Keepin touch

Whether you have a question, comment, suggestion or any problem in the purview of the government, send us your message and we will try to respond as soon as possible. If your problem is not in our purview, we will forward your message to the relevant institution.

The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Parliament to elect new members to National Council for Higher Education on March 27

Belgrade, 24 March 2006

Serbian Minister of Education and Sport Slobodan Vuksanovic said today that Serbian parliament members will elect new members to the National Council for Higher Education on March 27. The Council is one of the key bodies in charge of developing higher education in Serbia.

Slobodan Vuksanovic

At a press conference at which results of the ministry's work in the past two years were presented, Vuksanovic specified that the Council will consist of 16 members.

Speaking about reforms in the education sector, he said that as of this September, pre-school education will become an obligatory part of the nine-year education programme.

As for primary school education, the minister said that new curricula for the first four grades were adopted, whereas those for the remaining four grades in primary school were reduced by 30%.

When it comes to secondary school education, important projects were carried out to help the implementation of education reforms and development of new areas of study. The aim of the projects is to create a link between secondary school students and the labour market and help them find jobs on graduating.

Vuksanovic recalled that a bill proposing amendments to the rule book on excursions was also composed and several other projects implemented in cooperation with domestic and international institutions, such as the introduction of two official languages of instruction, the project "School Without Violence" and similar.

Regarding higher education, the minister stressed that the key regulation was adopted, namely the Law on higher education. He added that it now remains to constitute a committee for accreditation and assessment of quality, adopt statutes of universities and faculties, documents regulating the reorganisation of universities, and form bodies on the level of institutions for higher education.

Vuksanovic pointed out that certain progress was made regarding the education of ethnic minorities and cooperation with minority national councils.

Assistant Minister of Higher Education Emilija Stankovic presented the new student grade book and diploma that first year students and graduates respectively will receive in future, once their universities start applying the new curricula for higher education.

She said the content of the new grade book is completely different and there is enough space in it for grades and all students' activities during the school year to be recorded.

Together with the grade book, students will also receive identification cards which they will use when going to the library, or to buy coupons for the cafeteria and other benefits, she explained.

According to Stankovic, the new diploma will be printed on a special type of paper in line with recommendations of the European Commission.

There will be three types of diploma for different levels of education: honours, masters and doctoral degrees, she explained and added that the new grade books and diplomas will be in use as soon as the committee for accreditation and assessment of quality gives its approval.

Stankovic recalled that the deadline for higher education schools to conduct all adjustments to the new programme in line with the Bologna Declaration, and as envisaged by the Law on higher education, is two years after the law enters into force.