The Ministry of Education overturned the decision to revoke the operating license of "Megatrend" University. She is so respected complaint which the oldest private university submitted as soon as it was announced that it denied reaccreditation a week ago.
The Ministry's announcement states that "after reviewing the subsequently submitted documentation, the Ministry noticed a procedural error, and in accordance with the above, issued a decision to cancel the final decision of the Ministry of Education on revoking the license of this higher education institution."
The decision was published on Friday, September 13, on the website of the Ministry of Education.
End of the saga
When the decision to revoke the license to operate from the "Megatrend" University was first announced, the rector of this institution, Mića Jovanović, told "Danasa" journalists that the news was "planted" and "false".
But the news was not fake. The Ministry issued the announcement based on a letter from the National Body for Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education, which informed the Ministry of Education that Megatrend University's request for a new regular accreditation was rejected.
The private university Megatrend announced that it has submitted a request to the Minister of Education to cancel the decision on revoking the work permit. In a short statement signed by the Rectorate of Megatrend, it was stated that the cancellation of the decision of the Ministry of Education by which Megatrend lost all accreditations at the end of August, and the students remained on unrecognized study programs, was requested.
"In order to avoid legal uncertainty for our students, the Administration of Megatrend University will inform students about all the guidelines of the Ministry of Education, which concern student issues," it says on the Megatrend website.
Jovanović: I didn't ask anyone for help
Jovanovic previously to journalists from "Vreme" politely said that he was "very tired" of the whole story and told the media everything he had. From the cryptic announcement of the Ministry, it could be interpreted that Megatrend did not submit a request for re-accreditation on time and therefore, by force of regulations, its work permit was revoked.
Although Jovanović admitted in a television guest appearance that it was irresponsible that they did not submit all the papers on time, he blamed the National Council for Higher Education, which allegedly did not respond to Megatrend's complaints about certain study programs for months.
"The thing is in a way banal to take away the license to work from a university that has been in existence for 36 years." I did not ask anyone for help in this particular case. I have known Minister Slavica Đukić Dejanović for a very long time, since the founding of SPS. "I don't put any pressure on her, nor do I ask for help from former party comrades who are still my comrades, because I have no conflict with anyone from the SPS, nor with anyone else," Jovanović told "Danas".
History of scandals
Mića Jovanović and his Megatrend have been followed by numerous scandals practically since their inception, but also by their closeness to every government.
A great deal of dust was raised when it became known that former minister Nebojša Stefanović plagiarized his doctorate from this university and that Jovanović himself lied that he received his doctorate in London.
Megatrend also pretended to have branches all over the world, and they were also caught in stamping diplomas.
