Committed to quality programming, affordability, and student well-being, UCIM-Abroad delivers global education while promoting a safe and memorable experience for our participants.

Rita Balaban is CEO and operator of UCIM-Abroad, LLC, a company dedicated to promoting global education in Croatia. Rita’s career began in academia, where she spent over twenty-five years as a full-time faculty member. Her most recent position was in the Department of Economics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2006 – 2023), where she received multiple departmental and university teaching awards. In 2022, she was co-recipient of a national award for the teaching of economics.

During her tenure at UNC, she collaborated with the Faculty of Economics, Business, and Tourism (FEBT) at the University of Split to develop the UNC Economics in Croatia program. Under that program, she led four groups of UNC students to Croatia between 2018 – 2023 and in Fall 2023 she worked with FEBT as a Fulbright Specialist to enhance their offerings in global education. Rita also served on multiple committees at UNC including the Study Abroad Advisory Board (2019 – 2022) and the Administrative Boards of the College of Arts and Sciences (2016-2019), both of which evaluated study abroad proposals for educational content and their ability to meet health and safety standards and diversity objectives.

Rita is committed to promoting a safe and memorable experience for her participants. To enhance her expertise in global education standards, she participated in the Forum for Global Education’ Accelerated Residency Program in June 2023 and is currently working toward her Professional Certification in Study Abroad.

Zrinka Madunić Špiljak serves as the Excursions and Accommodation Coordinator at UCIM-Abroad. She is a Croatian entrepreneur and language teacher from Split, Croatia, with an educational and professional background in hospitality and tourism. Since 2010, Zrinka has run an online language school where she teaches conversational Croatian to people from all over the world. Zrinka began her career as a hotel management intern at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, CO before returning to Croatia to work as the manager of a tourism and marketing agency near Split. Zrinka’s passion lies in education, helping others learn the Croatian language and cultural exchange. She holds a master’s degree in economics from the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management at the University of Rijeka.