Vukotić: While the government talks about a "knowledge society", the Ministry of Education is hindering the youth of Montenegro with illegal barriers

While the government talks about a "knowledge society", the Ministry of Education is hindering the youth of Montenegro with illegal barriers, the president of the Youth Forum of the Civic Movement URA, Luka Vukotić, announced today.

The statement from the GP URA states that Vukotić criticized the Ministry of Education "for illegally denying diplomas to students who met the requirements prescribed by the Law on Higher Education."

He said that the Ministry, through internal interpretations, is introducing additional conditions that are not provided for by law, especially the requirement that all 60 ECTS credits must be achieved in the first year of specialist studies.

"We are witnessing a dangerous precedent in which bureaucratic arbitrariness is trying to place itself above the applicable legal norms, directly endangering the future of Montenegrin students. It is unacceptable that internal acts and letters of the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation are attempting to introduce restrictive conditions that are not recognized by the Law on Higher Education itself," said Vukotić.

The statement from the URA GP states that "regarding the current disputes in which students are denied the right to diplomas despite having met the legal requirements, Vukotić points out that what is happening is classic administrative violence against young people."

"The Law on Higher Education is clear and it stipulates that every student who achieves 60 out of a total of 120 ECTS credits is entitled to a diploma of specialist studies. No subsequent cleverness of the bureaucracy, packaged in 'interpretations' and 'internal instructions', can and must not be stronger than the law adopted by the Parliament. By introducing an additional condition that 60 ECTS must be from the first year, the Ministry is changing the rules of studying during the academic year, which directly violates the principle of legal certainty and legitimate expectations of those who have invested years of effort and work," said Vukotić.

He added that this kind of behavior by the competent authorities is devastating for a state that is declaratively fighting for young people and their stay in the country.

"While we talk about the 'knowledge society' and 'European standards', in practice we have a system that punishes students for its dysfunctionality. Instead of institutions applying the principle of helping a stranger and interpreting norms in the most favorable way for students, they are turning into insurmountable barriers. Forcing young people to seek their most basic rights, such as the right to a diploma, in court is a disgrace for the education sector and the entire executive branch," said the president of the URA Youth Forum.

Vukotić said that the URA Youth Forum provides full support to all students.

"We call on the Ministry to urgently withdraw the controversial interpretations and stop the practice that hinders the professional development of young experts. We will not allow the careers of our colleagues to depend on someone's bureaucratic whim or ignorance of the legal hierarchy. The state must be a service to citizens, not their enemy hiding behind paper and stamps. If the law says that the conditions are met, the diploma must be in the hands of the student, not in a bureaucrat's drawer," concluded Vukotić.

"Vijesti" was officially told at the beginning of April by the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MPNI) that arbitrary interpretations of the Law on Higher Education, according to which it would be sufficient to achieve 60 ECTS credits in any subject from any of the two years of master's studies for a postgraduate specialist degree, could violate academic standards and jeopardize the quality of Montenegrin diplomas.

Students who wish to continue their specialist or master's studies after completing their undergraduate studies will have to take an entrance exam. Those who have already taken the entrance exam for enrollment in the fourth, specialist year will not have to go through that process again if they decide to continue their fifth year of master's studies.

This proposal for amendments to the Law on Higher Education, which was submitted to the parliamentary procedure by the Europe Now Movement (PES) MP Uglješa Urošević, and supported by the Committee on Education, Science, Culture and Sports on April 22, was also discussed by the MPs at the plenary session.