The initial coordination meeting of partner institutions gathered around the project called ERASMUS+ 2018-1-HR01-KA107-047219 was held on October 30, 2018 at the College of Applied Sciences “Lavoslav Ružička” in Vukovar. The meeting was hosted and organized by the College of Applied Sciences “Lavoslav Ružička” as the “KA107mobility project holder”.

The aim of the meeting was institutional networking and ensuring smooth implementation of the project, as well as informing partner institutions about the project, the Erasmus program itself and its structure.

The first part of the meeting included presentations of the host and partner institutions. The College of Applied Sciences “Lavoslav Ružička” in Vukovar was presented by the Project leader and College dean - Prof. Željko Sudarić Ph.D., Ms. Ana Gavran, LLM, as College Secretary, Prof. Slavica Janković Ph.D., as the ECTS coordinator, Prof. Željka Borzan Ph.D. as Head of the Department for Health Studies and ECTS coordinator, Željka Vajda Halak LLM, as Head of the Business Department and internship advisor for visiting students at the Administrative Department (as replacement Head of the Administrative Department) and Ms. Karolina Novinc, MSc App. Ecc., as Erasmus Coordinator at the College of Applied Sciences “Lavoslav Ružička” in Vukovar.

Partner institutions were then presented an overview of the Erasmus+ implementation process at the College of Applied Sciences “Lavoslav Ružička” with the results achieved so far. The meeting was attended by all partner institutions involved in the project, while our country was represented by the following academics and staff members: Prof. Dragan Ilić Ph.D., Coordinator of the Center for International Cooperation as representative of the University Business Academy in Novi Sad, Ass. Professor Jelena Lukić Ph.D., Assistant Director for International Cooperation and Prof. Dragan Vučinić Ph.D., Head of the Department for Economics and Finance, as representative of the College for Modern Business in Belgrade, Mr. Siniša Dukić, BSc Ecc., Head of the International Cooperation Office of “VITEZ” University, Prof. Radenko Udovičić Ph.D., Dean of the Herzegovina University and Teaching assistant Dževida Sulejmanović as representative of the Herzegovina University, Faculty of Social Sciences “Dr. Milenko Brkić”. All of the mentioned attendees presented their home institutions (namely, higher education institutions) involved in the KA107 project.

Prof. Ilić emphasized the importance of international cooperation and student and staff mobility programs as key factors for successful operation of the University Business Academy in Novi Sad. Prof. Ilić also stressed the importance of building strong inter-institutional linkages among project participants as well as the development of a common strategy for attracting foreign students to our academic institutions.

The second part of the meeting included a presentation of the project and implementation instructions, which consisted of key project information, project cycle, project implementation stages, as well as activities to be carried out, with emphasis on the role of project partners. A special emphasis was placed on the key elements for project implementation as expressed by the concluded inter-institutional agreements. The necessary resources for partner institutions which can ensure successful program implementation were also clearly outlined at the meeting.

At the end of the meeting, the participants agreed on the follow-up activities and necessary implementation steps. A new possibility to express interest in continuing cooperation on new mobility projects within the Erasmus + program for 2019 was also announced.