September and October, in addition to marking the beginning of the academic year, are important for the Croatian academic community for one other reason. This is a period in which some new and some known faces join forces and start their way together towards Split and Stobrec. Like last year, they started their academy at a place marking students’ life in Split - the University of Split, where the Rector himself, prof. Dragan Ljutić PhD, greeted them on behalf of the whole collective, stressing the importance of student networking, lifelong learning and presenting some of the future plans for the University of Split and its components’ development.

After introductory speeches by the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts’ president, Zdeslav Milas, and his deputy, Karl Kolesar, the Hanns Seidel Stiftung’s regional director for Southeast Europe, Klaus Fiesinger Ph.D. Not long after, two lectures followed: "Political Education for Europe: German Political Foundations’ European and Value Dimension", by Aleksandra Markić Boban M.Sc. - Director of the Hanns Seidel Foundation Office in Croatia and "The position of youth in Croatia related to activating and participating in the local community", by assoc. prof. Marija Boban Ph.D. from the Faculty of Law, University of Split, which, judging by the students’ engagement, were really interesting.

Academy’s second day was held in the beautiful and relaxing ambience of Camp Stobreč. Diligent students actually participated in the Academy’s official program from the early morning taking part in the #RolePlay workshop and simulating stakeholders’ working meeting, on "Professionalizing student representation", under the watchful eye of Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts’ mentors and seniors. As this year also hosted several new names, Academy’s "speed date" was held in order for the participants to get to know and connect with one another successfully.