Gödöllö, Hungary, October 16-18, 2003
The meeting was begun at 9:00am October 17, 2003.

The welcome speech was delivered by prof. J. Molnar, Vice-rector of the Szent István University, Gödöllö. Then prof. A. Korbel, president of ACRU opened the ACRU Annual Conference 2003 and emphasized the role ACRU could play in the future, especially in connection with EU enlargement in 2004.

After introduction of all members present at the meeting, it was concluded that 7 ACRU member universities are present, and there are 13 justified absences (University of Veterinary Medicine Kosice, University of P.J. Safarik in Kosice, Military Aviation Academy from Kosice, Military University of Technology Warsaw, Rzeszow University of Technology, Lviv Polytechnic State University, Lviv Academy of Commerce, Uzhgorod State National University, Uzhgorod Institute of Information Science, Economics and Law, Kolomiya College of Law and Business, Ivano-Frankivsk State Technical Oil and Gas University, Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj Napoca, University of Petrosani). 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.

Tomas Sabol gave a presentation on activities and events organized by ACRU since the 11th ACRU Annual Conference in 2002 till September 2003. The Secretary General informed the participants about other activities and projects in the past period of time, which may be of interest to ACRU members (e.g. IST-1999-29088 Project “Best eEurope Practice (BEEP)”, www.beep-eu.org in which TU Kosice was involved). Tomas Sabol presented also a financial report since the previous Annual Conference.

The representatives of the ACRU member universities, who took part in the 12th ACRU Annual Conference, accepted the Activity and Financial report as presented by the Secretary General. Tomas Sabol presented also some ideas as proposals for future ACRU activities. He also asked the national coordinators to nominate new members of the Auditing Committee on behalf of their countries by the end of 2003.

Ms. Beata Palfalvy informed the participants that after successful NATO Conference in 2003 it was agreed that a similar NATO Conference will be organized also in 2004. She has also informed about universities from Romania and Slovenia who would be interested to enter the ACRU. The ACRU representatives present have again discussed the issue of PhD student mobility grants. Applications for these grants can be submitted to Secretary General via National Coordinators.

Possibility to support participation of representatives of ACRU member universities in scientific and educational events organized by other ACRU members has been mentioned and generally agreed. As priority areas for future activities regional development, cross border cooperation and implementation of Bologna declaration were explicitly mentioned. Prof. A. Nagy pointed out that especially cohesion policy of EU is relevant for the ACRU mission. Prof. A. Korbel and prof. W. Stepniewski presented the idea of organising joint international courses (e.g. on Environmental protection), and creating a structure among member universities (e.g. similar to the model of UN University) organising international courses, supporting mobility and economic development within the region.

The General Council approved the change of the annual membership fee, it was set to 700 EUR per year per institution.

Based on expressed interest (Vice-rector prof. Sagan present), the University of Rzseszow was approved as a ACRU member.

The members were asked to use the ACRU Web page for exchange of information about activities, workshops, and projects organized by their universities.

Prof. A. Nagy was presented as a candidate of Hungarian members of the ACRU for the position of the ACRU President for the next cadency of two years. ACRU representatives approved unanimously prof. A. Nagy for the position of the ACRU President. The newly elected President then thanked to prof. A. Korbel and to Dr. Tomas Sabol for all the work they done for ACRU in the previous cadency. Prof. A. Nagy proposed Dr. Tomas Sabol for the position of Secretary General. The proposal was approved by all ACRU representatives present. Tomas Sabol suggested Ms. Erna Beres for the position of the Assistant to Secretary General taking over a part of the executive tasks as well as administrative and economic agenda.

Both prof. A. Korbel as a former ACRU President and Tomas Sabol were awarded with honourary membership of ACRU for their contribution to the ACRU mission.

The participants expressed thanks to the Rector of the Szent Istvan University, as well as to Ms. Beata Palfalvy and prof. G. Heltai for organization of the Annual Conference.

It was agreed that the next meeting in 2004 will take place in Romania and will be organized by the University of Oradea. The exact date will be announced by ACRU representative of the University of Oradea by the end of January 2004 at the latest.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:00pm October 17, 2003.

Godollo, October 17, 2003
Prof. Aladar Nagy
President of ACRU
Tomas Sabol
Secretary General of ACRU

12th ACRU Annual Conference
Gödöllö, Hungary, October 16-18, 2003