Once again, I had a privilege and opportunity to visit my friends and colleagues from University of Pais Vasco and to my favorite region in Europe – Basque Country.

Thanks to Vice Dean prof. Eva Velasco I had everything arrange in a perfect manner. Eva was prompt in every aspect of my Erasmus mobility and deserves huge gratitude on my behalf. On my first day I visited Faculty of Economics and Business located in Sarriko Campus in Bilbao where I met with Vice Dean prof. Jon Charterina who was tremendously insightful about my inquiries regarding the processes of internationalization. Jon gave me interesting suggestions on how to organize and coordinate activities related to application and enrolment procedures for international students. Next day, I had a meeting at Elcano campus with prof. Eva Velasco and my colleagues prof. Ana Bilbao and prof. Irene Barainca whom I met during my previous visit to University of Pais Vasco. We discussed many aspects on how to strengthen already productive collaboration between UNIPU and EPV. More specifically we stressed out foundations for launching joint study programs in the field of sports management which is already successfully ongoing at UPV. It was a true pleasure to once again meet up with Ana and Irene after almost 10 years from my last visit to UPV.

My next visit was Faculty of Economics and Business at Alava Campus located in Vitoria Gasteiz, the capital of Basque Country. Alava Campus is beautiful urban campus located some 10 mins from historical center of Vitoria. Vice Dean prof. Cristina Lopez welcomed us along with her wonderful assistant Alessia and took us on a long tour around the campus. During this tour we could learn a lot about organization of campus life, energy sustainable infrastructure, recycling standards and above all visit an amazing university  library that has such unique history. On this tour I was accompanied with my wife Sanda Rojnic Sinkovic, current Director of the Pula Student Center, who was interested to learn about specific aspects related to student standards. Cristina and Alessia did an amazing job!

Finally, our week in Basque Country was truly productive and passed very quickly. Since my last visit the region has transformed into even more vibrant and modern centers but with lots of emphasis on environmental aspects and Euskadi tradition. Besides Bilbao and Vitoria this time we decided to visit San Sebastian, Rioja Alavesa region and charming little villages such as Getaria and Zarautz. My love and enormous respect toward Basque country is not only related to its unique culture, amazing tradition, vibrant cities, brilliant people, astonishing nature and superb gastronomy, but also to my scientific research. Due to a fact that my teaching and research background is within economic policy I can confirm that regional development policies implemented in Basque Country are among the best in the world….if not the best!

My sincere gratitude to all my friend and colleagues from UPV for their time and effort that made our stay very productive and memorable. Muchas gracias Eva, Jon, Irene, Ana, Cristina and Alessia and hope to see all you soon!!