On 30th November 2012, in Brussels, Belgium the South East European Law School Network (SEELS) has organized the SEELS Forum “Regional networking and academic cooperation in South East Europe: Promoting European values in higher legal education”. The event gathered the Ministers of Educations, Rectors of the Universities and Deans of the Law Faculties member of SEELS from the South East European countries, representatives of the diplomatic missions of SEE countries in Brussels, representatives of various international organizations, universities, research centres based in Belgium.

In the opening of the Forum the representatives of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, have stressed the importance of the promotion of the rule of law in the SE and the importance of the legal education in these processes. The representatives of the missions of the SEE countries in the EU expressed the need for intensified development of the legal systems of the SEE countries and agreed that the networking of the legal higher education instructions contributes to this in great deal.

Such high support was expressed also by ministers and representatives of the relevant ministries for education in the countries, who confirmed the commitment and support of the promotion of European values in the higher legal education. The Rectors and representatives of the Rectorates of the participating universities encouraged the regional cooperation and collaboration under the auspices of SEELS. For the participating Law Faculties the dedication to supporting the EU integration process with relevant research and through providing high quality legal education remains a paradigm in their internal development. As the deans and the representatives of the faculties expressed the collaboration and cooperation will cooperation will enhance their competitiveness and increase their visibility. From the Faculty of Law in Kragujevac representatives were vice-dean prof. dr. Božin Vlašković and prof. dr. Milena Petrović, SEELS Board member.

The information on the recent developments in the EU policies and programmes in the field of Education and Cultures and Research and Innovation, as well as the views and positions on the enlargement processes, presented by policy officers in the relevant Directorates General, were basis for the discussion on the future challenges and opportunities of SEELS.

The participants at the Forum agreed the future activities to focus on increasing the joint research, providing opportunities for mobility of academic staff and students, development of knowledge, understanding and skills in the fields of Rule of Law, Human Rights and EU law.