With almost 300 Chevening Scholars to its credit since the programme began in 1993, some would say that Croatia was overdue for an Alumni Association. After the 18^th of May, however, Croatia’s Chevening Scholars can proudly point to an Alumni Association that should prove to be one of the stronger ones in the region.

 

On that Monday evening, a group of Chevening Scholars met at the Zagreb offices of the British Council to deliberate a draft statute and elect a five-member steering committee. A little more than an hour after the meeting commenced, the job was done—but the work was just beginning. The Association will be registered with the authorities soon as a non-profit and non-governmental association.

 

Silvije Čipčić-Bragadin, a lawyer, was chosen as the Association’s first president.

 

‘The main goals of the Association are to connect Croatia’s Chevening scholars and to promote and strengthen the Chevening brand’, said Čipčić-Bragadin. He added, ‘Sharing and exploring mutual opportunities are the backbone of the programme’.

 

Čipčić-Bragadin believes that all scholars can and should play an important role in the newly created Chevening Alumni Association.

 

The fact that a number of others indicated their willingness to be actively involved in the work of the Association bodes well for the future of this group.

 

‘I am delighted that our enormously talented Chevening Scholars from Croatia have come together to establish a former scholars association and will now reap the benefits of working together. I am sure that as the benefits of this association become clearer, more and more of our scholars will want to involve themselves in this way’, said Ambassador David Blunt.

 

Chevening Conference

 

In order to assist in the formation of the Croatian Chevening Scholarship Alumni Association, the UK Embassy in Zagreb sent five Croatian Chevening Scholars to Belgrade in early April for the first Chevening Scholars Conference in South-East Europe. The three-day event brought together nine Chevening Scholarship Alumni Associations from the region (Croatia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia, the hosts).

 

The main aim of the conference was to stimulate the Chevening Scholars to establish regional cooperation amongst the national alumni associations. Five registered associations signed a Protocol on Cooperation at the British Ambassador’s residence—the remaining four were to sign on after officially registering with the respective authorities.

 

Scholars from each participating territory were given time to present their activities, which ranged from ‘networking’ to organising discussions on issues such as reforms of the justice systems in their country.

 

The agenda of the conference also included European integration processes, regional politics and challenges, and investment potential. One of the more interesting conclusions (for the Croatian Chevening Scholars) was ‘strong support for the quick entry of Croatia into the EU’.

 

Albania’s Chevening Alumni Association volunteered to host the next conference in 2010. The hope is that the conference will become an annual event.