Erasmus+ and Beyond: Explore Central and Southeastern Europe through the CEEPUS program
The Erasmus+ programme and other scholarship opportunities open doors for VSE students to the entire world. From study exchanges at prestigious universities to internships in international companies, students discover new cultures, languages and gain valuable experiences that enrich their academic and personal journeys. However, to gain these experiences, it is not necessary to travel to distant countries. Even in the Central and Southeastern European region, there is a great opportunity to explore cultural diversity and contribute to European integration. In the third part of our series on study abroad options, we introduce the CEEPUS program.
CEEPUS
CEEPUS (Central European Exchange Programme for University Studies) is an exchange programme for regional cooperation between universities in Central and South-Eastern Europe. Full-time students (from the end of the second semester onwards) have the opportunity to receive scholarships for short-term or semester-long study stays, short professional excursions or summer schools. This is a great opportunity to gain new experience, establish professional contacts and improve your foreign language skills. Scholarships can be obtained within university networks or individually (as a freemover). The stay can also be used to prepare a master’s thesis or dissertation.
And where can you go? Participating countries include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, Hungary, Northern Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Kosovo.
Application deadlines are usually twice a year, 15 June for winter semester stays and 31 October for summer semester stays.
More information about the programme can be found on the website here.
Student Stories
Anna Duchková (FFA, Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien - AT)
“I spent the summer semester of the academic year 2023/2024 in Vienna, where I studied at Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien as part of the Ceepus scholarship programme. I can only recommend both the city and the university with a clear conscience to anyone considering a trip to Vienna and WU. The curriculum was quite different from that of VSE, as the individual subjects were not evenly spread out over the entire semester, but were taught in blocks, and so I was always mostly focused on just one or two subjects at a certain time of the semester. There was also a strong emphasis on group work and on solving various case studies.
Of course, my stay was not only about studying, during those four months I made a lot of new friends, both among WU students and other exchange students. At the same time, I took advantage of the cultural offer of Vienna and often went to the theatre or to a concert.
I came back with new knowledge, memories and friends for life, and I say to anyone who is even a little hesitant about going somewhere as part of their studies, don’t hesitate to go!”
