Only one of the three demands of the professors of the University of Belgrade was fulfilled, so they decided to remain in the blockade in front of the Government of Serbia and to fight for their rights.
University professors, members of the "Rebellious University" blocking the intersection in front Government of Serbia asking for their demands to be fulfilled, they remain blocked, because only one of their three demands has been fulfilled.
The professors demand that the Working Group for drafting the new Law on Higher Education be disbanded, which was done on Wednesday, and which the professors welcomed.
They are also demanding that the illegal changes to the Regulation on University Work Standards be repealed and their consequences remedied, and that budget quotas for admission to faculties be adopted by the end of June at the latest.
They stated that they will consider their first request fulfilled when the decision to dissolve the Working Group is officially published in the Official Gazette.
However, since the other two requirements were not fulfilled, the professors emphasized that they expect them to be fulfilled urgently and equally efficiently.
Until that happens, the professors will continue to remain blocked in front of the Government of Serbia and fight for their rights.
On Wednesday, the Government of Serbia invalidated the Conclusion on Education of the Working Group for the Analysis of Financing and Performance of Higher Education and Drafting of the Law on Higher Education.
That conclusion was adopted in accordance with the agreement between Prime Minister Đur Macut and the rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić.
Previously, on June 10, an agreement was reached between Macut and Đokić on upcoming activities.
Organization of the entrance exam
The Government of Serbia and the University of Belgrade announced on June 10 that they are undertaking "activities necessary for the organization of the entrance exam for the enrollment of the new generation of freshmen", which is planned for the last week of July.
An agreement was reached to "provide financial conditions for the functioning and realization of prerequisites for the realization of regular activities of higher education institutions".
Initially, at the end of May, the Minister of Education Dejan Vuk Stanković stated that "there is no other way" to enroll a new generation of students according to the law "if the process of compensating tuition is not carried out".
The agreement was reached in the midst of student protests and several months of faculty blockades.
Academic community protest
In the meantime, members of the academic community gathered around the "Rebellious University" initiative continue their protest and blockade of the intersection near the Government of Serbia building, which they started on June 9.
They previously submitted their demands to the Government and promised that they would not move from there until they were met.
One of those demands is the adoption of budget quotas for the enrollment of new students at the faculties, by the end of June at the latest.
Among the demands is the dissolution of the Working Group for the drafting of the new Law on Higher Education and the opening of a public hearing on that law.
The state seeks to bring universities under direct control
At the beginning of May, the Government formed a Working Group for the analysis of the current state of funding and performance of higher education in Serbia and for the drafting of the Law on Higher Education.
Members of the academic community believe that the state is thus trying to put universities under its direct control and drastically reduce their autonomy, and that the Working Group was formed outside the university.
One of the demands of the protest is the repeal of the amendments to the Regulation on University Work Standards, which they believe are illegal and whose aim is to punish the academic community that supported the students in the work blockade.
In February, the Government of Serbia reduced the salaries of professors at blocked faculties with a decree on reducing the time allotted for conducting scientific and research work, and by increasing the number of working hours for teaching in the ratio of 12,5 to 87,5.
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