{"id":32295,"date":"2026-05-13T14:53:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/?p=32295"},"modified":"2026-05-14T14:28:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T12:28:19","slug":"irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/","title":{"rendered":"Irena Petru\u0161i\u0107, PhD, at the Regional Conference \u201cShaping the Future of Higher Education in the Western Balkans\u201d in Skopje"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-lead-text mb-40 lg:mb-60 lg:-mt-[8rem]\">\n  <p class=\"font-serif text-xl sm:text-2xl leading-normal\">The regional conference titled \u201cShaping the Future of Higher Education in the Western Balkans\u201d was held in Skopje on 26 and 27 March 2026, bringing together key stakeholders from the fields of higher education, public policy, and business from across the Western Balkans region and beyond.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"mb-10 text-base leading-normal\">\n  \nThe conference was co-organised by the Regional Cooperation Council and the World Bank under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Science of North Macedonia. Representing the Agency for Science and Higher Education (ASHE), the conference was attended by Irena Petru\u0161i\u0107, PhD, Deputy Director.<br><br>Irena Petru\u0161i\u0107, PhD, participated in the panel discussion titled <em>\u201cMaking Internationalisation Work \u2014 Quality, Governance and Financing\u201d<\/em>, which explored how quality assurance, inter-institutional cooperation, and recognition systems contribute to more effective internationalisation of higher education. The discussion covered topics such as accreditation and comparable standards enabling international recognition, cooperation among national quality assurance agencies, governance models supporting institutional collaboration, and data systems facilitating graduate mobility and policy alignment.<br>\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"mb-10 text-base leading-normal\">\n  \nThe introductory presentation was delivered by Roberta Malee Bassett, while the panel was moderated by Koen Martijn Geven. The panelists included Patrick Van den Bosch, Irena Petru\u0161i\u0107, Technological University Dublin representative Ellen Hazelkorn, and Ninoslav S\u0107ukanec Schmidt.<br>\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"mb-10 text-base leading-normal\">\n  \nDuring the two-day programme, participants had the opportunity to engage in high-level discussions and exchange practical experiences through various formats. The event included a ministerial round table dedicated to global competitiveness and alignment with European standards, as well as a series of thematic panels.<br>\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"mb-10 text-base leading-normal\">\n  \nOne of the key outcomes of the conference was the drafting of a regional strategic document, which will serve as guidance for future steps and the further development of higher education policies in the region following the conclusion of the event.<br>\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n<p class=\"mb-10 text-base leading-normal\">\n  \nThe conference brought together representatives of ministries, the academic community, researchers, business sector representatives, international organisations, experts, and students, reaffirming the importance of joint action in shaping a sustainable and competitive future for higher education in the Western Balkans.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-multimedia my-40 lg:my-60\">\n\n      <figure class=\"\" aria-label=\"Slika\">\n              <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/wp-azvo-files\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Panel-3_dr.-sc.-Irena-Petrusic-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"object-cover\"\/>\n                <\/figure>\n  \n  \n  \n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The conference was co-organised by the Regional Cooperation Council and the World Bank under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Science of North Macedonia. Representing the Agency for Science and Higher Education (ASHE), the conference was attended by Irena Petru\u0161i\u0107, PhD, Deputy Director. Irena Petru\u0161i\u0107, PhD, participated in the panel discussion titled \u201cMaking &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31801,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[135],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Irena Petru\u0161i\u0107, PhD, at the Regional Conference \u201cShaping the Future of Higher Education in the Western Balkans\u201d in Skopje - AZVO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Irena Petru\u0161i\u0107, PhD, at the Regional Conference \u201cShaping the Future of Higher Education in the Western Balkans\u201d in Skopje - AZVO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The conference was co-organised by the Regional Cooperation Council and the World Bank under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Science of North Macedonia. Representing the Agency for Science and Higher Education (ASHE), the conference was attended by Irena Petru\u0161i\u0107, PhD, Deputy Director. Irena Petru\u0161i\u0107, PhD, participated in the panel discussion titled \u201cMaking &hellip; Continued\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AZVO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-13T12:53:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-14T12:28:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/wp-azvo-files\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Panel-3_dr.-sc.-Irena-Petrusic-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Silvija Vrgo\u010d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Silvija Vrgo\u010d\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/\",\"name\":\"Irena Petru\u0161i\u0107, PhD, at the Regional Conference \u201cShaping the Future of Higher Education in the Western Balkans\u201d in Skopje - AZVO\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/wp-azvo-files\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Panel-3_dr.-sc.-Irena-Petrusic-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-13T12:53:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-14T12:28:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/#\/schema\/person\/2f3c3632114c142cb842ebdca7cdd899\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/wp-azvo-files\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Panel-3_dr.-sc.-Irena-Petrusic-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/wp-azvo-files\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Panel-3_dr.-sc.-Irena-Petrusic-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Po\u010detna stranica\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Irena Petru\u0161i\u0107, PhD, at the Regional Conference \u201cShaping the Future of Higher Education in the Western Balkans\u201d in Skopje\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/\",\"name\":\"AZVO\",\"description\":\"Agencija za znanje i visoko obrazovanje\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/#\/schema\/person\/2f3c3632114c142cb842ebdca7cdd899\",\"name\":\"Silvija Vrgo\u010d\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7da71408607ca6b08d04229f23cfdc2f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7da71408607ca6b08d04229f23cfdc2f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Silvija Vrgo\u010d\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Irena Petru\u0161i\u0107, PhD, at the Regional Conference \u201cShaping the Future of Higher Education in the Western Balkans\u201d in Skopje - AZVO","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Irena Petru\u0161i\u0107, PhD, at the Regional Conference \u201cShaping the Future of Higher Education in the Western Balkans\u201d in Skopje - AZVO","og_description":"The conference was co-organised by the Regional Cooperation Council and the World Bank under the auspices of the Ministry of Education and Science of North Macedonia. Representing the Agency for Science and Higher Education (ASHE), the conference was attended by Irena Petru\u0161i\u0107, PhD, Deputy Director. Irena Petru\u0161i\u0107, PhD, participated in the panel discussion titled \u201cMaking &hellip; Continued","og_url":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/","og_site_name":"AZVO","article_published_time":"2026-05-13T12:53:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-14T12:28:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/wp-azvo-files\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Panel-3_dr.-sc.-Irena-Petrusic-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Silvija Vrgo\u010d","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Silvija Vrgo\u010d","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/","url":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/","name":"Irena Petru\u0161i\u0107, PhD, at the Regional Conference \u201cShaping the Future of Higher Education in the Western Balkans\u201d in Skopje - AZVO","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/wp-azvo-files\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Panel-3_dr.-sc.-Irena-Petrusic-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-13T12:53:25+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-14T12:28:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/#\/schema\/person\/2f3c3632114c142cb842ebdca7cdd899"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/wp-azvo-files\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Panel-3_dr.-sc.-Irena-Petrusic-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/wp-azvo-files\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Panel-3_dr.-sc.-Irena-Petrusic-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/2026\/05\/13\/irena-petrusic-phd-at-the-regional-conference-shaping-the-future-of-higher-education-in-the-western-balkans-in-skopje\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Po\u010detna stranica","item":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Irena Petru\u0161i\u0107, PhD, at the Regional Conference \u201cShaping the Future of Higher Education in the Western Balkans\u201d in Skopje"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/","name":"AZVO","description":"Agencija za znanje i visoko obrazovanje","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/#\/schema\/person\/2f3c3632114c142cb842ebdca7cdd899","name":"Silvija Vrgo\u010d","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7da71408607ca6b08d04229f23cfdc2f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7da71408607ca6b08d04229f23cfdc2f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Silvija Vrgo\u010d"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32295"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32295"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32335,"href":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32295\/revisions\/32335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azvo.hr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}