Božović Interview for Dan: The Government Decides on Enrolment of Self-Financed Students (text taken from dan.co.me)
Rector of the University of Montenegro Vladimir Bozovic told to "Dan" that the Government of Montenegro decides whether this year enrollment of self-financed freshmen will take place, as it was the case five years ago.
The proposal of UMNE is to enroll self-financing students within the vacancies, up to the number allowed by the license for undergraduate studies. Enrollment at UMNE begins in June.
According to Bozovic, based on the current model, UMNE is the only state university in the region and in Europe lacking the option to accept a certain number of students who would pay for their education, after failing to enroll on the budget list for some reason.
- UMNE, like other interested parties, participated in the working group for preparation of the Law on Higher Education. In this regard, primarily instructed by the experience of applying the existing Law on Higher Education, we have given certain proposals that we believe will solve some of the problems we have faced. One of them is that the current model disables only UMNE, unlike other state universities in the region and Europe, it does not have the option to enroll a certain number of students who would pay for their studies themselves. Thus, the candidates who were interested in enrolling in UMNE, but for some reason failed to be on the budget list, were forced to continue their education at private universities in Montenegro or abroad - Bozovic said.
He also emphasizes that UMNE has proposed a very balanced and rational solution for the new Law on Higher Education.
– Our proposal is for the vacancies not being financed by the Government, up to the valid license limitation, to leave the possibility of enrolling self-financed students. Therefore, there would be the possibility depending on decision made by the Government. If the Government would decide to finance a one hundred percent of vacancies within the license on a certain study program resulting in not having sufficient space for self-financing students. Certainly, in this proposed model we must establish a clear connection among costs of studies per student and allocated or planned budget. Finally, it is not needed to especially elaborate connection between finance and other, important parameters of life of any university, as well as UMNE – Božović emphasized.
When he was asked whether UMNE has staff for additional admission of students, if in 2021 it was announced that some faculties could not accept freshmen who were below the line (some even the number provided by the license), because they lack staff and space, Rector Bozovic assessed that the issue was "closely connected with the basic issue from which we started the conversation, from the amount of the budget for UMNE, but also from the previous issue concerning the possibility of enrolling students who finance their own education".- If the state is ready to finance everything that the University really needs, from the necessary staff reinforcement, new scientific research projects, solving certain infrastructural problems, etc., then we almost do not need funds from other sources. However, I think that the state will not be in such a position soon, and the question is whether it will ever be. Therefore, we need our own resources to strengthen our staff and infrastructure. Consequently, that enables us to enroll a larger number of students in study programs where there is greater interest - Božović said. When asked why UMNE is in a situation today that it has to hire a large number of professors from abroad, i.e. who is to blame for the staff deficit, the Rector believes that it is not possible to talk about guilt, and especially not about personal guilt. – Compared to even surrounding universities, UMNE is a relatively young university, not to mention European higher education traditions. Accordingly, and yet taking into account the size of the country from which we draw almost the entire staff base, it is not possible to fully cover all the needs we have. Also, UMNE is a living organism, we try to adapt to modern educational needs, and accordingly, we occasionally establish new or update existing programs. Such endeavors often require staff assistance from academically more developed and wealthier backgrounds. Finally, I believe that the arrival of successful scientists and lecturers from abroad is a very useful phenomenon for our overall scientific and educational development - Bozovic pointed out. When he was asked whether he was satisfied with the planned budget, which is five million higher this year than the previous one, with most of the funds still going to salaries and fees of visiting professors, he said that the limit of mere survival was finally "exceeded" by the amount of the budget for UMNE. - As you state in the question, previous amount of the budget was related to covering the salaries of employees and part-time employees of UMNE. The proposal to increase the budget provides some space for solving an inherited problems, but it is also an opportunity for implementation of development ideas. Part of the funds will be directed to encourage scientific research activities, maintenance of facilities, but also to solve some infrastructural problems, primarily for those projects that remained uncovered in the plan of the Public Works Administration. I must also express my satisfaction with the fact that the Public Works Administration has accepted most of the projects we have applied for in 2022, in the total amount of 2.5 million euros. What we cannot cover with the existing and planned funds is the reconstruction of the building of the Technical Faculties. It is financially very demanding. However, we were not passive on that issue either, we have already made certain steps forward, so I hope that this, probably the largest infrastructure project of UMNE, will be launched in the foreseeable future. Chairman of the Steering Committee, Rajko Glušica, informed the public in detail about numerous and important projects that we have already realized or are in progress in an interview for "Dan" - Božović reminded. Regarding the proposal of UMNE on adapting the study model to requirements of the labor market, which was sent to the relevant ministry, Božović emphasized that "UMNE is very persistent in seeking the adjustment of the study model in order to more adequately recognize diplomas in the labor market."
– We believe that the MESCS has considered our arguments and that their respect will help solve a major social problem. In that sense, we believe that we have found a very good solution that will not be a sudden, radical change of the existing model, and which in turn provides all our students with a more efficient path to a degree that I recognize in the labor market. Our proposal is an integral part of the "package" sent to the MESCS, i.e. the intervention on the draft Law on Higher Education. As I have already pointed out, I believe that our proposals will be respected - the rector stated in the submitted answers, but he did not specify what was proposed by UMNE.
Institute for Advanced Studies Founded
When asked whether and to what extent scientific research work is represented at UMNE, Božović claims that the UMNE is very active in the field of science and research. - We can point out that we are lucky that the new generations of our scientists are extremely active and achieve very noticeable results. We believe that this positive trend will continue, and it is up to the UMNE leadership to create the best possible conditions for scientific research. In this regard, I would like to share with your readers a piece of news. We have just established the Institute for Advanced Studies, a meeting place for various scientific disciplines, which will focus on research in the field of social sciences and humanities, information and communication technologies and biomedicine, as well as other areas such as ecology, energy and resources, climate change, agriculture and biotechnology ... We have high hopes, and we expect that this Institute will give impetus to the entire scientific research community - Božović expects.
Interview taken from Dan online