Four UCG faculties will test the dual education model

At the Faculty of Economics of the University of Montenegro, a two-day program officially marked the beginning of the Erasmus+ structural project "Strengthening capacity for the implementation of dual education in the higher education of Montenegro - DUALMON", it was announced from this faculty.

The Dean of the Faculty of Economics Nikola Milović pointed out that "this project is of great importance for continuing to improve the quality of the teaching process and strengthening the international position through new research and projects".

"Dual education represents the best way to provide functional knowledge and develop young people's skills during their studies, which contributes to the quality of personnel for the labor market, which is why it is not surprising that this concept of education is widespread in the world. Through dual education, everyone gets: students adequate knowledge and skills , and employers have better access to quality personnel, while they are still students, with the possibility of offering the best a job," Milović pointed out.

The Faculty of Economics announced that "the project was launched with the aim of improving the competencies of graduate students in Montenegro", through, as they say, "the development of a generic model of dual education and the legal framework for the introduction of this type of education with the support of the various needs and interests of students, companies and higher education institutions".

Vice Dean for International Cooperation of the Faculty of Economics, Prof. Dr. Boban Melović, who is also the manager of the DUALMON project, said that the project includes a benchmarking analysis with examples of best practice from those countries where such or similar projects have been implemented or are in the process of implementation.

"In cooperation with experts from the Universities of Serbia, Austria and Slovenia, a generic model of dual education will be developed for Montenegro based on the leading models in the world. This pilot model will be tested by four faculties of the University of Montenegro from different fields: Faculty of Economics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Faculty for tourism and hotel management and the Kotor Maritime Faculty," said Melović.

The coordinator of this international project is the University of Novi Sad, and the choice of partners in the project, according to Professor Melović, was simple.

"They were qualified by their results. Namely, dual education in Austria and Slovenia is considered very successful, and the Austrian model is among the best in the world, which is also confirmed by the fact that the employment rate after graduation of those students who went through the dual education program at partner institutions is very high and ranges from 90 to 100%. These countries have several dual education programs in the fields of information and communication technologies, engineering and engineering management, and production and processing, while the University of Novi Sad participated in the project of introducing dual education in Serbia and has experienced teaching staff in the application of dual education and the development of the legal framework in higher education," said Melović.

The representative of the project coordinator, University of Novi Sad, prof. Dr. Mirko Savić, said that Montenegro is the third country in the region that received this Erasmus+ project and will benefit from the experience of neighboring countries and the help of partners. The DUALMON project was successfully implemented in Serbia, while its implementation is underway in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

They announced that the acting rector, Prof. Dr. Vladimir Božović, vice-rector for internationalization prof. Dr. Sanja Peković, dean of the partner faculties, representative of the project partners from the state and business sector, as well as the national Erasmus+ office.

During the two-day work, presentations were also made by representatives of the consortium members: University of Novi Sad, University of Montenegro, FH Joanneum Gesellschaft MBH from Austria, Maribor Academy, Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports, Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro, Agency for Control and Security the quality of higher education, and the company Voli Trade doo, Hotels Group Montenegro Stars, Crnogorska plovidba AD Kotor and Crnogorski Telekom AD Podgorica.