History of the Regional Platform Events
2012 September 26, Dubrovnik, Centre for Advanced Academic Studies of the University of Zagreb – Regional Platform has been launched on the occasion of Regional Strategic Forum, as a descendant of the mature phase of ‘Novi Sad Initiative’, in association with an EC funded STREW project 511355-TEMPUS-1-2010-1-RS-TEMPUS-SMHES,
2013 June 19-20, Novi Sad, Leopold Hotel – Inaugural meeting of the Regional Pathfinder Group, for automatic recognition of comparable academic degrees, established under the auspices of the Regional Platform and Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport.
2013 September 27-28, Dubrovnik, Centre for Advanced Academic Studies of the University of Zagreb – Joint meeting of EC and Regional Pathfinder Group to pave a path for integrated implementation of the accreditation, qualification framework and recognition of qualifications.
2014 June 30, Ljubljana, Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport - First meeting of the Platform Council, after the end of the STREW Project life.
- The statuary document in English (Articles of Association), Platform Action Plan for 2014; Platform governance structure, model of operation of the Regional Platform and establishment of permanent regional Office in Dubrovnik, at the Centre of Advanced Academic Studies of the University of Zagreb, have been agreed and adopted.
- The Council elected the following persons to act as the Platform leadership: Prof. Stane Pejovnik, rector of the University of Ljubljana has been elected as the President of the Platform Council; Mr. Arbjan Mazniku, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Education and Sport.
- Albania, has been elected as the Vice-President of the Platform Council; Prof. Aleksa Bjeliš, Rector of the University of Zagreb has been elected as the Chairperson of the Platform Executive Board; Prof. Melita Kovacević, Vice-Rector of the University of Zagreb has been elected as the Head of Regional Platform Office; Prof. Ladislav Novak, University of Novi Sad has been elected as the Coordinator of the Platform.
- The Council has authorised Platform leadership to initiate the procedure for registration of the Platform in Croatia, according to the Croatian legislation (Croatian Statute), in association with the establishment of permanent Regional Office in Dubrovnik at the Centre of Advanced Academic Studies of the University of Zagreb.
- For the full membership each Platform Founder has to submit letters of confirmation of the membership to the Platform signed by the authorised person.
- The Council decided to invite a number of International organisations to participate in the Platform Advisory Board.
2014 September 3, Dubrovnik – Regional Platform has been registered as a legal entity in Croatia, with Croatian Statute and permanent Office in Dubrovnik, Don Frana Bulića 4.
2015 June 7, Andrevlje, Hotel CEPTOR (Fruska Gora near Novi Sad) – Second meeting of the Platform Council.
- An outline of the Regional Platform Activity Plan for 2015-2018 and amendments to the statuary document (Articles of Association) have been agreed.
- The Council agreed to focus Platform activities for the period 2015-2018 on doctoral studies and quality of doctoral degrees.
2015 October 27, Zagreb, Rectorate of the University of Zagreb - Third meeting of the Platform Council and Regional Conference on Practice and Standards in Doctoral Studies and Quality of Doctoral Degrees.
- Minutes of the Andrevlje Meeting 15 – 17 June 2015 and amendments to the statuary document (Articles of Association) agreed on Anrevlje meeting 7 June 2015 have been discussed and adopted.
- “Comparative Analysis of the Practice in Doctoral Studies in the Region” have been presented and discussed.
- Platform Action Plan for 2015-2018 and document on “Quality Code for the Doctoral Degree”, discussed and adopted as strategic documents.
- Prof. Damir Boras, rector of the University of Zagreb has been elected as new Chair Person of the Executive Board.
2016 March 2, Belgrade, University of Belgrade - First Meeting of the Platform Task Force Group (University of Belgrade, University of Ljubljana and University of Zagreb).
- As the first step in the course of establishment of a Circle of Trust in Doctoral Degree, the Group discussed, and drafted first version of standards for inclusion of external pre-reviewers, external mentors and external committee members in the Pool of International Experts for Doctoral Studies.
2016 June 13, Ljubljana, University of Ljubljana - Second Meeting of the Platform Task Force Group.
- The participants reaffirmed the criteria for the inclusion of external pre-reviewers, external
mentors and external committee members in the Pool of International Experts for Doctoral Studies,
agreed at the Belgrade meeting of the Task Force Group on 2 March, 2016.
- They also agreed that based on the above criteria, each university participating in the Task Force
Group shall sets up its own list of the best experts and collectively create an embryo of the Platform
database of Regional experts. Each university in the Region can also contribute, based on the agreed criteria.
- Each university in the Region can request expert from the Platform experts’ database to act as
commission member, mentor, co-mentor, visiting professor at doctoral study, etc.
2017 March 3, Ljubljana, University of Ljubljana - Fourth meeting of the Platform Council.
- The Council agreed with the proposal of the Platform Task Force Group that members of the Group shall create an embryo of the expert’s list, based on the standards proposed by the Group. Every other university can also contribute to the expert’s list on the basis of the same standards. The Council also recommended that the expert’s list shall be accessible from the Platform website, which will be launched at the University of Zagreb.
- The part of the Platform Action Plan for 2017 has been fully reaffirmed and approved. The amendments to the Croatian Statute has also approved.
- Platform funding was also in the focus of discussion. The Slovenian Minister has promised to financially support Platform project activities and cover a part of expenses related to Platform Office in Dubrovnik and the redesign of Platform website.
- Prof. Stanislav Pejovnik has announced that he can no longer remain at the position of President of the Platform Council due to his other obligations and he proposed that prof. Ivan Svetlik step in until the regular elections in 2018. Prof. Svetlik agreed with this proposal and that was approved by the Council.
2017 July 3, Zagreb, University of Zagreb - Meeting of the Platform Executive Board.
- The participants reaffirmed action plan for 2017 and discussed details in the course of realisation of this Plan including redesign of Platform website at the University of Zagreb domain.
- The vacancy of the position of Platform Vice – President has been discussed. The Executive Board agreed to invite representative of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development to apply for the position.
2018 April 23, Belgrade, Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development – Trilateral meeting of representatives of the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport Slovenia, the representative of Regional Platform and the representatives of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development.
- The participants agreed on the text of Political Document of the Regional Ministerial Conference scheduled to take place in Ljubljana in June 2018. However this Ministerial Conference was postponed for 2019 because of unexpected change of the Slovenian government.
2018 June 6, Ljubljana, Regional Ministerial Conference with the working title: Regional Ministerial Conference on Benchmarking and Cooperation in Higher Education and Research, hosted by the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport Slovenia - Postponed for 2019.
2019 February, Mostar, University of Mostar - Meeting of the Platform Executive Board.
- The participants discussed agenda of the next meeting of the Platform Council to take place in Belgrade including pending activity of the 2018 action plan and the vacancy of the positions of the president of Platform Council, Chairperson of the Platform Executive Board and Coordinator of the Platform.
- The Executive Board agreed to invite a number of universities to join the Platform as affiliates.
Participants of the Platform Council meeting held in Belgrade on 14 June 2019.
- Re-elected Prof. Ivan Svetlik for the President of the Platform Council, Prof. Damir Boras for the Chairperson of the Executive Board and Prof. Ladislav Novak for the Platform Coordinator, for the period of 4 years, on the recommendation of the Platform Executive Board.
- Discussed and adopted Platform Action Plan for 2020 – 2022
- Granted the affiliate status to the University of Graz and University of Rijeka
Minutes - Ljubljana June 2014 - First Meeting of the Platform Council
Minutes - Andrevlje June 2015 - Second Meeting of the Platform Council
Minutes - Zagreb October 2015 - Conference and collocated Third Meeting of the Platform Council
Minutes - Belgrade March 2016 - First Meeting of the Task Force Group
Minutes - Ljubljana June 2016 - Second Meeting of the Platform Task Force Group
Minutes - Ljubljana March 2017 - Fourth Meeting of the Platform Council
Minutes - Zagreb July 2017 - Meeting of the Platform Executive Board
Minutes - Mostar February 2019 - Meeting of the Platform Executive Board
Minutes - Belgrade, June 2019 - Fifth Meeting of the Platform Council
