While students and professors have been resisting the regime of Aleksandar Vučić for months, the government retaliates with economic pressure and attacks on academic autonomy. In an interview for Vreme, Professor Tanasije Marinković explains why the university has become the last line of defense of a free society and why the government wants to break it.
Although the rector of the University of Belgrade claims that the meeting with Prime Minister Đuro Macuta was more constructive than previous ones, the key demands of the academic community still do not have concrete answers. While the Government announces possible solutions, students and professors say that time is running out - the "Faculty at the Crossroads" protest is already on the streets.
Under pressure from the authorities, universities in Serbia switch to online teaching, blockades continue, and the National Accreditation Body remains without members. This is the body that threatened the blocked faculties with the withdrawal of accreditation. Are resignations really for "personal reasons"
The President of the Conference of Universities of Serbia and Rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić, was faced with the act of practically defending the university by himself against 19 other members of the Working Group, for whom there are justified doubts that they will defend the party's interest, not the academic interest, even though there are people among them who know the difference very well. We cannot know what will be found in the new Law, although there is already a lot of speculation about it. It remains to be seen whether the Government will appoint rectors and deans, how renegade faculties will be punished under the tutelage of performance indicators and whether vouchers will be distributed.
There are many ways in which philosophy can be harnessed to the wagons of the whole society: it is cheap to educate philosophers, we would get new jobs, and society would, in the long run, feel the healing effects of thinking. In addition, as a discipline that teaches how to think, philosophy educates free citizens with backbone and integrity - the two new ministers in the reconstructed government, for education and information, philosophers by training, are the exceptions that confirm the rule
What is in store for the new Law on Higher Education? Many suspect that his purpose is to deal the final blow to the rebel universities, to abolish their autonomy. Especially since Aleksandar Vučić himself has been openly talking about punishing disobedient faculties for months
In a statement signed by Rector Vladan Đokić, the University of Belgrade said that students are not the cause of the current crisis, but that a solution is possible only through dialogue and the joint effort of all actors of the academic community. Along with the call to preserve the continuity of education and enrollment of new generations, the question also arises - how do professors see the current situation and what are their expectations
Another meeting of representatives of the Government and the university was held - without much progress
Mid-March, early April, mid-April, and now a new deadline to save the academic year. What do students think about all these deadlines and trying to break the blockades
Members of the Council of the University of Belgrade strongly condemn the statements of public office holders calling for the arrest of the rector of that University, Vladan Đokić, as well as the inappropriate and socially unacceptable pressure on the academic community
Eleven days after the official start of the strike, the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade announced that the majority of employees had decided to end it.
Inspection supervision at faculties in Serbia began on Tuesday (March 25). Deans and employees at faculties consider this step another form of pressure on higher education institutions
Finance Minister Siniša Mali said that student tuition fees will be reduced by 50 percent, and that the fourth demand of the students has been fulfilled. For that, he says, no budget rebalancing was needed
One of the signatories of the open letter from the professor of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Belgrade, Professor Aleksandar Baucal, tells "Vreme" that they are considering whether there will be stronger statements
What kind of knowledge does a private and state faculty provide, and is there a difference in the degree obtained? What prejudices exist regarding studies at private and state universities? And how much truth is there in them? What do students and professors think about it?
Five faculties and colleges recently lost their work permits. What's next for students at those faculties, how can future freshmen be sure that their faculty has accreditation and how many accredited faculties exist in Serbia
Ljupka Mihajlovska, director of the Center for Students with Handicap, says for the "Vremena" portal that there are no policies and procedures that would clearly determine what is the responsibility of whom and according to which the teaching staff could be oriented. And there is a lack of material and human resources
The appointment of Dragoslav Bokan and Novak Nedić as new members of the faculty council of the University of Belgrade is a reward for party obedience and is not in accordance with the law
