CCE: Even UCG faculties without control over more than 670.000 euros of student money

The Center for Civic Education (CCE) pointed out that Non-transparency in spending student money at the University of Montenegro (UCG) is not limited only to the level of the Rectorate and the Student Parliament of the University of Montenegro (SPUCG), but that the same practice is also present in the organizational units of the University of Montenegro.

The statement, signed by program assistant Jovana Radulović, states that faculties have been allocating significant funds to student councils and organizations for years, mostly without any system of control and subsequent verification of how that money is spent.

"According to data submitted by the faculties of the University of Montenegro to the CCE, in accordance with the Law on Free Access to Information, 15 faculties and academies have allocated a total of over 670.000 euros to finance student councils, organizations and individual student activities since 2020. These funds are allocated in addition to the more than 1,35 million euros that SPUCG received in the same period, bringing the total amount of public money directed to student bodies within the University of Montenegro to over two million euros," it was announced.

The Faculty of Law allocated the largest amount - around 177.000 euros, followed by the Faculty of Economics - over 86.000 euros, then the Faculty of Electrical Engineering around 80.000 euros, the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering around 74.000 euros, the Faculty of Architecture and the Faculty of Philology around 40.000 euros each, while the Faculty of Political Sciences, the Faculty of Civil Engineering, the Faculty of Biotechnology and the Faculty of Tourism and Hotel Management each allocated between 24.000 and 35.000 euros. The smallest allocations, according to the CCE, ranging from around 7.000 to 16.000 euros, were recorded at the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, the Academy of Music, the Faculty of Metallurgy and Technology and the Faculty of Medicine.

"The vast majority of faculties pay out funds based on individual applications and requests from student organizations, without the obligation for these organizations to subsequently submit evidence of how the funds were spent. In the documentation submitted, faculties often state that they are not in possession of subsequent reports or other documentation on the use of funds, which confirms that the post-payment control system is generally not established. In addition, there are examples of weakening control mechanisms over time. The Faculty of Economics has requested detailed reports on implemented activities from student organizations by 2023, including a description of costs and the obligation to publish announcements and reports on each activity on the faculty website."

The CCE statement states that since 2024, this practice has been significantly relaxed, and that reporting is no longer nearly as detailed as before.

"However, there are also positive examples that show that a control system can be established within the existing legal framework. The Music Academy is one of the rare organizational units of the University of Montenegro that collects invoices, signed lists of participants with the amounts they received, as well as reports on implemented activities, which prove the actual expenditure of the funds paid. In this way, it is possible to monitor the actual expenditure of funds and ensure that for each euro it can be determined what it was specifically spent on," it was announced.

They state that there are certain elements of good practice at other faculties, but none of them has a fully comprehensive financial control system.

"The practice is inconsistent and left to the good will of the administration, instead of being systematically regulated and binding at the UCG level. The consequence is that for most of the funds transferred to student organizations, it cannot be determined whether, and to what extent, they were spent for the purposes for which they were allocated. The absence of systematic control over the spending of student funds at most faculties of the UCG, which has lasted for years and through different administrations and generations of student representatives, increasingly indicates the existence of a model that favors certain interest groups, rather than the public interest."

The statement emphasizes that the highest price is paid by students, in whose name the funds are formally allocated, and who do not have the ability to determine how the money is actually spent.

"Perhaps the causes of this are related to the way in which student representatives are elected. Where election processes are conducted in a non-transparent manner, without public announcement and clear deadlines, with favoritism towards known or "suitable" candidates, the lack of financial control is no longer a technical failure, but part of a system in which the same circle of people is elected, financed and controlled by themselves, without real accountability to the student community. CCE has already pointed out such patterns in the work of certain student structures of the University of Montenegro, and The most recent example is the process of selecting student trustees at the Faculty of Political Sciences.".

CCE called on the management of all organizational units of the University of Montenegro to establish clear and binding mechanisms for controlling the spending of funds transferred to student organizations.

These mechanisms, they state, should include a standardized request form with a precise description of activities, planned costs and expected results, as well as the obligation to submit receipts, invoices and reports on the implementation of activities and funds spent as a condition for further payments. Also, data on allocated and spent funds must be publicly available and regularly published, so that students and the interested public have insight into how the money allocated on their behalf is spent.

"Finally, CCE calls on the Rectorate of the University of Montenegro to take responsibility and establish a single and binding mechanism for controlling the expenditure of funds intended for student activities, which will apply to all organizational units of the University of Montenegro without exception. Individual positive examples show that such a system is possible and feasible, but that there is still a lack of institutional will to make it the rule, not the exception. Without it, more than two million euros of public money that has been allocated to student bodies within the University of Montenegro in recent years remains beyond the reach of responsible management of public funds, which is unacceptable for an institution that should itself be a model of transparency and accountability," the statement reads.