West Virginia University has created a partnership with the American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first career-oriented university in the Western Balkans.

The partnership is designed to create an exchange of ideas and culture between the two universities as well as to strengthen the Balkan area, which is still recovering from the Bosnian War in the 1990s.

One of WVU’s major goals as part of its 2020 Strategic Plan for the Future is to increase global engagement through partnerships like this one.

WVU President James P. Clements and Denis Prcic, president of American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina, met at Stewart Hall on WVU’s campus last month to sign a memorandum of understanding.

American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina was founded in 2005. At its four mini-campuses in Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Tuzla and Mostar, the university offers students a variety of degree programs recognized its home nation, the European Union and Turkey. The university’s mission is to provide the best quality educational opportunities to the local Bosnian population, as well as its international students, through an exclusively English-language curriculum taught by professors who have been educated at the finest American and European universities. Excellent facilities, advanced technology and utilization of Harvard case study methodology are available at the university, which is made up of four schools spanning the areas of government, economics, technology and modern arts.

WVU is a comprehensive land-grant university located in Morgantown, W.Va., with divisional campuses in Montgomery and Keyser, W.Va.

At the signing, Clements was accompanied by Provost Michele Wheatly and Associate Provost for International Academic Affairs Michael Lastinger. Prcic was accompanied by Dr. Selmo Cikotic, dean of the university’s American School of Government and former minister of defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Mirha Mostarlic, the university’s academic coordinator.

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CONTACT: WVU Office of International Programs
304.293.6955

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