In a situation where the most important acts on which the work of the University of Montenegro is based have been changed, as well as based on the guidelines from the document Analysis of the situation and strategic decisions for the reorganization and integration of the University (2015), changes and improvements in the functioning of the University and its units are necessary in a whole range of areas.
The fact is that the University must adapt to the contemporary needs of society. Nevertheless, the question arises, whether all changes and decisions are motivated by the best interests of institutions and students, or whether there are certain motives that have nothing to do with objective criteria, such as in the case of decisions on admission to the Faculty of Law of UCG. This faculty has two departments. Law is taught in Podgorica and in departments in Bijelo Polje and Budva, and criminology only in Podgorica. Such branching and dislocation of study programs was a feature of the previous period when there was a different enrollment policy, which then suited everyone: students, who could enroll in the state faculty with the fulfillment of not excessively rigorous conditions; teachers, because they are enabled to supplement the norm of lessons and pay special fees for conducting this, in essence, supplementary teaching; To the government, to reduce the number of unemployed because higher education has been made available to the majority of high school graduates.
If the Government adopts the latest proposals of the Ministry of Education and the Senate of the UCG, 120 undergraduate students of Criminology and Security in Podgorica and 150 law students in Bijelo Polje and Budva will be enrolled for 110 future undergraduate students of Legal Sciences in Podgorica.
The adoption of such a decision can have far-reaching consequences for the fate and quality of one of the oldest university units. Because, candidates who apply for admission to law in Bijelo Polje and Budva, in most cases, have lower success in high school compared to candidates who apply for admission to the same program in Podgorica. For illustration, the number of points of the last accepted candidate in the study year 2013/2014. year in Podgorica is 38.40; in Bijelo Polje 25.19 and in Budva even more than twice as low as in Podgorica (16.85). The aforementioned decisions are not supported by the data of the Employment Office of Montenegro from February 2014, according to which 115 law graduates are unemployed in the area of towns that gravitate to Bijela Polje (and in perspective, the currently active 384 students in the department in B. Polje should also be employed). In Budva and the coastal region, 95 people with this qualification are unemployed, and now there are 378 active students.
The issue of criminology studies is a special issue. The last enrolled student of the last academic year had 21.09 points (compared to 38.40 of the last ranked law colleague in Podgorica). According to the same data from the Employment Office, 136 people with this educational profile are unemployed (and currently there are 714 active students). Are the needs of the labor market such that they justify the enrollment of even 150 students in the Criminalistics and Security department, especially when the missing number of teachers of professional subjects is taken into account?
In addition to the issue of the quality of future students (and, of course, the quality of teaching, which is not the subject of this text and deserves special attention), there is also the issue of the economic sustainability of these programs in a situation where the allocations from tuition fees for the University have been significantly increased and when the Faculty of Law cannot independently disposes and distributes the total revenue.
High school graduates who apply for admission to 120 places financed from the budget, have nothing to ask for at the law school in Podgorica if they were not successful or at least excellent during high school. This would mean that the largest number of high school graduates from the best high schools in Montenegro, where there is a stricter criterion, will remain unenrolled.
For the teachers of the Faculty of Law, making such decisions would have a different meaning. For those who already have a prescribed norm of classes, additional effort and multi-year work with weaker students (it would not be possible to get into a situation where one teacher works with 400-800 students if a different enrollment policy was followed and only the best students who regularly finish their university duties). For others, supplementing the missing standards and the possibility of certain additional earnings, with the argument of meeting the interests of students from other areas.
For the University of Montenegro, more money in the common treasury based on the enrollment of self-financing students in the mentioned programs.
It is enough to ask the question, who will benefit if the Government makes such a decision? Would that decision be in favor of the best students, to whom the state should provide the highest quality education at the expense of the state? Should the Faculty of Law have the primary function of a social institution (both for students and individual teachers) or should it improve the quality of its services and the quality of students' knowledge?
The Faculty of Law should enroll the best students regardless of which part of Montenegro they come from and to enable them to study in the place and premises intended for that, in Podgorica. This could be achieved by redirecting a number of students whose enrollment is planned in Bijelo Polje and Budva to Podgorica (which is the position of the representatives of the Faculty of Law students) or by completely suspending the enrollment of students in the departments in B. Polje and Budva and enrolling all 230 students in basic studies law in Podgorica. These 1.000 future experts in criminology and security (if they all graduated) could probably, individually, contribute to the security of the country, but even much larger states could not have the capacity to employ so many experts of that profile.
If the Government of Montenegro adopts the proposal of the UCG Senate, it will mean discrimination against the best high school students, whose parents are unable to pay for their education abroad or at private colleges in the country. Or, perhaps, all this is being done so that, under pressure from the public, the Government would decide that those students should be educated at the expense of the state, but at private faculties in Montenegro.
And finally, for the fulfillment of the proclaimed goals of the Government in the field of Euro-Atlantic integration, the key assumptions are the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary. And that requires the best and most educated law graduates.
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