With hopes of expanding academic cooperation with institutions abroad and increasing enrollment in select Truman graduate programming, University President Troy Paino traveled to the Balkans and brokered a deal with the European Center for Peace and Development (ECPD) in October.

Headquartered in Belgrade, Serbia, the ECPD is a branch of the UN-mandated University for Peace and collaborates with other academic institutions to help citizens of the Balkans and elsewhere receive needed education to advance peace and prosperity in their countries.

Currently, Truman administrators are working with their regional counterparts to explore possible options for offering Truman’s Master of Arts in leadership online to students. These options include the possibility of offering select coursework in one or more possible elective tracks, including content from Truman’s existing graduate certificate in sustainability and environmental studies, as well as select coursework in other fields in which regional partners have expressed interest.

The team is optimistic that at least some coursework can be offered to students in the region during the 2015-2016 academic year, pending review and approval by faculty governance and accreditors in the U.S. and overseas. In addition to the online coursework, administrators are also looking at opportunities the Balkan sites might present for expanding the University’s non-credit summer youth programming.