The former Department of Geo-promotion and later the Department of Geotourism was visited by prominent foreign specialists like: prof. A.Pizam (Rosen School of Hospitality Managment, University of Central Florida, Orlando, USA), Dr. C.Webster (College of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Nicosia, Cyprus) and others. Currently, the employees of The Department of Geo and Mining Tourism cooperate mainly with colleagues from the universities in Poland and Hungary.
The students of our department are taking part of ERASMUS exchange programmes for a half-year or even for longer period of time, especially in Spain, Italy, Turkey, Cyprus or Poland.
The international recognition of Department of Geo and Mining Tourism is confirmed for example by the fact that Dr. h.c. prof. Ing. Pavol Rybár, PhD. was between the years 2005-06 elected as a president of SOMP (The Society of Mining Professors /Societät der Bergbaukunde). During the years 2007-2010 he was one of the co-founders and first president of the International Association for Geotourism (IAGT) based in Krakow, Poland. Another member of our department – Ing. Bartolomej Baláž, CSc. was during this period elected as a member of ten-member board of IAGT. Other major international awards and honors of prof. Rybár can be documented as follows:
- 2012 Honorary Doctorate (Dr.h.c.) awarded by the University of Miskolc (Miskolci Egyetem), Hungary,
- 2006 Agricola Medal, Award of the VŠB TU Ostrava, Czech Republic,
- 2005 “Szt. Borbála érem” award, Ministry of Economy, Budapest, Hungary,
- 2005 “Ehrenmitglied des ungarischen Bergbaus” award, Presidium of hungarian mining companies, Budapest, Hungary,
- 2004 The award of the mining town – Banská Štiavnica (SR) for the preservation of the cultural heritage UNESCO and for town development,
- 2000 The International Directory of Distinguished Leadership, ninth Edition,
- 2000 American Biographical Institute, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA,
- 1999 Man of the year 1999, American Biographical Institute, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
Membership in international organizations:
Dr. h.c. prof. Ing. Pavol Rybár, PhD. – is a foreign member of the Russian academy of mining science, since 2006 he was a president of international organization IAGt (International Association for Geotourism) based in Krakow, Poland – and from 2005 to 2006 he was a president of The Society of mining professors.
- 2005 – 2006 International organization INTER OCEAN METAL based in Štetín, Poland,
- Representative of Slovak Republic for mining of seabed minerals,
- since 2004 FEMP, (Federation of European Mining Programs), Delft, Netherlands– Member of the Bpard of Directors,
- 2004 – 2007 – Konwient polskich dziekanow gornych a geologicznych wydzialow,
- 2002 – 2007 Mikovínyi Iskola Tanácsa, Miskolc, University of Miškolc, Hungary,
- 2003 – 2007 Member of Scientific Council of Faculty of Mining and Geology of VŠB, Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic,
- 2000 – 2007 Member of editorial board of Collection of scientific works of VŠB, Faculty of Mining and Geology Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic,
- 2000 – 2007- Member of Editorial board of scientific journal Geoturystyka/Geotourism, Stowarzyszenia Naukowego im. Stanislawa Staszica, Krakow, Poland,
- Since 2004 – Member of editorial board of quarterly journal Górnictwo i Geoinžynieria, AGH Krakow, Poland,
- until 2007- Member of editorial board of scientific journal Falulteta za organizacijske vede Kranj, Slovenia.
Prof. Rybár is nowadays visiting professor at the AGH University in Krakow, Poland, also visiting lecturer at Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany and VŠB TU Ostrava, Czech Republic. Until 2005 was doc. Ing. Gejza M. Timčák, CSc. member of editorial board of scientific journals like Tourism Today and European Journal of Tourism Research, Cyprus. Since 2015 Ing. Ján Derco, PhD. has been a member of AIEST (International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism), St. Gallen, Switzerland, doc. Ing. Ľubomír Štrba, PhD. is a member of ProGeo (Association for the conservation of the geological heritage), the head of our department doc. Mgr. Mário Molokáč, PhD. is a member of the Interdepartamental Commission for Geoparks network of Slovak Republic and doc. Ing. Ladislav Mixtaj, PhD. is a member of Mining club of Gemer „Bratstvo“