As one of the professors with the longest tenure at the Faculty of Law in Podgorica, and after the retirement of a large number of colleagues, and as someone who is not a member of the Faculty's management, I feel a moral obligation to state my position on the allegations that are present in the media campaign that has been conducted in recent days regarding the suspension of enrollment at the Department of the Faculty of Law in Bijelo Polje.
Previously, I would like to mention that the Senate and the Board of Directors of the University of Montenegro, deciding on the number of enrolled students, confirmed the proposal of the Faculty of Law to suspend the enrollment of students for the academic year 2022/2023 at the Department of the Faculty of Law in Bijelo Polje. All the mentioned decisions were made unanimously. The aforementioned decision was made on the basis of a detailed analysis carried out by the Faculty of Law, which contains statistical data on the success of students, an analysis of enrollment in the period 2015-2020, an analysis of the labor market and the workload of teachers, as we lawyers say, in good faith and as a good host .
Based on my experience working at the Department of the Faculty of Law in Bijelo Polje, I can confirm that the situation has changed significantly since the establishment of this study program until today. In the beginning, there was significant student interest in this study and there were students who were on par or better than their peers in Podgorica. During all that time, the best high school graduates enrolled at the Faculty of Law in Podgorica or at law faculties in neighboring countries.
As a member of the Quality Committee at the Faculty of Law for many years, I had the opportunity to monitor trends that indicated a drastic drop in the number of students interested in enrolling in the department in Bijelo Polje, as well as the average grade and length of study of enrolled candidates.
From personal experience, I can say that in recent years, the interest of students in completing their obligations has been drastically decreasing, as well as the quality of students' answers in exams for basic studies in Podgorica as well, and in Bijelo Polje it is beyond any criteria of a higher education institution. The current situation is best shown by the data from the Performance Analysis, which refer to the Departments of the Faculty of Law in Bijelo Polje: now only 29 students are active out of a total of 70 enrolled in 2018 and 2019, none of whom graduated within the deadline (no enrollment was made students from 2019), and according to the old program, for the period from 2005 to 2017, as many as 616 students did not enroll or renew the year.
Is it justified that the current 15 teachers of the Faculty of Law (as opposed to the former 25), who are already overloaded with teaching in Podgorica, teach at the Department of the Faculty of Law in Bijelo Polje for one, two or three students per subject (sometimes they find themselves empty classrooms) who will unsuccessfully try to pass the exams in every way for the next who knows how many years and is anyone really doing them a favor?
I am deeply convinced that by collapsing the higher education system in each individual case, we are gradually collapsing the country and our future, because we are increasingly becoming a society of ignorance. Do we all have to be hostages of "bad" students all our lives (even though grades are not the only criterion of success) who are always the loudest when it comes to asking for postponement of knowledge tests, allowing new exam dates, shortening the exam material and providing all other benefits that the largest number never use it? There is also a great responsibility for us as teachers for the stated situation, but that would require a special analysis. Also, I believe that even more work should be done on raising the quality of teaching and creating the best possible environment and conditions for those who really want to learn.
In our country, many social issues, including this one, are viewed from a political and social perspective. Decisions that have a political and social background and are not based on realistic indicators contribute to the general trend of degrading university degrees. Under these circumstances, higher education is viewed as a means of lowering social tensions and postponing the solution to the problem of unemployment and youth emigration, preferably for as long as possible.
It is indisputable that social problems should be solved, but this should be done systematically, and not by putting out local political and social fires with gasoline. In the specific case, one of the possible solutions would be to find a way to grant scholarships to a number of students who come from socially disadvantaged families and who would attend classes with their peers in Podgorica, and upon completion of their studies would have the obligation to apply the acquired knowledge in their the middle. Because the sustainability of the Department of the Faculty of Law in Bijelo Polje is no longer a matter of will and desire, but of the objective possibilities of the institution and teachers.
The author is a full professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Montenegro
Bonus video:
