The only previous instances where enrollment was suspended were during mass uprisings and world wars, they said.
The Rector of the University of Belgrade Vladan Đokić told Nedeljnik that the institution is ready to enroll a new generation of freshmen but cannot open enrollment until the Serbian government determines the number of state-funded slots.
The government has delayed its decision this year and is blackmailing the academic community, Đokić told Nedeljnik.
On the other hand, the Minister of Education Dejan Vuk Stanković stated that faculties which make up for missed classes will be granted quotas for new student enrollment and will be allowed to proceed with admissions. Faculties that do not make up the missed classes and lose the academic year due to the student protests will not be able to enroll new students.
Appearing on K1 television, Dejan Vuk Stanković said that faculties that do not “board the rescue boat” will erase themselves from the academic map and warned that time is running out, adding that faculties need to be more serious and responsible when it comes to deadlines, N1 reports.
The rector of the University of Belgrade believes that conditioning the announcement of enrollment on making up classes is contrary to regulations, illogical, and malicious. “The enrollment of a new generation of freshmen does not depend on the completion of the semester of the previous academic year in which they finished their secondary education. It is clear that the University of Belgrade is being deliberately placed in a disadvantaged position compared to other public and private higher education institutions,” the rector said, as reported by N1.
Financial exhaustion of faculty staff and institutions
“If you don’t have new students, you have no basis for funding. How will they survive? The Medical Faculty has 1,000 foreign students, whose tuition is several thousand euros. An undelivered service implies a demand for compensation, with default interest. Who covers that debt? Do they have enough self-generated income to compensate for that damage? Serbian students who are also self-funded and have not received the service can also initiate claims,” said the Minister of Education.
As N1 reports from statements made on K1 television, Stanković said this is something deans and faculty administrations need to consider. He emphasized that the ministry and government are creating the necessary organizational, financial, and regulatory conditions and are ready to assist any faculty in breaking the student blockades.
Faculty staff are already receiving minimum wages or none at all, which has been made possible by a government Decree on Standards and Norms of Working Conditions at Universities and Faculties for Activities Funded from the Budget, effectively suspending scientific research work. According to employees at higher education institutions, this decree was created as a way to punish those who support student blockades.
By financially draining university employees, the pressure has been shifted to the faculties themselves, leaving professors and teaching assistants to resolve the blockades on their own.
However, that has not happened.
Continued pressure on faculties
The government’s delay in determining the number of state-funded spots for new students adds further pressure on universities to resolve the faculty blockades and make up missed classes. Although many faculties have attempted to introduce online classes, most students are refusing to attend them.
The initiative “Rebel University” has announced a protest in front of the Serbian government building on June 9 at 10 AM. They cite growing pressure on university autonomy, political and institutional repression of higher education employees, and the continued erosion of public education as reasons for the protest.
Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Belgrade goes on strike
The Chair of the Strike Committee, Prof. Dr. Nada Sekulić, told Mašina: “The faculty’s union has voted to strike, involving members who are engaged in teaching. What sets the Faculty of Philosophy apart from other faculties that have gone on strike is that it has an active union, and in our case, the union is the initiator and organizer of the strike. A large majority of union members involved in teaching have decided to publicly express resistance to the arbitrariness to which the university is being subjected to by the current government.”
A meeting between the Strike Committee and the faculty dean is currently underway to define key points such as what will be considered the minimum level of work, when the strike will officially begin, and other details.
The union’s demands are as follows:
- Repeal the amendments to the Decree on Standards and Norms of University and Faculty Working Conditions, which change the balance between scientific and teaching work and were introduced solely to exert pressure, with no concern for the core mission of this institution.
- Stop all activities aimed at passing a new law on higher education, which seeks to dismantle public universities and favor private ones, showing a complete lack of interest in preserving the public interest and public education sector, the quality of work in higher education, and expressing disrespect for the standards and achievements of universities in Serbia, which are an important public good.
- Payment of outstanding and regular material costs of the Faculty and overdue and regular salaries of employees, which the Ministry has not paid for months.
- Determine state-funded student quotas and enable the smooth enrollment of a new generation of students.
Sekulić emphasized the mutual support between the teaching staff and students. After the union announced its strike, the student plenum of the Faculty of Philosophy extended their support. She also stated that the faculty is not considering a switch to online classes as a method of breaking the student blockade.
“Our faculty as a whole (not just the Union) supported the students’ demands in the Scientific-Teaching Council, and all further strike actions by the Union will be coordinated on one side with the students, and on the other with the administration, which so far has not questioned its support for the students,” Sekulić told Mašina.
I.M., A.M.
