higher education in Slovakia.
Tomas Sabol delivered a presentation on activities and events organized by
ACRU since 10th ACRU Annual Conference in 2001 till September 2002. The Secretary
General informed the participants about the third phase of the training project
“Management of Continuing Education” organized in cooperation with the Kennesaw
State University, Georgia, US. The third part of the training was organized
by the Technical University of Kosice in May 2002. Tomas Sabol informed the
participants also about other activities and projects in the past period of
time, which may be of interest for ACRU members (e.g. IST-1999-29088 Project
PRISMA, http://www.prisma-eu.net in which
TU Kosice is involved; AFANET Hermes Project organized by Szent István University,
Gödöllö, Hungary etc.).
The representatives of the ACRU member universities, who took part in the 11th
ACRU Annual Conference, accepted the Activity and Financial report as presented
by the Secretary General, Tomas Sabol.
Prof. A. Korbel, president of ACRU, in his contribution emphasized the role
of ACRU especially in the current era of EU accession by some of the ACRU states,
development of the new concept of European Research Area, preparation of the
6th Framework Programme and in general emphasis of EU on the topic of regional
development and cross-border cooperation. He mentioned also the potential role
of ACRU in the accreditation process and mutual recognition of study branches.
ACRU representatives also discussed PhD student mobility grants. Applications
for these grants can be submitted to Secretary General via Country Coordinators.
- Workshop „Development of Tourism in Carpathian region”. Target group: lecturers, senior and PhD students. Contact person: Dr. Gejza Timcak, TU Kosice, Gejza.Timcak@tuke.sk
- Workshop “Regional Development in Carpathian Region. Contact person: Dr. Oto Hudec, Oto.Hudec@tuke.sk
- Workshop „Challenge of Bologna declaration“, University of Miskolc, prof. Aladar Nagy, rektno@gold.uni-miskolc.hu
- Results of „European study centers“, University of Miskolc, prof. Aladar Nagy, rektno@gold.uni-miskolc.hu
- Experience in organization/preparation of MBA courses, Szent István University, prof. J. Molnar, palfalvy@gikk.szie.hu
- Workshop „Environmental protection“, Szent István University, prof. G. Fuleky, palfalvy@gikk.szie.hu , Military University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland, ireneusz_winnicki@poczta.onet.pl
- Workshop „Creation of Regional network of life-long learning“, Szent István University, palfalvy@gikk.szie.hu
- 55th Meeting of Chemical Societies, prof. K. Florian, Karol.Florian@tuke.sk
- Summer language camp - English, French, Spanish, German, Szent István University, palfalvy@gikk.szie.hu
A potential of cooperation within
the framework of the 6th Framework Programme is also seen as considerable.
The members were asked to use the
ACRU Web page for exchange of information about activities, workshops, and projects
organized by their universities.
It was also agreed that the election
of new President and Secretary General will take place at 12th Annual Conference
in 2003 and that Hungarian members of ACRU will propose a candidate for the
position of the ACRU President for the next cadency of two years.
Secretary General Tomas Sabol proposed
to award a honorary membership to Ms. Barbara Calhoun, Dean of Continuing Education
at Kennesaw State University, Georgia, USA for her contribution and long-term
personal commitment to ACRU mission. This proposal was approved unanimously.
Prof. A. Korbel informed the participants
that Pedagogical University, Rzeszow was merged with other universities in Rzeszow
and a new Rzeszow University was created. For that reason Pedagogical University
has withdrawn from ACRU.
The participants expressed thanks
to the Rector of the host institution prof. Juraj Sinay, as well as to prof.
Karol Florian, prof. Tomas Sabol, and Ms. Erna Beres for organization of the
Annual Conference and deep engagement in ACRU mission.
It was agreed that the next meeting
in 2003 will take place in Gödöllö, Hungary and will be organized by Szent István
University. In addition to the general meeting, a “thematic session” on regional
development will take place. The exact date will be announced by ACRU representative
of the Szent István University by the end of January 2003 at the latest.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:00am October 18, 2002.
Kosice, October 18, 2002
Prof. Andrzej Korbel
President of ACRU
Tomas Sabol
Secretary General of ACRU
11th ACRU Annual Conference , Kosice, Slovakia, October 17-18, 2002
Present ACRU universities and their representatives:- University of Technology in Kosice, Kosice, Prof. Karol Florian, Vice-Rector
- University of P.J. Safarik, Kosice, prof. Lev Bukovsky
- Technical University of Lublin, Lublin, prof. T. Janowski
- University of Mining and Metallurgy, Krakow, prof. Andrzej Korbel, Vice-Rector
- University of Miskolc, Miskolc, prof. Aladar Nagy, Vice-rector
- Military University of Technology, Warsaw, prof. I. Winnicki
- University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Ms. Krisztina Molnar
- Szent István University, Godollo, prof. G. Heltai
- Uzhgorod State University, Uzhgorod, prof. J. Rubish
- Ivano-Frankivsk State Technical Oil and Gas University, Ivano-Frankivsk, prof. V. Vekeryk
