Mission statement

International Relations Office, for the period 2002-2005

The role, place and development strategy of the International Relations Office (IRO) of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek can be observed as a very important segment within the framework of the University development strategy, especially today when one of our objectives is to follow the principles of modern European universities and to become a part of the European Higher Education Area.


OFFICE
According to the University regulations, in the period 2002-2005 the IRO at the University of Osijek has a staff of three:
Head of the IRO
International Relations Officers (2)
As it is not possible to employ the staff already educated and trained for the activities and responsibilities usually carried out in IRO, the Osijek IRO employees will be educated in at partner universities which participate in the TEMPUS project "Development of International Relations Offices in Croatia" and these are:

Ruprecht –Karls University Heidelberg, Germany;
Bocconi University in Milan, Italy;
University of Bristol, UK;
University of Ghent, Belgium and
University of Groningen, Netherlands.

The training and courses within the project refer to English and German language training courses; data base and web design courses; introduction with the international relations offices, project application procedure etc.

In the forthcoming three-year period IRO should intensify its activity towards
student exchange on national and international level, co-operation with other University members, Alumni and public relations matters.

STUDENTS

It is important:
ˇ to strengthen communication with students, in terms of informing them about studying possibilities and graduate and postgraduate programmes of international institutions of higher education, helping our students in establishing first contacts with the universities abroad, collecting information of the above mentioned, offering service related to applying procedure and preparations before leaving
ˇ to intense student internships abroad, the task of IRO will be to offer
adequate programmes at international partner universities
ˇ to intense co-operation with already existing student associations at the University of Osijek (internships, joint workshops, publishing activities)
ˇ in this period student exchange should be limited only to shorter stay at universities abroad, related to for example graduation thesis elaboration. Upon ECTS introduction, it will be possible to organize longer stays abroad
ˇ to take care of guest professors and international students (registration and accommodation procedure, preparation courses etc).

FACULTIES

Our task refers to:
ˇ dissemination of information to all University members about programs and projects that are of interest for them
ˇ active involvement in the activities of University International Relations Board
ˇ organizing of English language course for University employees
ˇ joint postgraduate study programme with partner universities
ˇ establishing of Alumni activities in co-operation with faculties (data base, addresses, program of activities etc)
ˇ introduction and applying of ECTS, together with other University memebrs and partner universities
ˇ organizing of joint meetings and workshops with partner universities
ˇ EUA, DRC, CBC (cross-border-cooperation), Alps-Adriatic activities

PUBLIC RELATIONS

An important part of the IRO activities is development of public relations activity, although in the period 2002-2005 these matters would still interwine with the activities of other offices within the Rector's Office. The activity directly related to IRO refers to:
ˇ prompt dissemination of current information related to some of our responsibilities,
ˇ publishing of the International Student Guide in English, which will be available on the web too,
ˇ creation of web site, in co-operation with other offices of Rector’s Office,
ˇ new edition of "WHO IS WHO at the University of Osijek".

The Magna Charta of European Universities

The Magna Charta of the European Universities is the final result of the proposal addressed from the University of Bologna, in 1986, to the oldest European Universities. The idea of the Magna Charta was enthusiastically accepted.
During a meeting in Bologna (June 1987) the delegates of 80 European Universities elected an eight members board including: the President of the European Rectors Conference, the Rectors of the Universities of Bologna, Paris I, Leuven, Barcelona, prof. Giuseppe Caputo (University of Bologna), prof. Manuel Nunez Encabo (President of the sub-commission for Universities of the Parlamentary Assembly of the European Council).
The document, drafted in Barcelona in January 1988, will be signed by all the Rectors who are now in Bologna to celebrate the 900th Anniversary of the Alma Mater.
The aims of this document is to celebrate the deepest values of University traditions and to encourage strong bonds among European Universities. Having, anyway, this document an universal inspiration any extraeuropean University has the possibility to join it.

Professor Fabio Roversi Monaco
University of Bologna

PREAMBLE OF THE MAGNA CHARTA

The undersigned Rectors of European Universities, gathered in Bologna for the ninth centenary of the oldest University in Europe, looking forward to far-reaching co-operation between all European nations and believing that peoples and States should become more than ever aware of the part that universities will be called upon to play in a changing and increasingly international society,
Consider –
1) that at the approaching end of this millenium the future of mankind depends largely on cultural, scientific and technical development; and that this is built up in centres of culture, knowledge and research as represented by true universities;
2) that the universities' task of spreading knowledge among the younger generations implies that, in today's world, they must also serve society as a whole; and that the cultural, social and economic future of society requires, in particular, a considerable investment in continuing education;
3) that universities must give future generations education and training that will teach them, and through them others, to respect the great harmonies of their natural environment and of life itself.

The undersigned Rectors of European universities proclaim to all States and to the conscience af all nations the fundamental principles which must, now and always, support the vocation of universities.

Fundamental principles

1. The university is an autonomous institution at the heart of societies differently organized because of geography and historical heritage; it produces, examines, appraises and hands down culture by research and teaching.
To meet the needs of the world around it, its research and teaching must be morally and intellectually independent of all political authority and economic power.
2. Teaching and research in universities must be inseparable if their tuition is not to lag behind changing needs, the demands of society, and advances in scientific knowledge.
3. Freedom in research and training is the fundamental principle of university life, and governments and universities, each as far as in them lies, must ensure respect for this fundamental requirement.
Rejecting intolerance and always open to dialogue, a university is an ideal meeting-ground for teachers capable of imparting their knowledge and well equipped to develop it by research and innovation and students entitled, able and willing to enrich their minds with that knowledge.
4. A university is the trustee of the European humanist tradition; its constant care is to attain universal knowledge; to fulfil its vocation it transcends geographical and political frontiers, and affirms the vital need for different cultures to know and influence each other.

The means

To attain these goals by following such principles calls for effective means, suitable to present conditions.

1. To preserve freedom in research and teaching, the instruments appropriate to realize that freedom must be made available to all members of the university community.
2. Recruitment of teachers, and regulation of their status, must obey the principle that research is inseparable from teaching.
3. Each university must – with due allowance for particular circumstances – ensure that its students' freedoms are safeguarded, and that they enjoy conditions in which they can acquire the culture and training which it is their purpose to possess.
4. Universities – particularly in Europe – regard the mutual exchange of information and documentation, and frequent joint projects for the advancement of learning, as essential to the steady progress of knowledge.

Therefore, as in the earliest years of their history, they encourage mobility among teachers and students; furthermore, they consider a general policy of equivalent status, titles, examinations (without prejudice to national diplomas) and award of scholarships essential to the fulfillment of their mission in the conditions prevailing today.

The undersigned Rectors, on behalf of their Universities, undertake to do everything in their power to encourage each State, as well as the supranational organizations concerned, to mould their policy sedulously on this Magna Charta, which expresses the universities' unanimous desire freely determined and declared.

Bologna, 18th September 1988