The 15th anniversary of the study program in Montenegrin Language, Literature, and Culture was celebrated at the University of Montenegro
The study program for Montenegrin Language and South Slavic Literatures at the Faculty of Philology, University of Montenegro, held a roundtable discussion titled "Montenegrin Language, Literature, and Culture at the University of Montenegro" in honor of the 50th anniversary of the University of Montenegro and the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Study Program for Montenegrin Language and South Slavic Literatures.
The institutional study of Montenegrin language, literature, and culture officially began in 2008 when the University of Montenegro established the study program in accordance with the socio-historical and sociolinguistic conditions of that time, though its roots extend back to 1947 with the founding of the Higher Pedagogical Academy in Cetinje. Over the subsequent decades, this institution underwent several name and address changes until it was finally transformed into the Faculty of Philology in 2015, said Professor Rajka Glušica, Chair of the Board of Directors of the University of Montenegro, the first head of the Study Program for Montenegrin Language and South Slavic Literatures, editor of the journal *Riječ* from the Institute of Language and Literature, and member of the organizing committee of the International Scientific Conference Njegošs Days.
"Although we only received this name and study program title in 2008, all those years of work and dedication from our professors, all those doctoral dissertations, masters theses, scientific papers, and scientific conferences before 2008 are our heritage," Glušica noted.
The Dean of the Faculty of Philology, Professor Igor Lakić, congratulated the academic community members, students, and guests of the roundtable on the 15th anniversary of the Study Program for Montenegrin Language and South Slavic Literatures and the 50th anniversary of the University of Montenegro.
He thanked former and current colleagues for their contributions to both the founding and further development of this study program, which faces many new tasks and challenges ahead.
"The first major project we are working on and planning extensively is the corpus of the contemporary Montenegrin language, which will include everything published in Montenegro from the early 1990s to the present. This is a significant, ongoing project that will constantly be updated and supplemented. This corpus will serve as the basis for all possible linguistic research, not only in Montenegrin studies but also in contrastive and other research areas," Lakić stated.
The first generation of the study program for Montenegrin Language and South Slavic Literatures included 24 freshmen, taught by eight PhDs and seven masters degree holders in the first year. After 15 years, the teaching staff now includes five full professors, four associate professors, five assistant professors, and numerous young associates whose impressive portfolios and engagement give hope for their soon election to academic titles, said Associate Professor Nataša Jovović, Vice-Dean for Teaching at the Faculty of Philology and head of the study program for Montenegrin Language and South Slavic Literatures.
Summarizing the overall results of our teaching staff, taking into account all bibliographies, I proudly highlight that our scientific corpus includes nearly 1100 scientific papers and almost 50 monographs, both authored and co-authored, as well as numerous participations in over 250 international conferences, and their coordinative and collaborative involvement in nearly 60 projects.
Participants in the roundtable included Professor Tatjana Đurišić, Chair of the Organizing Committee of the International Slavic Conference Njegošs Days, Professor Dušanka Popović, author and coordinator of the projects Media Literacy, Understanding Media through Media Content Creation and Reading in the Educational Vertical, Professor Miodarka Tepavčević, coordinator for linguistic stylistics in the International Project Stylistics of Slavic Countries at the Turn of the Century, Master Bojana Obradović, Director of the Public Institution Njegoš National Library, Magdalena Smolović, recipient of the University of Montenegro plaque, and students Luka Vučinić and Miloš Jocović.
The programs mediator was Ksenija Rakočević, a teaching associate.