In two cities, ten thousand visitors are expected

Within a span of two days – on October 15 at the National and University Library in Zagreb and on October 17 at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Rijeka – this year will see the traditional ninth Scholarship Fair. A total of 79 exhibitors will present themselves to interested parties at the fair in the two cities, of which only 21 are from Croatia.

The others come from three different continents – from Austria, Estonia, France, Italy, Japan, Canada, Hungary, Germany, the USA, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
They represent very prestigious schools that regularly occupy top spots on the rankings of the best higher education institutions – such as King’s College London, the Institute of Political Studies in Paris, the TU-9 Technical Institute from Germany, and the Central European University from Hungary.

Partner Country Canada This year’s partner country at the fair is Canada, which, according to some data, attracts more than 200,000 international students annually, making it one of the most desirable destinations for foreign students in the world. Ivica Mudrinić, CEO of T-Hrvatski Telekom, Trpimir Renić, CEO of Cemex Croatia, and Josip Bašić, president of the Canadian Croatian Business Network and owner of MPG SouthEast Europe, will speak at a panel discussion at 5 PM at the Zagreb fair about their experiences studying in that country and how it has helped them achieve business success.

In addition to this panel that will take place in Zagreb, there will be various interesting events throughout the day of the fair in both cities. Among other things, there will be a round table discussing the importance of Croatia’s accession to the European Union for higher education, and the main speaker of the fair, Michael Cottrell, will give a lecture on the opportunities and challenges of internationalization. The fair thus has a pronounced component of educational policy, which is particularly highlighted by promoting public discussion on the social dimension of studying. Ahead of the fair, the Institute for the Development of Education (IRO) will present the results of a three-year international project on Financing Higher Education and the Social Dimension: Analysis and Recommendations.
These are recommendations developed by a consortium of prominent international experts and representatives of Croatian higher education institutions, state institutions, scientific institutes, student organizations, and non-governmental organizations.

The recent increase in student meal prices and the questioning of free health insurance for all students have once again brought the issue of student standards into the spotlight, and the IRO takes a clear stance in this discussion – a radical reform of the student standard system is needed.

Better Support System Radical is a good description because the IRO proposes encroaching on rights that students have considered inalienable for years – subsidies for meals, accommodation, transportation, favorable tax treatment for work under student contracts – if asked, subsidies should be abolished… The reason is simple – these subsidies are currently used by students who do not need financial assistance. Therefore, help should only be provided to those who truly need it, making the financial support system fairer and more efficient. Croatia should base its national system of financial support for students on scholarships awarded based on socioeconomic status criteria. This way, students with financial difficulties could successfully complete higher education. Concurrently, for middle-income students, the introduction of student loans with state guarantees should be considered as an additional mechanism of financial assistance.
In the existing system of financial support for students in Croatia, most financial aid is in the form of indirect support through subsidies. More than 70 percent goes to food and about 15 percent to accommodation from the total expenditures for financial support for students, which are mostly available to all regular students, while part-time students are disadvantaged. Direct support in the form of national scholarships is received by only six percent of those studying, while a system of student loans guaranteed or subsidized by the state does not exist.

– Political decisions should be based on verifiable facts, recommendations from domestic and foreign experts, and the results of consultations with all relevant stakeholders. The recommendations published by the Institute for the Development of Education are based on three studies, the result of three years of work by a team of prominent domestic and international experts in financing higher education, and all stakeholders in the higher education system in Croatia were involved in the consultation process: representatives of Croatian higher education institutions, state institutions, scientific institutes, student organizations, and non-governmental organizations. Thus, ideal conditions have been created for implementing reforms that policy must respect. The IRO considers it positive that the main recommendations of the project have been included in the draft national Strategy for Education, Science, and Technology and hopes that this will enable the implementation of future reforms – explains Ninoslav Šćukanec, Executive Director of the Institute for the Development of Education.

Many Scholarships Although it actively helps students year after year to make the most of the opportunities available to them (by assisting them in finding scholarships and preparing for studying abroad), the IRO continues to strive for policy change. Namely, if the exceptionally attended Scholarship Fair organized by them shows anything, it is that there are always many more interested in scholarships than there are scholarships available.
This should also be the case this year, as they expect about 10,000 visitors and the presentation of 8,400 scholarships. Of these,
6,400 are for studying in Croatia, while 2,000 scholarships are intended for studying abroad. The most scholarships for studying in Croatia will be presented by the Fund for Scholarships for Croatian War Veterans and Children of Croatian War Veterans, more than 3,000, while the Ministry of Science, Education, and Sports will present 2,600. The Agency for Mobility and EU Programs will present the most programs for studying abroad, around 1,900.