Rector Vladimír Hiadlovský, Matej Bel University (UMB), and President Patrizia Nanz signed, on 20 November 2025, an agreement to build on the established working relationship between the two institutions, most notably through the Horizon Europe project 'Building capacities for excellent research and innovation in democracy and policy through networking, knowledge and experience transfer' (BRRIDGE), in the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies.
This agreement provides a formal framework to sustain and deepen that collaboration, with a particular focus on capacity-building and knowledge transfer from the EUI to UMB. Planned joint activities include researcher exchanges at the doctoral and post-doctoral levels, visiting professorships, visiting fellowships, and the creation of teaching opportunities for EUI doctoral candidates and researchers at UMB across Economics, History, Law, and Political and Social Sciences. The two institutions will also co-organise workshops, conferences, and other scientific events, and work together to share research outcomes and best practices in research methodologies and pedagogical approaches.
UMB's participation in the EUI's Widening Europe Programme is also foreseen under the agreement. Implementation in the EUI and UMB, respectively, will be coordinated by the Development and External Relations (DEXT) service and by the Institute for Democracy, headed by Associate Professor Kamila Borseková.
Matej Bel University is a public institution and a member of the European University Association. It offers programmes across all three cycles of study in disciplines including social sciences, law, political science, economics, humanities, and natural sciences, and is actively engaged in both basic and applied research with national and international partners.