9th ASECU General Assembly Was Held at the University

UNWE hosted the 9^th General Assembly of the Association of Southeast European and Black Sea Economic Universities /ASECU/. The aim of the Association is to protect the interests of economic universities from South and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea Region that are public, recognized or funded by their home country, as well as to promote the cooperation between the economic universities, faculties and departments in the field of research for the benefit of the economy, society, peace and cultural development of the member countries.

Prof. Dr. Leonid Nakov, Secretary General of ASECU, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje, North Macedonia, Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov, Rector of UNWE, Prof. Dr. Grigoris Zarothiadis, President of ASECU and Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Political Science of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mihail Musov, Vice Rector for Research and International Affairs of UNWE, Angel Stoykov, Chairman of the Student Council of UNWE /from the right to the left/

The Rector of UNWE Prof. Dimitar Dimitrov welcomed the participants in the meeting and presented the University. He emphasized that UNWE is a business university with 103 years of history, it has a rich portfolio of specialties and educates 18 thousand students in all fields of socio-economic life. UNWE is a leading university in many projects aimed at the modernization of Bulgarian higher education and building networks of higher education institutions. The University is part of the elite university network ENGAGE.EU in partnership with 8 leading European universities in the field of economics and social sciences. Students have the opportunity to realize mobility under the Erasmus+ programme. UNWE offers not only the traditional specialities in the field of economics and management but also incorporates new competitive curricula such as Cybersecurity and e-Governance, Computer Processing and Data Analysis, and Pedagogy. "We maintain close contacts with employers and long-term partnerships with businesses to run internship and mentoring programmes, and develop student entrepreneurship through the purpose-built Start-up Hub. It is important for us that as a member of ASECU we deepen and develop cooperation with the economic universities of Southeastern Europe and the Black Sea region", said Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov.

Prof. Grigoris Zarothiadis expressed his thankfulness to the Rector for his hospitality and greeted the participants in the General Assembly. "The past reporting period has not been easy due to the dynamically changing economic and political environment in which we live. Another equally challenging period lies ahead, in which the importance of ASECU as an organization with a mission to support cooperation between economic universities in Southern and Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region is not only undeniable but also growing", outlined the ASECU President and featured the main issues the organization should continue to work on in the current environment of new challenges, intensifying economic crisis, rapidly evolving technologies and artificial intelligence.

On behalf of the Student Council, its Chairman Angel Stoykov greeted the guests with "Welcome to the largest business university in Bulgaria and in Southeast Europe" and expressed his contentment that the UNWEE is part of an organization like ASECU and actively participates in the discussion of ideas for the higher education development.

The Secretary General of ASECU Prof. Dr. Leonid Nakov also greeted the participants and underlined the readiness of the organization to work for the expansion and strengthening of cooperation between the economic universities in the region.

Online greeting to the participants in the General Assembly was also adressed by the Vice President of ASECU Prof. Oleg Bodiagin from Rostov State Economic University /RSUE/, Russia.

Prof. Oleg Bodiagin

In the frameworks of the agenda of the General Assembly a report on the activities of the Board during the reporting period was presented, scientific and educational cooperation among the ASECU members, current projects implemented by the Association and future project proposals, admission of new members, organization of ASECU 2024 Conference and ASECU 2024 Youth Summer School were discussed.