VOCATIONAL MEETING: PROGRAMS FOR INTERNATIONALIZATION OF UNIVERSITY’S STUDIES AND ITS POSITIVE EFFECTS ON THE QUALITY OF THE EDUCATION

Abstract

On December 4th and 5th, 2009, the Faculty of Philosophy held a vocational meeting devoted to the five-year experience of learning exchanges and mobility between Psychology and Pedagogy and Faculty of Psychology at the University "Sapieza" in Rome, in organization with the Institute for Special Education and Rehabilitation in Skopje.
The honorary guests were Prof. Dr. Velimir Stojkovski, the rector of Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, and the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy Prof. Dr. Goran Ajdinski, who was one of the first to initiate this international exchange of university studies in 2003. Participants of the vocational meeting were both professors and students from universities out of Macedonia, Italy, and Serbia. The first day was dedicated to the presentation of works by professors who participated in this process of internationalization and mobility of university studies in the previous period. Representatives from the Faculty of Philosophy were: Dr. Zoran Kitkanj, Dr. Daniela Dimitrova-Radojichikj, Dr. Natasha Chichevska-Jovanova, Prof. Dr. Lena Damovski, Prof. Dr. Mihajlo Popovski, and Prof. Dr. Trajan Gocevski. Throughout the second day of the event students presented reports on their experience studying abroad, gave lectures, workshops, and showed their research in practice. For this there were interpreters from the Republic of Macedonia who studied abroad as part of the student exchange project at the University "Sapienza" in Rome.
This vocational meeting summarized the successful cooperation between these two universities from the past. The focus was on the positive effects of international education, involving the international movement of staff, students, education materials, and research. Acceptance of internationalization is part of a global trend that plays a necessary role in the enrichment of university education on one hand, and the development of science on the other.