The rector of the University of Montenegro (UCG) should be elected in direct elections, he must be a full-time professor with at least 15 years of service at a state higher education institution, believes the former vice-president of the Parliament of Montenegro and an employee of the University of Montenegro Branka Bosniak.
According to her, the right to vote in the elections for the rector of the state university would have academic staff in employment, associates with scientific titles employed at the state university, but also representatives of non-academic staff and students.
If the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation accepts Bosniaks' suggestions on the Draft Law on Higher Education, the rector would be proclaimed by the president, who would also approve his dismissal.
Similar legal solutions, Bošnjak points out, exist in the member states of the European Union - the rector is elected in direct elections in Slovenia, while in Albania and Hungary the president confirms the election or announces the head of the university.
"I believe that the election of the rector of the state university should be prescribed in a completely different and more democratic way, in order to remove any influence of politics in this deeply politicized community of ours and to protect the university, as it is still one of the few relatively uncontaminated environments in this regard" , specified Bošnjak in the suggestions submitted to the MPNI.
She points out that the state university is an institution of great importance for the state, which is why it must not "leave even the slightest possibility of the influence of politics and the interests of political parties, which is very possible with the proposed solution that the rector is elected by the Board of Directors on the proposal of the Senate".
"But that proposal does not obligate them, so 15 people, five of whom are there on the direct proposal of 'politics', decide on the election of the rector, and the academic staff is in the minority. "University units and the views of their councils, that is, academic staff at university units, are affected by this proposed solution, which is actually identical in the existing law, nothing is asked, they are already totally marginalized," emphasized Bošnjak.
According to her, the state university should inherit freedom of thought and ideas, and not be closed and non-transparent and that "it is ruled by an unbearable pain desired by politicians who can have direct influence through the election of the head of the university".
"In such a politically created environment, where everything is more or less controlled, the best who stand up for themselves and their reputation avoid participating, that is, running for rector at all, because they believe that they would be part of a prearranged 'race' whose outcome known in advance. That's why there are often no opponents to the pre-favored one, which is a warning light and which should lead us to take a reform step and propose a more democratic solution", explained Bošnjak, submitting elaborated legal norms to which this suggestion for amending the Draft Law would be based. could rely on.
Periodic verification of private individuals
According to her, the draft did not sufficiently elaborate the issue of the proposers of the members of the National Council for Higher Education.
Bošnjak specifies that four members of the Council should be proposed by the UCG from among the academic staff, at least three of whom have the academic title of full professor, and one by the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts.
"Other licensed institutions of higher education in Montenegro propose two members from among the academic staff, at least one of whom has the academic title of full professor, the Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro and the employers' association, which is represented in the Social Council by one member and the Student Parliament by one member," says Bošnjak.
She believes that the National Council for Education must inform the Parliament of Montenegro about its work at least once a year.
Bošnjak believes that it is necessary to oblige the Agency for the Quality Assurance of Higher Education to periodically check whether all private institutions that have been granted a work permit continue to meet the requirements prescribed by law.
"Private licensed higher education institutions very often, immediately after receiving accreditation, know how to reduce the number of academic staff in full engagement, and they make various types of manipulations with spatial capacities and equipment, and usually in the period between reaccreditations they do not fulfill the conditions with which they applied and received the green light light to continue work. That is why it is necessary to carry out this quality assessment periodically, several times, without notice", stresses Bošnjak.
According to her, the Draft Law foresees a lower criterion for obtaining the status of a university compared to the existing regulation.
"The minimum number of study programs has been reduced, which I think is not a good solution.
I am of the opinion that the criteria should not be lowered in our weakened educational system, so my proposal is to maintain the existing criteria of five study programs necessary for the institution to have the status of a university", she specified.
Scholarships for deficit professions
Bošnjak points out that he supports the awarding of scholarships for excellence in higher education - scholarships for students who succeed in enrolling in some of the world's best faculties.
Nevertheless, it should also be prescribed to provide scholarships for students who attend study programs for the acquisition of deficient titles, which are needed by Montenegro.
"The Council for Higher Education would annually determine the list of deficit occupations and recommend the number of scholarships. I think that accreditation for study programs of the same profiles is given quite lightly, so we train staff for the labor bureau. "It also happens that we lightly accredit some study programs for which it is debatable whether they meet the prescribed conditions, especially whether they have enough staff, but they improvise and pay people from outside to teach," she explained.
He believes that, if there is a shortage of occupations, and there are no conditions for opening those programs at public institutions or there is no long-term interest in those personnel, scholarships should be awarded to study those programs.
"With the obligation to return to us and contribute to the state that gave them a scholarship, because it is more profitable. If a private higher education institution licensed in Montenegro opens such a study program, a certain number of those who want to study at those institutions can receive scholarships," Bošnjak suggested.
The draft law on higher education abolishes the current solution according to which the state had the possibility to finance study programs at private faculties, if they do not exist at the state university. Representatives of private institutions are not satisfied with that change, as they announced in mid-November during the central public hearing on the future regulation.
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