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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Memorandum of Cooperation in EU integration process signed

18 October 2006

Belgrade, Oct 18, 2006 –Representatives of the Serbian government’s EU Integration Office and the universities of Belgrade, Nis, Novi Sad and Kragujevac signed today a Memorandum of Cooperation in the process of EU integration.

Dejan Popovic, left, and Tanja Miscevic

Author: Fonet

The aim of the memorandum is institutionalisation and improvement of cooperation in Serbia's EU integration process, more active engagement of professors, students and the youth in general having in mind the role and importance of education and educational institutions in building a democratic, civil society in Serbia, as well as their contribution to spreading European ideas and values.

At a round table discussion themed "Education for Europe" Director of the EU Integration Office Tanja Miscevic said that universities are just the right partners to help Serbia gain new capacities for inclusion in the EU integration process.

The underlying idea of the memorandum is institutionalisation and establishing cooperation based on information exchange, said Miscevic and stressed that last year the EU Integration Office signed a similar agreement with NGOs and thus set up a satisfactory partner relation between a part of civil society and the government.

She announced that next year an integrated EU education and training programme will be implemented and envelop a programme of long-term education of adults and student exchange.

Rector of the Belgrade University Dejan Popovic said that on its way to Europe Serbia must employ all of its potentials and primarily intellectual ones, while preparing for new challenges in the EU integration process of not only the first generation of students, but also those that have already graduated.

This is why the role of universities is of great importance, explained Popovic adding that the young must be informed about what awaits them in this huge process.

According to Popovic, Serbia's EU integration process implies serious changes in the Serbian society to which universities can contribute a lot.

Apart from Miscevic and Popovic, the memorandum was also signed by rectors of the Nis, Novi Sad and Kragujevac universities, Gradimir V. Milovanovic, Radmila Marinkovic-Neducin and Milos Djuran respectively. The signing ceremony was attended by Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Hans Ola Urstad and Assistant Minister of Education and Sport Emilija Stankovic.