From the beginning of 2026, the basis for payroll in higher education, it is equal to the base for employees in elementary and secondary schools to the schools. This, however, left another difference - the coefficients for comparable jobs are not equal.
This is what the Employees' Union of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Belgrade warns against, which requests that the coefficients for non-teaching staff at the faculties be reviewed. According to the data presented by the union, the difference in the basic salary for an employee with the same degree can be more than 10.000 dinars per month.
The problem, therefore, is less in the basis and more in the way the work was valued. As of January 2026, the basic amount is 5.838,53 dinars for both higher education and primary and secondary education. At the same time, different coefficients remained for individual jobs.
For the VII degree of professional education, which the union cites as an example, the coefficient for appropriate jobs in primary and secondary education is 19,10, while for professional associates, lawyers, economists, librarians, proofreaders, translators and similar jobs in higher education, it is 17,32.
Different coefficients
When different coefficients are applied to the same base, a different base salary is obtained. According to the union's account, an employee with the VII degree at the faculty thus has a basic salary of 101.123,34 dinars, which is 10.392,58 dinars less than the corresponding position in primary and secondary education. For the VI degree, the difference is 8.232,33 dinars, and for the IV degree, 6.772,69 dinars. This is the basic salary, without past work and other allowances.
What makes this case particularly interesting is that the 2026 changes were meant to reduce earlier differences. The Ministry of Education announced that as of January 1, the base in higher education has been equalized with the base in other levels of education, while additional funds have been provided to increase the salaries of employees in higher education through changes in regulations.
However, the equalization of the base did not automatically mean the equalization of the coefficients. Thus, the question remains as to why jobs that require the same degree of professional education, and may be comparable in terms of description and responsibilities, are valued differently depending on whether the employee is at a school or university.
This is exactly the question that the trade union asked the competent institutions. He asks for an explanation on the basis of which criteria the coefficients were determined, i.e. whether the complexity of the work, the level of education, responsibility and expertise required for their performance were taken into account when determining them.
Walking around the ministries
According to the union, they did not receive an answer. The Ministry of Labor referred them to the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government, which replied that it did not have the necessary documentation and referred them back to the Ministry of Labor. The Ministry of Finance declared itself incompetent, while the Ministry of Education, according to the unions, did not respond to their inquiry.
Thus, the question of salaries of non-teaching staff at faculties has become a question of the state's responsibility for a system in which the same base is multiplied by different coefficients, and employees are left to ask for an explanation from institution to institution.
The union therefore requests an increase in the coefficients for non-teaching staff in higher education and their alignment with the corresponding positions in other levels of education.
Because behind the administrative data on the coefficient is not only the number in the regulation. The salary of the person who works at the faculty depends on him - and it is this person, together with the teaching staff, who ensures that the faculty can function every day.
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