The Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MESI) has issued a decision to suspend the recognition of foreign educational certificates for more than 120 medical workers who have brought certificates of graduation from the Belgrade private Medical School "Milutin Milanković" since mid-last year, "Vijesti" has learned.
According to the same information, out of 127 certificates submitted to that department for validation, as many as 94 were issued last September. On September 19 alone, according to editorial sources, this private institution with headquarters in Zemun and a regional office in Tutin issued more than 20 graduation certificates to Montenegrin citizens.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia requested verification of the authenticity of these foreign documents through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since no response has been received from the competent authorities of Serbia to date, decisions have been made to suspend the recognition process. The process can only be continued after a response from the competent authorities in Serbia," the department unofficially told "Vijesti" Anđele Jakšić-Stojanović.
The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Montenegro is also facing an influx of foreign diplomas, especially from the surrounding area, which, after completing the nostrification procedure at the Ministry of Medical and Health Sciences, is implementing the procedure for equalizing qualifications.
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Miodrag Radunović He told "Vijesti" that this university unit has the largest influx of requests for equalization of qualifications, and that it is mainly about higher nursing studies at private institutions from the surrounding area - Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH).
"What is striking is that in addition to higher nursing degrees, in recent years, degrees from doctors of pharmacy and dentistry have also started to be accepted for equalization, and this is something that threatens both the quality and health care in Montenegro," Radunović warned.
He pointed out that the Faculty of Medicine receives an average of between 10 and 15 requests for equivalency per month, but that recently it has been around twenty diplomas per month.
Radunović emphasizes that the Faculty of Medicine stopped the pressure after the events in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the filing of indictments against several private institutions for alleged diploma trafficking.
"First, we asked for the clinical practice diaries to be submitted to us. Unfortunately, we always receive everything with stamps, with the number of hours and in a formal and legal sense completely 'clean'. However, it is very easy to verify that the candidates were in their jobs and receiving salaries at that time. This must certainly be verified by other authorities," said Radunović.
According to the rules and procedures, Professor Radunović specifies, after the diploma validation procedure is completed at the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine forms a commission consisting of four professors and lawyers to carry out the equalization.
That is why the Faculty of Medicine has asked the competent educational agencies of BiH and Serbia to provide them with information about the schools that are under public scrutiny on whether their work is in compliance with the European Union directives from 2005 and 2013.
"If it is not agreed, we will have to reject all requests for equalization, because the studies of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, physiotherapy and nursing belong to regulated professions. Although the commissions are working, for now we have stopped with decisions on equalization of diplomas, although we are suffering enormous pressure, and some court cases have even begun against us," Radunović specified.
The Dean of the Faculty of Medicine emphasizes that the Senate of the University of Montenegro recently adopted a new regulation that will still be developed.
"The new rulebook, after detailed elaboration, will allow that if there is no essential similarity in curricula and teaching units, the faculty can form committees that will organize supplementary exams to test the knowledge of candidates, so that only then can diplomas be equalized," said Radunović.
The Dean of the Faculty of Medicine also emphasized that the institution has good cooperation with the current leadership of the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation.
"And Minister Jakšić-Stojanović and her team are sincere fighters against fake diplomas," said Radunović.
The Ministry recently told "Vijesti" that it will not recognize any diplomas from the private "Tutin" High School in Tutin that were obtained since 2019, when the institution was banned from operating due to illegality. This includes more than 60 diplomas.
At the end of last year, the Government, at the proposal of the Jakšić-Stojanović department, decided to suspend, pending the verdict of the Bosnian courts, the procedures for recognizing educational documents that had previously arrived from the Independent University of Political and Social Sciences, the University of Business Engineering and Management "PIM", as well as the College of Applied and Legal Sciences "Prometej" from Banja Luka, the University "Victoria International University" and the College "Union" from Mostar, and the International University of Brčko. These institutions are charged with trafficking in diplomas in economics, law, technical-engineering and health professions, management...
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