The Department in the Local and Academic Community

DPRD faculty maintains close contacts with international organisations, national and local authorities as well as with various other local organizations (Development Agencies, Research etc.) The cooperation between these organizations and the department establishes opportunities for practical training for the students and graduates of the department.

The faculty members of DPRD have established strong relations with European and international Institutions. The majority of them have graduated from Universities of the United Kingdom, France, Germany and USA and completed Ph.D. programs in these countries. They keep up with research and applications in their fields, publish in scientific journals and books and maintain personal relationships by inviting speakers or recommending students of DPRD to foreign graduate programs.

The European and international dimension of the DPRD is enriched by the substantial number of invited speakers that give lectures and seminars to students of the undergraduate and postgraduate programs. Moreover, the Depart-ment is involved in a series of research programs with broader European and International content, funded by the EU or other foreign Institutions. Most of these programs have an international orientation.

The European and international dimension of the DPRD is further enhanced with the South-East European Development Centre (SEED). SEED is established as an interdisciplinary research and policy analysis centre and intends to contribute to the planning, analysis and evaluation of development policies applied to the less advanced regions of Europe. In this respect, the research teams of SEED aim to approach the development issues of the region in a multi-national and multi-disciplinary way, presenting reports and policy recommendations to appropriate policy bodies, such as international organizations and governments. DPRD is also a member of the Scientific Committee for the Mediterranean – Balkan postgraduate and doctoral program and co-operates with IAM-Montpellier, Hassan II-Rabat and Universite de Caire, under the EU’s NECTAR Program.

Finally, the University of Thessaly hosts the 3rd cycle of seminars of Mediterranean-Balkan doctoral program specialized in spatial analysis and applied cartography and the Network of Balkan Demographers (DEMOBALK). DPRD faculty is in close co-operation with the following institutions:

Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia
National Center for Regional Development and Housing Policy, Sofia
Georgia Institute of Economy and Management, Sofia
Institute of Labour, Tirana
University of Korca, Albania
University of Tirana
St. Kyril and Methodious Univerisity, Skopje
University of Belgrade
University of Bucharest
University of Zagreb
University of Sarajevo
University of Banja-Luka
Institute of Social Sciences, Beograd
Bucharest Institute of Geography
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Eberhard-Karls University, Tuebingen, Germany
Obseratoire Demographique European, Paris
Institut National d’ Etudes Demographiques, Paris
Fondation pour le Progres de l’ Homme-FPH, Paris
Institute of Higher Agronomic Studies, Montepelier (IAM)
Fatih University, Instanbul
University of Newcastle
London School of Economics (LSE)
University of World Economy, Sofia

The European University Programs of ERASMUS provide another type of co-operation with the European academic community. Students spend a semester abroad and they are partly financed by the EC, the Department and the University through a special scholarship. DPRD is participating since 1997-98 in several of these programs, which involve student and faculty exchange with the following Universities:

ERASMUS

Bulgaria

University of National and World Economy – www.unwe.acad.bg
University of Architecture, Civil Engineering & Geodesy- www.uacg.bg

France

Université d’Artois – www.univ-artois.fr
Université d’Avignon et les Pays de Vaucluse – www.univ-avignon.fr
Université Montesquieu, Bordeaux IV- www.u-bordeaux4.fr
Université Blaise Pascal, Clermont II – www.univ-bpclermont.fr
Université de Corse Pascal Paoli – www.univ-corse.fr
Université du Maine – www.univ-lemans.fr
Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier – www.iamm.fr
Université d’Orleans – www.univ-orleans.fr
Université François Rabelais, Tours – www.univ-tours.fr
Université de Toulouse I – www.univ-tlse1.fr
Ecole Nationale Superiere d’Architecture de Strasbourg – www.strasbourg.archi.fr