Two teachers who work in the state preschool institution Eko Bajka Kindergarten in Pljevlja, received their education at a dubious university in the entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Republika Srpska, and on the basis of these diplomas, their monthly salary is calculated.
This can be seen from the documentation and answers submitted by Eko Bajka based on requests under the Law on Free Access to Information (FIA). Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG).
Both graduated from the Faculty of Pedagogy of the Independent University of Banja Luka (NUBL). This university is currently under investigation by the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) for the illegal issuance and sale of university diplomas. The former rector of this university, Zoran Kalinic, who signed one of these two diplomas that CIN-CG had access to, was arrested in February 2023 on charges that he participated in illegal activities related to diplomas.
In the course of this investigation, CIN-CG came across dozens of dubious diplomas from various faculties in the region. All these diplomas are recognized without problems in Montenegro, in the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MPNI), more precisely in the National Information Center of Montenegro (ENIC Center), which is a special organizational unit of the MPNI responsible for the recognition of diplomas from abroad.
Some diplomas are particularly interesting and at first glance you can see that something is wrong, so it's surprising how it got past the authorities. One of such diplomas recognized by MPNI is that of Podgorica XX who is at the Faculty of Management of the International University of Brčko district in Bosnia and Herzegovina obtained a degree in civil engineering in 2014, although that university was founded in 2011, and studies last four years.
Most of the diplomas that CIN-CG had access to came from the Union Nikola Tesla University, the Independent University of Banja Luka (NUBL), the International University in Novi Pazar, the European University in Brčko, the University of Travnik, the International University of Travnik, as well as the College of Applied and legal sciences Prometheus from Banja Luka.
"According to our analysis, there are about 25 fake diplomas in Montenegro," he told CIN-CG Zarija Pavićević, coordinator of Alternative Montenegro, an organization that has been dealing with the problem of fake diplomas for a long time.
Some of those diplomas, a former member of the Parliament of Montenegro states for CIN-CG Branka Bosniak, have some MPs, directors and board members, even ministers...
"All diplomas, especially those of people who hold important public positions and decide on strategically important issues, should be carefully combed through," she believes.
In order to solve the problem of fake diplomas, interdepartmental cooperation is needed, according to the MPNI.
"The formation of an interdepartmental working group is being prepared, which will be made up of representatives of various ministries and all relevant institutions," announced this government department.
Sociologist Andrija Djukanovic for CIN-CG points out that the appearance of fake diplomas had a negative impact on the perception of academic education.
"Academic achievements are valued less, because now everything is questioned. It is important to succeed on the social scale, to take a place, to provide oneself with a position and material benefit. Knowledge is no longer necessary for advancement in society. The general atmosphere encourages breaking the law, which has been elevated to the level of virtue".
Đukanović believes that a society based on ignorance and breaking the law is doomed to certain destruction.
"The damage is enormous and certain when people without knowledge take positions from which they make decisions. They are there because of their personal interest and often the interest of a certain political elite, that is, a party that turns a blind eye to their education and buys their loyalty. Everyone is satisfied, but unaware of the damage they will do to society. It will take a lot of effort to change things”.
Institutions have legal mechanisms to thoroughly check all diplomas from abroad. Research by CIN-CG showed that they mostly do not use them.
Most often without detailed "combing"
Several well-informed sources confirmed to CIN-CG that the institutions do not examine in detail all the circumstances in the process of recognizing a foreign diploma.
In 2011, Montenegro adopted the Law on Recognition of Foreign Educational Documents and Equalization of Qualifications (the Law), which is based on EU recommendations and standards in this area. MPNI, according to this Law, can determine, or evaluate, several criteria before accepting foreign diplomas. It can examine whether the institution that issued the diploma is recognized, i.e. accredited by the competent authority in the country where the educational document was obtained, the education system in the country where the foreign educational document was obtained, the duration and level, i.e. degree of education without comparing the educational program , the credibility of the educational document, but also other circumstances of importance for the recognition of the document for the purpose of employment.
CIN-CG's research has shown that the educational institutions from which the fake diplomas come are without problems accredited and recognized in the countries where they were founded, so in those circumstances it would be necessary for the institutions to pay additional attention and still examine all other details .
For example, the diploma from NUBL of one of the two teachers from the Eko bajka kindergarten in Pljevlja was issued in October 2023, which means that the process of recognizing the diploma in Montenegro had to take place after that. Before that, that university was under investigation by the Bosnian-Herzegovinian prosecutor's office since February 2023. These are some of the circumstances in which the MPNI had to be informed and therefore analyze the application for the recognition of the diploma in more detail before approving it.
CIN-CG asked the MPNI whether until now that government department acted according to the last paragraph, i.e. whether it examined other important circumstances in the process of recognizing diplomas, as well as whether they could give us some examples in which it was discovered on that basis that the degree is not real.
From that Ministry, CIN-CG was told that they do so, although they are not obliged to examine all of the mentioned criteria.
"Our authorized officers for conducting the procedure examine all the criteria individually, as well as 'other circumstances of importance' for the recognition of the document for the purpose of employment, which we include: the basis of enrollment, i.e. transfer to a higher education institution abroad, in which case we ask the holder of the document for additional proof of the recognized exams, then the years of life when the educational institution was enrolled, i.e. when the education was acquired, are also valued", they state.
A special problem is that the Law on the Recognition of Foreign Educational Documents and the Equalization of Qualifications stipulates that once the document has been recognized, it is not subject to re-examination.
This rule provides stability and predictability to persons who have obtained a qualification abroad, facilitates the process of employment or further education for them, the senior legal advisor of the Center for Civic Education (CGO) explains for CIN-CG. Snezana Kaluđerović. However, she states, this does not exclude the possibility of criminal liability, if there is doubt about the authenticity or legality of the educational document or the recognition process.
"This can have legal consequences of a conviction in the form of the loss of a certain right due to a false or falsified document, such as the right to employment based on that document or the right to further education based on the same document," Kaluđerović points out.
Zarija Pavićević believes that this article of the Law should be changed.
"We are trying to, in agreement with MPNI, come to a joint proposal in which direction this legal solution should be changed. That's why a special team was formed," he says.
In 75 percent of the verdicts, only a suspended sentence
CIN-CG analyzed 58 final judgments related to the criminal offense of falsifying an educational document, which Montenegrin courts passed between 2009 and 2023. The Basic Court in Podgorica handed down the most convictions - 49, one by the High Court in Podgorica, two by the Basic Court in Kotor, Kolašin and Cetinje, and one by the Basic Court in Rožaje and Bar. In the largest number of verdicts, 45 of them, the defendants were given probation and fines for falsifying diplomas, and only in nine cases was it a prison sentence, while in one verdict the defendant was sentenced to work in the public interest, in another to house arrest, and two cases were acquitted.
Suspended sentences were generally for one or two years, and fines ranged from 30 to 1.250 euros. The lowest prison sentence was 40 days, and it was given to a man who applied for a job as a police officer in the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) with a fake diploma.
In the largest number of cases, 44, high school diplomas were falsified, in nine cases it was a university diploma, and in one case the defendant tried to falsify the average so that he could apply for a position at the Historical Institute of Montenegro.
There was also a falsification of a primary school diploma. In 2017, the defendant submitted to the Ministry of Education a fake diploma of completion of elementary school for certification. In his defense, he stated that he did it because he couldn't get a job anywhere without elementary school.
One of the defendants falsified his diploma from the Faculty of Philosophy in Nikšić, which was discovered when he applied for the position of editor in a Montenegrin daily newspaper in 2010, which was then state-owned and acted as a public newspaper. He was selected, and then someone reported him anonymously. In his defense, he stated that he decided to take that step "because of the great support from the management structure of the public service".
The example of a man who, with a fake diploma from the Technical School for Mechanical Engineering and Traffic from Kragujevac, worked for years in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Special Anti-Terrorist Unit is also interesting. He received a two-year suspended sentence for that crime and lost his job.
The judgment from 2015 describes the case of an employee in the Municipality of Bijelo Polje who worked there for a long time with a fake degree in economics for marketing and trade from a Belgrade school of higher education. First, he was an employee in charge of keeping the voter list, and then an advisor in the Youth Office. He even had a certificate of having passed the professional exam for working in state bodies. He received a three-year suspended sentence.
The case was previously known to the public Zorica Stanković, who, with a fake diploma from the Faculty of Science and Mathematics at the University of Novi Sad, served as the director of the Second Elementary School in Budva. She received a one-year suspended sentence. This might not even have been known if the information that her diploma was fake had not appeared in the media. In her defense, Stanković stated that the mediator in her case was the agency Educational Center Academy of Knowledge from Belgrade.
Research by CIN-CG showed that almost always someone mediates the process of obtaining fake diplomas.
Only in one court proceeding was the defendant and mediator
Hana (name changed to protect identity), a former student at a faculty in Novi Pazar, described for CIN-CG what her "studying" was like.
"I enrolled at the university in Novi Pazar, following the advice and guidance of a woman who worked there and who told me that I would easily get my degree. When enrolling, it was explained to me not to worry about lectures. So I appeared there only a couple of times, just like that," she begins the story.
Each year of "studying" cost her about a thousand and a half euros. The whole process was originally supposed to take four years. However, in the second year, she was offered to get her diploma earlier, but to pay more for it. That's when she began to suspect that she herself would be deceived.
"That woman, an intermediary, told me to pay the first installment for college in her name at the post office. It was strange to me why the payment didn't go to the university, but I did as she said. Whenever I went there, she would show me all the exams I had passed, and every time I brought her a gift, perfume, flowers or something similar," says Hana.
Later, she found out that those exams were not registered as passed and that this woman was actually taking the money for herself all the time.
"I never even saw the index," she claims, and after that she decided to leave everything.
She feels cheated, as she was never reimbursed for the mock exams.
In the judgments we analyzed, only in one case was the defendant and the mediator. In 2018, a citizen of Hercegovina was sentenced to a suspended sentence of two years, because he participated in the procurement and use of fake diplomas from the Junior High School of Mechanical Engineering in Sarajevo.
In many cases, those who wanted to obtain a fake degree claimed that they themselves had been cheated.
Thus, in 2018, a man from Cetinje was sentenced to a one-year suspended sentence, because he wanted to certify a fake diploma on passing the final exam allegedly issued by the Technical and Vocational High School in Trebinje.
In his defense, he stated that he met on summer vacation Lj. from Trebinje, who told him that she had an aunt who had important connections at that school, so she offered him to finish the fourth grade "through a connection". He paid her 300 euros for her diploma and was convinced that she was regular. However, it turns out that he was deceived.
In another case, a former student of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Montenegro, who had a problem passing the remaining five exams, gave 8.500 euros to a certain man to help him obtain a diploma from a college in Serbia. He met him through a friend. After taking the money, the broker had him sign 33 blank receipts that he said he would use to pay for 33 college exams. He also told him that he does not have to appear for the exams either. In the process of recognizing the diploma, it was discovered that he was never even in the records of that faculty in Serbia.
The writer also forged a diploma from a high school in the region. He paid 900 euros for it to a man he met in the company where he got a job, which required him to have that degree as a condition. When the Ministry of Education informed him that the diploma was not valid, he claimed that he had been deceived.
However, the courts in such cases usually did not accept the defenses, but claimed that the defendants were aware that the diplomas were not valid.
MPNI filed 16 criminal reports in the last 122 years
From 2008 until today, the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation submitted 122 criminal reports to prosecutors' offices due to suspicions of forgery of educational documents. This is the information that they submitted to CIN-CG from that government department.
During 2023, they filed 28 criminal charges on suspicion of falsification of foreign educational documents of all levels of education. Of these, half of the reports refer to the falsification of secondary school diplomas, and half to the falsification of high school diplomas.
Since the beginning of 2024 alone, the MPNI has filed 18 criminal charges on suspicion of forgery of diplomas. Of these, 14 applications are about diplomas of secondary level education, and in the remaining four cases about diplomas of primary and higher education.
In 2004, Montenegro ratified the Lisbon Convention on the recognition of diplomas in the field of higher education in the European region, which was also the basis for drafting the Law on the Recognition and Evaluation of Educational Documents from 2008.
That Convention is an important international document for all member countries of the ENIC/NARIC network, which is responsible for providing advice and information on national and foreign education systems. And Montenegro is part of that network.
"One of the basic principles of the Lisbon Convention is that recognition does not imply a detailed comparison of study programs. Therefore, in the recognition procedure, the qualification is not equated, but the acquired qualification is formally confirmed", they stated for CIN-CG from MPNI.
In Montenegro, by the way, in the process of recognition of foreign educational documents on acquired higher education for the purpose of employment, nostrification, i.e. a detailed comparison of curricula and curricula, is not carried out, CIN-CG learns.
Instead, only the acquired professional title, i.e. the name of the qualification and the level of education, is formally confirmed, without the obligation to take supplementary exams.
According to the Ministry of Education and Culture, the criteria that are evaluated when recognizing a foreign educational document, among other things, refer to the verification of the credibility of the educational document, as well as the verification of the status of the institution that issued the diploma - that is, whether the institution is accredited by the competent institutions in the country of origin educational documents.
Every year, the number of requests for recognition of diplomas grows, mostly from private universities
It is evident that every year the number of requests for recognition for the purpose of employment is higher and that diplomas are mostly from private institutions of higher education, the MPNI points out.
Thus, in 2018, there were 3 submitted requests, in 074 - 2019 requests, in 3 - 059, in 2020 - 3.505, and in 2021, 3.046 requests.
In 2023, this trend of growth in the number of requests for recognition of educational documents continued, so 5.151 inquiries were recorded. These were mostly diplomas obtained in the Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine. Of that number, 1 requests came from the region. From Serbia - 646, Bosnia and Herzegovina - 1.238, North Macedonia - 323, Slovenia - 47 and Croatia - 23 requests.
The largest number of requests for recognition of diplomas from private educational institutions concerned the universities of MB, Edukons, Union Nikola Tesla from Belgrade, as well as NUBL.
When it comes to state institutions, most inquiries came from graduates from the Universities of Belgrade, Novi Sad and Kragujevac, as well as those from the University of East Sarajevo and the University of Sarajevo.
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