A WELCOME BY THE RECTOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ZAGREB Stjepan Lakušić, Ph. D.
to Students at the Start of the New Academic Year
Dear students,
dear freshmen,
on behalf of the University of Zagreb administration, I welcome you and wish you all a successful start of the new academic year 2022/23.
Convinced that in the months ahead of us, through hard work, you will overcome all of your student obligations and successfully acquire new knowledge and skills, I especially encourage that, throughout that process, you be creative, open to new ideas, proactive and critical, so that you may prepare for your future professions as best you can during your studies.
To the freshmen, our new colleagues that enrolled in one of the many study programmes offered by the faculties and academies of art of the University of Zagreb, the largest and oldest university in the Republic of Croatia, I bid you welcome to the academic community. I sincerely hope that within the arms of our University you reach your full potential and after finishing your studies become agents of positive change in society, leading experts in your fields, and drivers of further development of science and economy.
As rector of the University of Zagreb I especially salute our foreign students - colleagues from across the Europe and from all over the world, that have chosen our grand and all-encompassing University as the place of their mobility or the environment where, through one of the foreign language studies, they will earn their diploma and their future calling. I also salute our colleagues from Ukraine, hoping that they managed to adjust to our University and that they are successfully continuing their education among us.
Recognising internationalisation as one of the key areas of the University's development, the new administration commits to work diligently at constant modernisation and the introduction of new study programmes in all fields of science, as well as encouraging the further development of courses and entire studies in foreign languages, all with the goal of further advancing the quality of the study programmes and strengthening the international recognisability of our University. In that sense, cooperation with all relevant parties is the fundamental goal of the University's new administration. I am convinced that developing partner relationships with other universities and higher education institutions at home and abroad, as well as with partners from the economic, business and cultural sector, can contribute to the development of science and education, and create a better perspective for the young people in our country.
Although the last few years have brought many challenges - from those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, because of which the educational and scientific processes had to take place within a digital environment and through a mixed model, to the numerous difficulties that arose after the two earthquakes in Zagreb and Petrinja and their surrounding area - we sincerely hope that the academic year ahead of us will be a peaceful one. To once again return the students to the focus of the University's activities, the University of Zagreb administration will make the maximum effort to ensure the best possible work environment for you and your teachers and professors.
Wishing that you fulfil all your plans, wishes and dreams in the new academic year,
yours sincerely,
Stjepan Lakušić, Ph. D.
Rector of the University of Zagreb
