CEEPUS
Exchange of students and teachers at the universities of Central and South-Eastern Europe with scholarships that comply with the standard of living in the countries involved in the programme
The Central European Exchange Programme for University Studies (CEEPUS) supports the mobility of teachers and undergraduate, graduate, postgraduate and doctoral students. The core of the programme is CEEPUS networks (Partnerships of related higher education institutions), comprising at least 3 higher education institutions from at least three CEEPUS participating countries.
Students gaining mobility under CEEPUS are exempt from the payment of tuition fees at a foreign higher education institution.
The national CEEPUS office of the receiving country grants a scholarship and the receiving higher education institution provides for the realisation of the professional part of the programme. On average, more than 500 students and teachers from Croatia go to mobility through CEEPUS per year, while more than 450 scholarship holders come to Croatian higher education institutions.
Opportunities
Opportunities for students and teachers
Students: scholarships for regular semester activities are awarded for a minimum of 3 months and a maximum of 10 months.
Short term students: shorter stays are only be permitted for students working on their theses or dissertations (Master- or PhD-students).
Short Term Excursions and Summer Schools which may be shorter than a month and may also be attended by undergraduates.
Teacher: all teachers applying for mobility are advised to apply only under this category regardless of the duration of mobility
Financing
Scholarship rates differ depending on the type of mobility and duration of mobility. Scholarship rates can be found at the official CEEPUS website.
Open calls for the incoming mobility at Croatian institutions
Call for the network mobility* during the summer term of 2021/2022 is currently OPEN, with the deadline until 31 October.
Please contact your CEEPUS coordinator at your Host Institution or your National CEEPUS Office for further information. The contacts are available at the offical CEEPUS website.
*Network mobility refers to the mobility between instititions which are part of the same CEEPUS network. The full list of the Croatian institutions invloved in CEEPUS networks during the academic year 2021/2022 will be published by 15 April each year.
Call for the freemover mobility** during the summer term of 2021/2022 is currently OPEN, with the deadline until 30 November.
Please contact your National CEEPUS Office for further information. The contacts are available at the offical CEEPUS website.
**Freemover mobility refers to the mobility from any higher edicucation institution which is eligible for CEEPUS in your home country, to any institution which is eligible for CEEPUS in Croatia. Please, contact your home National CEEPUS Office in order to check whether your institution is eligible for CEEPUS (by clicking the flag of your country at www.ceepus.info).
Information for students and teachers
In order to be better prepared for your mobility in Croatia, please read some practical information for students and teachers
Practical information for students
CEEPUS is based on CEEPUS networks that consist of a minimum of three participating units. For the list of approved networks and their participating units, please refer to http://www.ceepus.info/public/network/network_info.aspx.
There are two types of mobility: mobility inside CEEPUS networks (network mobility) and mobility outside CEEPUS networks (freemovers).
Within the CEEPUS programme, scholarships are available for two categories of students: semestral students (minimum of 3 months and a maximum of 10 months in one cycle) and doctoral students who are working on their thesis (shorter stays are allowed).
Mobility within the networks is a priority. There are two application rounds for network mobilities: 15 June and 31 October. Freemover applications are processed only after all the network mobilities have been awarded and the deadline for freemover applications is 30 November.
Scholarship rates for students in Croatia
- Undergraduates and graduates: 1.300,00 HRK (free accommodation and subsidized meals)
- PhD students: 1.500,00 HRK (free accommodation and subsidized meals)
How do I apply for CEEPUS mobility?
Within the CEEPUS programme, scholarships are available for two categories of students: semestral students (minimum of 3 months and a maximum of 10 months in one cycle) and doctoral students who are working on their thesis (shorter stays are allowed).
There are two types of mobility: mobility inside CEEPUS networks or network mobility and mobility outside CEEPUS networks or freemovers.
Network Mobility
If your home institution participates in one or more CEEPUS networks we advise you to first contact the CEEPUS coordinator at your home institution to enquire about the number of available scholarships, available destinations and the selection procedure. If your CEEPUS coordinator approves your scholarship, you will need to initiate the procedure of online application, described in the paragraph below.
Mobility applications are submitted online at CEEPUS website. If you have not registered on the CEEPUS website, please register with the Mobility role. After you sign in, click on the link "your mobility application", choose the academic year, click "Action" and follow the instructions. For all the further infromation and assistance in filling in your mobility application, you can contact the CEEPUS coordinator at your faculty or your local National CEEPUS Office.
If your institution is a member of a CEEPUS network, you do not have to upload any additional documents, with the exception of an Equal Status document. This document is obligatory for non-CEEPUS citizens who are enrolled at a higher education institution in a CEEPUS member country. The Equal Status document is a document proving your status of a regular student in a CEEPUS country. Your application first needs to be approved by your home institution and your home NCO. After that, the application is forwarded to the host institution and is finally accepted by the host NCO. You will receive an e-mail with the information whether your your application has been accepted or not.
The full list of the networks active in 2021./2022. with Croatian PPUs is available here.
Freemovers
If your home and/or host institution do not participate in a CEEPUS network, you can still apply for a CEEPUS scholarship. You need to follow the same procedure of online application as described in the section on Network mobility above, but you will need to upload a Letter of Acceptance from the host institution and two Letters of Recommendation from your home institution. Bear in mind that scholarships for freemovers can only be approved after all the network mobility applications have been processed. This is why freemover scholarships are usually awarded only after the 30 November for the summer semester.
Please note that grantholders awarded with a grant as freemovers are entitled to the same grant amounts as grantholders awarded through CEEPUS networks.
If you are not sure how to select right institution in Croatia, you can browse Croatian higher education institutions programs and subjects at web portal Study in Croatia.
After you have been awarded with the CEEPUS scholarship
After you have been awarded a CEEPUS scholarship you will receive an automatically generated e-mail from CEEPUS you need to accept in the CEEPUS system. During Janury (for the mobility in the summer term) or August (for the mobility in the winter term), you will receive an e-mail from the Croatian CEEPUS Office containing some general information concerning your stay in Croatia as a CEEPUS scholarship holder, together with the neccessary documentation.
Residence permit and visa information
EU CITIZENS
Mobility period shorter than 90 days
Since Croatian accession to the European Union, EU citizens are no longer obliged either to apply for the approval for temporary stay or to register their address if they are staying in the Republic of Croatia shorter than 90 days.
Mobility period longer than 90 days
EU citizens who plan to study in the Republic of Croatia for more than 90 days are obliged to apply for the registration of temporary stay for the purpose of studies (Prijava privremenog boravka za državljane članice EGP-a) - residence card. You should submit your application for the issuance of the residence card within 90 days of your arrival in Croatia at the Foreigners’ Department of the local Police Administration Office (Odsjek za strance, Policijska uprava).
Administration fee
You are exempt from paying the regular administration fee of 500,00 HRK (approximately 70,00 EUR) for granting the approval of temporary stay. However, you should pay the for cost of the issuance of the residence card in the amount of 240,00 HRK (approximately 35,00 EUR) and the duty stamp fee of 20,00 HRK (approximately 3,00 EUR).
NON-EU CITIZENS
Mobility period shorter than 90 days
Upon your arrival in Croatia, within 48 hours you have to register your address in Croatia at the Foreigners’ Office of the relevant Police Administration Office (Odsjek za strance, Policijska uprava).
For scholarship holders who are staying at student dormitories (or hotels) the address is automatically registered.
Mobility period longer than 90 days
Non-EU citizens staying in the Republic of Croatia for more than 90 days are obliged to apply for the issuance of the approval of temporary stay for the purpose of studies (dozvola boravka) within 90 days of the arrival at the Foreigners’ Office of the relevant Police Administration Office (Odsjek za strance, Policijska uprava).
Administration fee
You are exempt from paying the regular administrative fee of 500,00 HRK (approximately 70,00 EUR) for granting the approval of temporary stay. However, you should cover the cost of the issuance of the approval of temporary stay in the amount 240,00 HRK (approximately 35,00 EUR) and the duty stamp fee of 20,00 HRK (approximately 3,00 EUR).
The required documents for the residence card (EU citizens) or the approval of temporary stay (non-EU citizens):
1) EU citizens: a filled-out copy of the Application Form 1b
2) Non-EU citizens: a filled-out copy of the Application Form 1a
3) Original and a photocopy of the passport (non-EU citizens) or the identity card (EU citizens)
4) Proof of secured board and sufficient funds for living expenses in the Republic of Croatia issued by the Agency (Uvjerenje - read below)
5) One colour photograph (30 x 35 mm)
6) Proof of health insurance (see Step 4).
The Agency will prepare a proof of secured board and sufficient funds for living expenses, a document which proves that you are a scholarship holder in Croatia awarded with a CEEPUS scholarship from the Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes (so-called Uvjerenje). Upon your arrival, you can obtain it from your mentor at the host institution.Scholarship holders who are staying in Zagreb can obtain it at the Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes, Frankopanska 26, Zagreb, on any workday day between 09.00 -16.00.
The residence permit is valid during the period of the CEEPUS mobility specified in the CEEPUS Letter of Award.
Visa information
For the most current information regarding entry and visa regulations between your country and Croatia, please enquire at the national ministry of foreign affairs.
Health insurance and medical care
During your stay in Croatia you must have health insurance. For non-EU citizens health insurance is also a prerequisite for the approval of temporary stay.
Non-EU countries with health care agreements with Croatia
If there is a signed bilateral health care agreement between your home country and Croatia, ask for the bilingual form (tiskanica) to be filled in and stamped by your health insurance company. The form should then be presented at the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (http://www.hzzo.hr/en), which will issue a health insurance document valid in Croatia (bolesnički list).
Croatia has entered into agreements on social security with the following non-EU countries
participating in CEEPUS: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)
International students who have the European Health Insurance Card may use health care services upon presentation of the card and submission of the printout copy of the card, if other instructions are not given, according to the Croatian legislation in force.
Countries without health care agreements with Croatia and without the European Health Insurance Card
Students coming from the countries that do not have bilateral health care agreements with Croatia or that do not use the European Health Insurance Card are obliged to organise and cover the costs of health care services by themselves. The countries in this category in the academic year 2021/2022 are Kosovo, Albania and Moldova. We recommend that you organise travel insurance before your mobility. Any health insurance expenses for scholarship holders from these countries will not be covered by the scholarship.
Accommodation
Accommodation for students is provided upon reservation by the NCO for the dates stated in the Letter of Award. Please check the information e-mail you will receive one month prior to the arrival for more details on the location of the student dormitory. There is no need to bring bedding with you. If you are placed at the Zadar dormitory, you will need 2 photos (3x3cm) and a medical certificate from your home country proving that there are no health-related obstacles for your stay at a dorm. Zagreb dormitory also requires a medical certificate available here.
Grant payment
You can find the information on the amount of the grants awarded by the NCO Croatia at www.ceepus.info by clicking on the Croatian flag. The grant will be paid into the account of the host faculty. Your mentor at the faculty or the international relations officer will give you further information on scholarship payment.
In order to receive a grant you will need to open a giro account (žiro račun) at a Croatian bank.
1) 15 days before the arrival to Croatia at the latest you should request a Personal Identification Number (OIB) at the Central Tax Administration (Porezna uprava). Please, apply for determination and assignment of the Personal Identification Number (OIB) in advance (15 days minimum), following the new procedure which is described at the Ministry of Finance Tax Administration website.
We suggest you read carefully the procedure and submit your application at your soonest convenience. If you don’t submit your request minimally 15 days prior to the start date of your mobility you won't be able to retrieve grant funds.
Grant holders who already have OIB don't have to submit their requests again!
In Zagreb, the Central Tax Administration is at Avenija Dubrovnik 32, Zagreb, 5th floor, room 529.
In other cities, students should contact their mentor/CEEPUS coordinator at the Faculty or the International Relations Office of their Faculty for further information on the location of or find it at the Central Tax Administration.
After you obtain your OIB, you should open a bank account at a bank as specified above and provide your CEEPUS coordinator at the host institution with the account information and IBAN number as soon as possible.
Make sure you close the account before departing for your home country.
It usually takes one week after you give the account details to the host institution to get the scholarship funds, thus we recommend that you secure sufficient funds to cover your needs for at least first 10 days of your stay in Croatia.
Subsidized meals
As a CEEPUS scholarship holder, you are entitled to a student card (iksica) for two subsidised set meals (meni) a day at student cafeterias (menza). The student card is issued at your home institution.
Obligations of CEEPUS students
At the end of your stay, you should fill in Mobility Report and Letter of Confirmation online at www.ceepus.info.
Documents should then be printed and signed /stamped by the host institution. Following this, you should upload signed and stamped documents again, via CEEPUS software, at www.ceepus.info.
After you generate, fill out and print forms of both documents at www.ceepus.info, please, don't make any more changes in the forms at the website. Even the smallest change will change the QR code and you won't be able to upload documents, because the QR code will be different from the one on the printed version.
Documents should be uploaded 14 days after the end of your mobility at the latest. If you don't upload final documents in due time, your mobility won't be considered completed, thus, you will need to return grant funds to your Host Institution.
VERY IMPORTANT: as written in your Letter of Acceptance, you need to notify the National CEEPUS Office Croatia of any changes IMMEDIATELY (by the first day of the month preceding the month of your arrival), by e-mail at ceepus@mobilnost.hr. Failing to do so will mean that your accommodation and financing is not guaranteed any longer. Example: if something goes wrong and you are unable to come on the date your scholarship starts but you let us know about the change of plans, we can re-book the room. If you do not notify us about changes and you arrive later than planned, it is probable that there will be no room waiting for you and we cannot guarantee you an accommodation.
Prolongation
Deadline
If you have a justified reason to request the prolongation of your CEEPUS scholarship, you should complete the prolongation procedure at least one month prior to the expiration of your scholarship. All the prolongation requests received after this period will be automatically rejected.
Procedure
In order to have your scholarship prolonged, you should follow these steps:
1. Ask the CEEPUS coordinator/your mentor at the host institution to fill out the Prolongation Form available below.
2. Send the Prolongation Form to the NCO Croatia by email or regular mail.
3. Access the Motivation field of your online CEEPUS mobility application. Enter "Prolongation" in this field, give the reasons for the extension of your scholarship and the period you want the scholarship to be prolonged for.
4. Inform the NCO Croatia that you have done that.
Conditions of the prolongation
If the approved prolongation period is shorter than 16 days, the NCO will extend your accommodation and the validity of your student card, but it will not award you an additional monthly grant. You are only eligible for additional grants if the period you are requesting the prolongation for is longer than 17 days.
Practical information for teachers
CEEPUS networks
CEEPUS is based on CEEPUS networks that consist of a minimum of three participating units. For the list of approved networks and their participating units, please refer to www.ceepus.info.
There are two types of mobility: mobility inside CEEPUS networks (network mobility) and mobility outside CEEPUS networks (freemovers).
Mobility within the networks is a priority. There are two application rounds for network mobilities: 15 June and 31 October. Freemover applications are processed only after all the network mobilities have been awarded and the deadline for freemover applications is 30 November.
Scholarship rates for teachers
- Mobility from 5 to 15 days, minimum of 6 teaching hours per week: 2.400,00 HRK
- Mobility from 16 to 30 days, minimum of 18 teaching hours for the period from 16 days/ minimum of 6 teaching hours per week: 3.600,00 HRK
How do I apply for CEEPUS mobility as a teacher?
There are two main types of mobility in CEEPUS: mobility inside CEEPUS networks (network mobility) and mobility outside CEEPUS networks (freemovers).
Network Mobility
If your home institution participates in one or more CEEPUS networks we advise you to first contact the CEEPUS coordinator at your home institution to enquire about the number of available scholarships, available destinations, and the selection procedure. If your CEEPUS coordinator approves your scholarship, you will need to initiate the procedure of online application, described in the paragraph below.
Mobility applications are submitted online at CEEPUS website. If you have not registered on the CEEPUS website, please register with the Mobility role. After you sign in, click on the link "your mobility application", choose the academic year, click "Action" and follow the instructions. For all the further information and assistance in filling in your mobility application, you can contact the CEEPUS coordinator at your faculty or your local National CEEPUS Office.
If your institution is a member of a CEEPUS network, you do not have to upload any additional documents. Your online application first needs to be approved by your home institution and your home NCO. After that, the application is forwarded to the host institution and is finally accepted by the host NCO. You will receive an e-mail with the information on whether your application has been accepted or not.
Freemovers
If your home and/or host institution do not participate in a CEEPUS network, you can still apply for a CEEPUS scholarship. You need to follow the same procedure of online application as described in the section on Network mobility above, but you will need to upload a Letter for freemover teachers from the host institution. You can find the template of the letter below and at the bottom of your mobility desktop after you sign in at the CEEPUS webpage. Bear in mind that scholarships for freemovers can only be approved after all the network mobility applications have been processed. This is why freemover scholarships are usually awarded only after the 30 November for the summer semester.
After you have been awarded the CEEPUS scholarship
After you have been awarded a CEEPUS scholarship you will receive an automatically generated e-mail from CEEPUS. One month prior to your arrival, you will receive an e-mail from the Croatian CEEPUS Office containing some general information concerning your stay in Croatia as a CEEPUS scholarship holder, together with the necessary documentation.
Grant payment
You can find the information on the amount of the grants awarded by the NCO Croatia at www.ceepus.info by clicking on the Croatian flag. The grant will be paid into the account of the host faculty. Your mentor at the faculty or the international relations officer will give you further information on scholarship payment.
If the faculty requires you to do so, you will need to open a giro account (žiro račun) at a Croatian bank. To open your bank account you should first request a personal tax number (OIB) at the Central Tax Administration (Porezna uprava). After you obtain your OIB, you can open a giro bank account and provide the faculty with the account information.
Accommodation
Accommodation for teachers is provided upon reservation by the NCO for the dates stated in the Letter of Award. Please check the information e-mail you will receive one month prior to the arrival for more details on the location of the student dormitory. The cost of the accommodation is covered by the Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes.
Accommodation Allowance
Since not all Croatian universities have adequate accommodation capacities available for teachers, it is possible to request the payment of the accommodation allowance. The accommodation allowance is only payable if there is no adequate accommodation available. The home institution should request the payment of the accommodation allowance at least 30 days prior to the arrival of the visiting teacher. For the accommodation allowance rates, please go to the Home page of the CEEPUS website and click on the Croatian flag.
If the NCO Croatia agrees with your host CEEPUS coordinator that there is a need for the accommodation allowance, the NCO Croatia will no longer be responsible in any way for the organization of your accommodation.
Obligations of CEEPUS Teachers
According to the CEEPUS III Work Programme, faculty members shall carry a workload of at least 6 teaching or supervising hours a week (i.e. a stay of 5 workdays) at the host university, as laid down in their mobility application.
With respect to the above said, if you are applying for a teacher scholarship, in the "Motivation" section of the online application form you are obliged to specify how many hours you are planning to teach and on what topics. If there is an additional purpose for your visit, please specify that as well. If there is no sufficient information on the purpose of your visit in the Motivation field, the NCO Croatia has the right to request you to enter it or to reject your application.
At the end of your stay, you need to hand in the Teacher Report to the CEEPUS coordinator at your host institution, together with the Attendance List and/or the Supervising Report (these documents make an integral part of the Teacher Report).
You should also send a signed copy of the Confirmation Letter to our National CEEPUS Office within two weeks of your departure either scanned by email to ceepus@mobilnost.hr or by regular mail to the address of our NCO. If you need the original for your home institution as well, make sure you have two copies signed for you. Also, within two weeks of your departure, you should fill out the Mobility Report in your application on the CEEPUS page. In order to be able to fill out the Mobility Report your application should be in the status "accepted by applicant".
Procedures related to incoming CEEPUS mobility at Croatian institutions during COVID-19 pandemic
We are pleased to inform you that the procedure introduced in the academic year 2020/2021 in order to encourage and facilitate virtual, combined and physical mobility in the current epidemiological situation will be also available during the academic year 2021/2022:
Grant payment for mobility completed through distance learning/teaching from home countries
Incoming CEEPUS grant holders to Croatia who will carry out their mobility through distance learning or teaching, who will be on virtual mobility from their home countries, are entitled to 50% of the usual grant for physical mobility:
1. Students, per month 650,00 HRK
2. PhD students, per month 750,00 HRK
3. Teachers, 6 – 17 teaching hours 1.200,00 HRK
4. Teachers, 18 – 24 teaching hours 1.800,00 HRK
Please note that the mobility through distance learning first must be agreed with and confirmed by the Host Institution in Croatia!
Teacher mobility: 17 hours for the period shorter than two weeks is possible only for intensive courses (e.g. summer schools), upon agreement with NCO-HR and submission of the additional documents.
If a student mobility is a combination of virtual mobility and physical mobility, the grant will be calculated on bases of the number of months spent on virtual and physical mobility, with one month as a minimum calculation unit.
We invite CEEPUS incoming students who will opt for a virtual mobility, to consider finishing their mobility with a physical mobility, by coming to Croatia, if general epidemiological situation will allow it.
It is strongly recommended that the incoming teachers on virtual mobility include students from the host institution, as well as the students from their home institution in the same online lecture, in order to create a common virtual classroom. Incoming teachers are invited to consider this type of online teaching if courses and lectures at home and host institutions are compatible and both of the institutions have the necessary equipment.
Payment of accommodation allowance
In the academic year 2021/2022 this option is available only if there are no rooms in the student dormitories or in special occasions caused by Covid-19 epidemics.
Allowance amounts for teachers are already defined by the General and Specific Procedures for CEEPUS Implementation in Croatia:
Teachers, 5 to 15 days (6 – 12 hours of lectures) 1.400,00 HRK
Teachers, 16 to 30 days (18 – 24 hours of lectures) 2.100,00 HRK
Students, per month 2.000,00 HRK
FAQ
Contact
For further information on application deadlines and requirements for available study and research programmes feel free to contact us at:
National CEEPUS Office
Agency for Mobility and EU Programmes
Frankopanska 26
10000 Zagreb
Croatia
E-mail address: ceepus@ampeu.hr
Telephone number: +385 (0)1 555 7855