University of Sarajevo Professor Zdravko Grebo Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (CIS)

University of Sarajevo Professor Zdravko Grebo Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (CIS) focuses on the interdisciplinary education of new generations of local experts as well as of those from the region of Southeast Europe. As such, CIS today represents a focal meeting point for more than a hundred prominent experts (both local and international) from various academic and professional fields who joint work on development projects.

OBJECTIVES:

  • Development of local potentials and preconditions for the consolidation of democracy and rule of law, as well as acceleration of the process of European integration in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region of South-East Europe.
  • Interdisciplinary education of a new generation of experts for academic and professional positions, from a local “think-tank” base and a professional state administration to new political leadership compatible with the principles of democracy and European political and economic integration.
  • Contribution to the education reform process in Bosnia and Herzegovina through the implementation of second and third cycle studies based on Bologna standards, and the development of curricula in accordance with Western European principles.
  • Development of various programs on master level, as well as Lifelong Learning courses from various interdisciplinary fields.
  • Positioning CIS as the main hub for the interdisciplinary programs at the University of Sarajevo.

ACTIVITIES:

In order to improve the management of the CIS the following activities are envisaged:

  • the implementation of the existing programs, their financial feasibility and the advancement of the reaching process
  • The upgrade and innovation of the teaching curricula of the existing programs of the CIS as well as of their implementation
  • Introduction of new study programs from fields other than social sciences, which was primarily the case.
  • Introduction of Lifelong Learning courses from various fields and disciplines aiming towards different target groups
  • Promotion of the programs in order to attract candidates to apply to the existing programs.
  • Promotion of CIS, and therefore of the University of Sarajevo and of sciences in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The development of the CIS

The Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of the University of Sarajevo (CIPS), Bosnia and Herzegovina, became one of the organizational units of the University Chancellor Office in January 2002. The Center has existed under its previous name, the Law Center, since 1995, as a macro-project created within the Open Society Fund BiH. It has had a broad mandate to provide assistance in relation to legal issues relevant to the transition of Bosnia and Herzegovina to a democratic state, through review and reform of existing legislation and the development of a strong civil society, in order to bring BiH closer to the legal framework of the European Union. Long-term experience in this field has shown that education of young experts is one of the most important factors for successful legal, economic and social reform. With the adoption of the Statute of the University of Sarajevo in June 2013 the name of the Center has been changed to Center for Interdisciplinary Studies (CIS). With the amendments to the Statute of the University of Sarajevo from 2021, the name changed again to the University of Sarajevo Professor Zdravko Grebo Center for Interdisciplinary Studies.

Our thanks to the following partners for their support: the European Commission, Open Society Fund in BiH, Ministry of Education of the Federation of BiH, Government of the Canton of Sarajevo, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Italy, Ministry of Education of the Republic of Italy, and Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Italy, Swedish Government through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Austrian Development Cooperation implemented by WUS Austria, Office of Public Affairs of the US Embassy in Sarajevo.