Universities and government - the last round

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The Great School was founded in 1808, during the First Serbian Uprising, because the insurgents understood that the state needed not only warriors but also educated people. In this spirit, the Serbian state continued to improve the education system, which led to the growth of the Great School into a University in 1905. Already that first Law guaranteed its autonomy.

From its foundation until today, the University of Belgrade and other universities in Serbia have gone through various trials. One of the biggest was certainly the Law on the University from 1998. The government needed to take control of the universities in order to discourage the academic community from participating in mass demonstrations against the government and election theft. The intention of the Law was to abolish the autonomy of the university and clean it of "unfit" elements. According to this Law, the government was authorized to appoint members to the administrative bodies of universities and faculties and to appoint rectors and deans at its discretion. The administrative procedure of signing a new employment contract has been turned into a means of dealing with dissenters. Failure to sign the contract meant the loss of employment and led to the expulsion of hundreds of teachers and associates from the university. The Minister of Education in that government was Jovan Todorović, and the Minister of Information was Aleksandar Vučić. The atmosphere at the universities was repressive, but it additionally motivated the academic community to engage in social events that led to the final overthrow of Slobodan Milošević's regime.

PRESSURE MACHINERY

With the coming to power of SNS in 2012, the project of taking control over universities in Serbia and abolishing their autonomy was renewed. I have already written about it, but it is advisable to recall the key steps taken.

With the amendments to the Law on Higher Education from 2017, the state took full control over higher vocational schools. The law introduced that the Council, the governing body of higher vocational schools in charge of legal and financial issues, comprises 40 percent of the delegates of the founders, that is, the state, and 15 percent of the student delegates. By the same law, the share of founder representatives in university and faculty councils was increased to 30 percent, and the share of student representatives to 15 percent.

Amendments to the Law on Higher Education, which was adopted on March 6, 2025, as a response to the fourth request of students in the blockade, have not yet changed this balance of power. In the case of higher vocational schools, the composition of the Council remained the same. In the case of universities and faculties, the share of founder representatives was indeed reduced to 25 percent, and the share of institution representatives increased to 60 percent, while the share of student representatives remained at 15 percent. However, the old convocations of the Council, according to the previously valid Law, will present their entire mandates, and the new composition of the Council will be implemented in the next mandate, which is only a few years away.

Last year's elections for student parliaments took place with many electoral irregularities and extremely low turnout. The Law on Student Organizations from 2021 enabled representatives of the current administrations of student parliaments to prevent opposing candidates in the elections by denying consent to the status of a registered student organization. According to this Law, only representatives of registered student organizations can participate in student elections.

Thus, in practically all faculties and schools, the old administrations of the student parliaments mostly became the new administrations, whose two-year mandates began on October 1, 2024. These convocations of student parliaments are still valid, they have not been extinguished. Students in the blockade make decisions through plenums, and the student parliaments are currently at rest. Despite this, the current Law stipulates that student parliaments provide delegates for Councils of higher education institutions.

Since the current members of the Council are actually members according to the old convocation and composition, the creation of an interest coalition of founder representatives and student representatives from among student parliaments in the case of higher vocational schools still provides the state with a 55 percent majority to control the Council. In the case of universities and faculties, that sum amounts to 45 percent, which, with the support of several cooperative members of the Council from among the representatives of the institution, is quite enough for the state to control the councils in this case as needed. Now that the administrations of faculties and universities are under great pressure to end the blockades and start teaching at any cost, it is the moment when the government could harness these mechanisms with the intention of replacing recalcitrant rectors and deans.

PRESIDENT'S POTATOES

During 2023, the Parliament of Serbia confirmed the Amendments to the Law on the Budget System, which puts under control the flow of own funds of faculties or universities. By controlling payments and admissions at higher education institutions, the state can exert direct pressure on universities and colleges. Bearing in mind that for years the state has not fulfilled its financial obligations towards the institutions of which it is the founder, higher education institutions can only fulfill all financial obligations with their own funds. Which brings us back to the Amendments to the Law on Higher Education of March 6, 2025. Since the faculties are under blockade, the state does not pay the institution's ongoing costs, although it is obliged by law to cover them in full.

Another aspect is related to salaries. Since the institutions were blocked, the teaching staff received half their salary per month, because the engagement of academic staff during working hours is 20 hours of teaching and 20 hours of science per week, and there was no teaching. The president announced that teachers will receive "potatoes" in the future, so a new regulation was adopted as a matter of urgency, which divides their engagement into 35 hours of teaching and 5 hours of science per week. Therefore, the next teacher's salary will be 12,5 percent of the full amount. There is no legal basis for the Regulation, but the government does not care about it.

By denying salaries, the protest in primary schools has already been pacified, and a similar fate is likely to await secondary schools as well.

The law also stipulates that the founder (the state) is obliged to ensure the salaries of the employees in an amount not lower than the minimum wage in the Republic. Members of the non-teaching staff of higher education institutions who have a basic and secondary vocational education have, due to the low cost of labor, less than the minimum wage. The difference up to the minimum wage is provided by the institution from its own resources because the state, although mandatory, does not do so.

And finally, one of the key items of the fourth student demand was that the basis for calculation and payment of salaries in higher education cannot be lower than the basis for calculation and payment in primary and secondary education and upbringing. The new article has been added to the Law, but it will only come into effect on January 01, 2026.

The above indicates everything that has been done so far and what can still be done in order to achieve control over higher education institutions. It also clearly shows that the state did not meet the student's fourth request.

Due to public opposition, the Amendments to the Law did not include an item that would enable the uncontrolled arrival of foreign faculties in Serbia. The public recognized this intention of the government as another possibility of corrupt activity. But on that occasion, the story of providing budgetary status to students of private colleges was re-started. In another context, it could be a great support for higher education as a systemic measure to support all students. Unfortunately, it is part of the criminal procedure that would deprive the state's "disobedient" faculties and schools of their budgetary status. I do not believe that any private faculty wants to play the role of undermining the state universities in Serbia. Does the government really want to help private higher education institutions, or does it plan to take over most of the funds for budget students for its own needs?

INDESTRUCTIBLE OFFER

Let's recall some figures. According to the Republic Institute of Statistics, for all higher education institutions and all degrees of study in Serbia in the 2023/2024 school year. 249626 students were enrolled. 209825 students were enrolled in state and private universities, 83,7 percent of them at state universities and 16,3 percent at private universities. A total of 39801 students were enrolled in higher vocational schools and academies, of which 81,7 percent were in state and 18,3 percent in private higher vocational schools.

A student's budget status depends on maintaining a certain academic success. 38,7 percent of all students at state institutions enrolled on the budget, and 61,3 percent on self-financing.

Let's do a little math. Based on the above data, the budget status has about 80000 students studying at state higher education institutions. Let's imagine a situation where the state cancels the budgetary status of all those students. Let even 50 percent of students achieve budget status at private institutions or, in the worst case scenario, let everyone be granted budget status without criteria. It is about twenty or forty thousand students. In that case, the state would save 50 to 75 percent of the funds for that purpose and could redirect them to other needs, for example to Ćaciland or the SNS Young Leaders Academy. Not to mention the possibility of spending money saved from unallocated student scholarships or loans, money that could be used as helicopter money for various categories of voters in the next election.

This is an indecent offer that instrumentalizes private college students and falsely pits them against state students. At the same time, it can open space for the state to financially blackmail private faculties.

Students have done a lot in the past months. Serbia is no longer the same country because its citizens raised their voices against injustice and autocracy. Is that enough? To begin with, it certainly is. But does one have the strength to persevere? The government will not stop suppressing the protest, crushing the university and breaking the citizens' resistance. The unscrupulous moves of the government threaten the international status of our universities, make a mockery of accreditation, mock knowledge and those who acquire it, and belittle the effort and work invested in the development of the higher education system. They know very well why they do it. Without educated and self-aware people, we will continue to decline with less and less prospect of stopping or mitigating the decline. The defense of the university is really the defense of the state and national interests.

We all recognize what students have achieved. Now is the time for students to recognize that it is a moment for unity and building mutual trust. The differences between us are insignificant compared to our difference from the holders of autocratic power.

Students call for extraordinary parliamentary elections. I don't know if there will be any. But what I know for sure is that if there are, we must be better than we were, and if there are not, we must be more united than we are now. The great school was born from the realization of the importance of knowledge, and the survival of the university and its autonomy is a prerequisite for our future.