Rector Božović: UCG has a set of proposals for the new higher education law
Professor Dr. Vladimir Božović, Rector of the University of Montenegro (UCG), stated that UCG has developed its own set of proposals and solutions that it seeks to be included in the new higher education law. One such proposal is to allow UCG to enroll self-financing students in accordance with the numbers specified in their license.
Rector Božović emphasized that the state budget is insufficient for UCGs operations, leading to an annual shortfall of four to five million euros, which is currently compensated through their own funds and market-oriented projects.
"Over the years, the law has undergone multiple drafts due to changing political circumstances, leading us to regress. As far as I understand, a new working group has been formed within the Ministry of Education, Science, and Innovation. We have appointed our representatives and have a set of proposals. Among other things, UCG advocates for a specific methodology to determine the cost of studies for different programs, which varies based on their specific features. Once we establish such a methodology, we will clearly understand how much the state intends to fund students, limited to the number prescribed by the license. Our request is that if the state decides to fund, for example, 80 out of 100 possible students, UCG should be allowed to enroll a certain number of co-financed students up to the upper limit set by the license. I believe this does not compromise any fundamental principles regarding quality or social policy standards, and it can significantly improve our financial balance," explained Božović.
Addressing the funding issue, he highlighted the difficulty in finding any budget beneficiary who is satisfied.
"For example, the University of Ljubljana has twice the number of students, and their annual budget is 350 million euros, compared to our 34.8 million. While I recognize the different economic and business circumstances, this fact speaks volumes about the real needs of the University of Montenegro. I also understand the countrys overall situation. As for funding, I believe we should gradually increase the amount, especially for research. For other aspects of UCGs operations and life, we can generally cover with existing funds, but research requires more investment. Looking back at funding sources, we primarily rely on the budget, and one reason is that the 2017 reform, namely the previous higher education law, prevented UCG from enrolling a number of co-financed students," Božović added.
Asked about the lack of criticism of social issues from UCG, Božović stated that as a public institution, UCG must endure certain criticisms, which they find stimulating in some areas.
"We have consistently organized public forums over the last three years, where we address various topics competently and responsibly, according to academic standards and our thoughts and behavior. These roundtables and forums send out messages that are relevant to the public and policymakers, although media interest has been minimal," Božović noted, adding that the approach might lack elements that are highly attractive to the media.
"However, this is part of what we have at universities in general. We must adhere to certain standards of addressing and treating social phenomena," Božović added. He announced plans to organize a series of roundtables to propose strategic directions for development in various areas.
Regarding staffing, Rector Vladimir Božović reported that UCG, which has 500 academic staff members and fluctuates between 17,000 and 20,000 students, lacks 10 percent of the necessary personnel across all university units, according to preliminary estimates.
"We need staff at all university units, but this is linked to the budget and how many new people we can afford. This would also involve systemic changes, such as amending the collective agreement and certain provisions like the teaching load," Božović added.
Regarding the verification of plagiarism, after criticisms from the NGO sector about the lack of technical capabilities at UCG to authenticate suspect works, Rector Vladimir Božović mentioned that it is a "technical issue."
"The software indeed checks works in Latin script. My colleagues have emphasized that it is not a problem to convert from Cyrillic to Latin script at UCG. However, we have faced complaints from those whose work is checked for plagiarism, claiming that this conversion process causes substantial changes affecting the quality of the final report. For this reason, our recommendation is that any entity wishing to check for plagiarism should submit the work in Latin script," Božović advised.