Meeting of the Rector and the Ambassador of Ireland

Rector of the University of Banja Luka Prof. Radoslav Gajanin, PhD, met on 1 February 2022 with the Ambassador of Ireland to Bosnia and Herzegovina, based in Ljubljana, Myles Geiran.

At the meeting in the Rectorate of the University, the rector proposed that the cooperation of the University of Banja Luka with higher education institutions from Ireland be carried out in the following period. As he stated, professors and teaching assistants are ready to cooperate, and they can be a reliable partner in the implementation of projects. According to him, the cooperation would be carried out through mobility programs for professors, teaching assistants, students and staff, but also through joint participation in scientific projects.

The Irish diplomat informed the rector about the activities on the implementation of the project named "Promotion of Irish Literature and Culture", which is led by the full professor of the Faculty of Philology, Petar Penda, PhD. He expressed hope that the editions published through this project will become part of the curricula of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Banja Luka, but also at other higher education institutions.

As he pointed out, numerous activities can be expected in the forthcoming period, undertaken with the aim to strengthen cooperation between the two countries, promote Irish culture and literature, but also connect academic communities.

As pointed out during this meeting, the project "Promotion of Irish Literature and Culture" supported by the Embassy of Ireland, gathered colleagues from the Department of English Language and Literature from the University of Banja Luka, University of East Sarajevo, University of Sarajevo, University of Nikšić, University of Niš, and the University of Belgrade. Through this project, the collection "Irish Short Stories" was published in 2020 by our Faculty of Philology. Recently, a translation of short stories by the Irish author Val Mulkerns "Memory and Desire" was published by the Faculty of Philology through the same project.

The meeting was also attended by Vice-Rector for Material and Human Resources of the University of Banja Luka Prof. Dalibor Kesić, PhD, Vice-Dean for Scientific Research and International Cooperation of the Faculty of Philology of the University of Banja Luka Prof. Zorana Kovačević, PhD, and Prof. Petar Penda, PhD.