In line with CEP’s general mission, but taking into account the new regional context and the potential CEP has developed in CE over the last ten years, the main goals for this region are to help: 1. develop the most promising social science scholars; 2. build local and regional discipline- or issue-based networks; 3. connect academics to the community in a meaningful way; and 4. build and maintain bridges between Central Europe and countries further east, through the transfer of skills and knowledge.

With these goals in mind, the main areas of focus for CEP in Central Europe will be: professional development programs in the context of the Bologna process, academic networking, increasing opportunities in higher education for minorities and projects connecting academics with the larger community. Beginning with 2003-2004, CEP will no longer offer individual support through the Local Faculty Fellowship Program. CEP's focus in CE will not be on "retaining" scholars in academia but rather on empowering and creating a pool of resource persons who can later assist CEP in transferring skills and knowledge to other regions.

Building upon the experience of the PhD Studies Support Program and of other professional development programs developed in Hungary, Romania, Belarus/Ukraine/Moldova and Central Asia, CEP has developed a new Continuing Professional Development Program, which will offer a one-year training course focusing on: 1. Teaching and Learning, with a special focus on Problem-based Learning; 2. Course Development, with a special focus on the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) and the Bologna process; and 3. Professional/Academic Skills Building. For each of these course elements CEP will work closely with a Western training organization, who will share its experience and provide expertise. Participants will be selected in clusters, representing targeted university departments, which are open to change, determined to invest in it and interested in cooperating with other like-minded departments in Eastern Europe. Through such targeting, the program will not only assist participants in their individual professional development, but in some cases directly cooperate with departments to implement changes in the Bologna - ECTS context.

CEP Central Europe is aiming at further training academics and creating a pool of resources able not only to help universities adapt to the new context, but also to assist colleagues in the pre-accession countries who are already struggling with similar issues. The plan is to create an effective model of professional development, which will equip junior academics with the key skills needed to function well in the new European Higher Education Area, and which can later be implemented in other CEP regions.

CEP Central Europe will continue to support local and regional projects, which connect academia to the community and emphasize the social responsibilities of universities and individual scholars. Through CEP’s existing Small Project Scheme, several such projects are supported in areas such as Social Entrepreneurship, Community Service Learning, Environmental Policy, Community Awareness Raising on Local Ecological Values, Media Representation of Crime and Punishment and Civil Economy. CEP hopes to help these projects expand both locally and regionally and to assist them in exporting some of these models within the CEP networks.