Project:

544538-2013;  2013 - 2016

Abstract

The Project addresses the process of internationalisation of Serbian HE as the one that requires immediate national and institutional response and joint action. Enabling national HE bodies and HEIs to strategically manage internationalisation in the provision of education, research, mobility and services are regarded to be the Project’s overall objective and the main underpinning of Serbia’s accountable and complementary role in EHEA and ERA.

The Project's key target groups are Serbian academics, researchers, students and administrators who are participating or wish to participate in international collaboration. The qualitative leap in the process of internationalisation they will benefit from stems from the Project's main outcomes:

Creating and implementing national legislative that has been lacking to date: Accreditation Standards for Joint and Double degrees, National Strategy of Internationalisation of Higher Education and Research and National Strategy of Academic Mobility and Recognition of Degrees (in line with the Serbian Strategy of Educational Development by 2020).
Creating and implementing individual university strategies on internationalisation and academic mobility along with coherent institutional measures capable of steering internationalisation, improving institutional capacities for the growing participation in international projects and strengthening the process of internal integration of Serbian universities.

Through partnering with a large international company in Serbia, the Project addresses the link between employability and internationalisation, so as to raise public awareness of competences valued in the domestic and global labour markets. The Project will transfer tailor-made know-how, best practices and expertise from the EU partners to app. 150 members of the Serbian HE community (authorities, academics, students and staff) during the study visits and trainings and a much wider array of HE stakeholders during workshops and forums.

Project description

The Project aims to develop and implement meaningful, transparent and far-reaching national and institutional strategies, policies and measures that will ensure a long-term systematic and strategic approach to the internationalisation of Serbian HE and research, facilitate international relations across Serbian universities and raise the quality and scope of international partnerships established within EHEA and ERA.

Several key factors account for the Project’s relevance, importance and urgency. Within current national legislative, there is an apparent and problematic lack of internationalisation strategies designed to set priorities, goals and measurable targets able to steer the process of internationalisation of HE in a realistic way. Also absent are national standards, benchmarks and policies dealing with specific aspects of internationalisation that are becoming increasingly urgent for the Serbian academic community (e.g. establishment of joint and double degrees with foreign partners; participation in international mobility programs; participation in large-scale international research collaborations; recruitment of international scholars; recognition of foreign degrees).

The overall Serbian Strategy of Educational Development by 2020 (adopted in 2012) considers internationalisation as one of the top priorities of higher education reforms. It recognizes that success is possible only through collective efforts of those involved in the process, primarily the State and the HEIs, and calls for immediate actions.

The aspiring goals of this Strategy (which promotes convergence with key EU strategies in the field of education and training) can only be met if there are concrete national and institutional measures able to advance the international competitiveness, attractiveness and quality of Serbian HE and research and put into use the full potential of Serbian HEIs in international partnerships and networks. The Projects brings together authorities in charge of HE and research, HE institutions, student associations and employers to jointly develop and implement strategies, policies and measures that will overcome existing obstacles and shortcomings clearly identified in the Serbian Strategy of Educational Development: insufficient international exposure of the Serbian higher education system; extremely small number of joint degree programs with foreign partners; low volume of incoming and outgoing student and staff mobility; lack of strategic orientation in the internationalisation of HE and research; inadequate financial and administrative conditions for the realization of large-scale mobility; limited scope of international projects (particularly international research collaborations), insufficient awareness of competences graduates need to be employable on the global labour market. The Project addresses all these challenges, intending to solve them through joint action and commitment of national HE stakeholders and the transfer of know-how, expertise and best practices from the EU partners. It recognizes that much has already been done in the field of international relations primarily through previous Community support projects and intends to make full use of acquired domestic expertise and initiatives.

However, it aspires to bring forth a qualitative leap in the perception as well as implementation of the process of internationalisation within the Serbian HE system. In this stage, internationalisation is no longer seen as a process handled predominantly by international committees and offices, or confined to internationalisation specialists. Instead, international affairs are taken up in all arenas of decision-making and administration, and, as such, touch upon all areas of HE provision. This fact alone requires a new strategic approach to reform processes, both by national and institutional authorities. The Law on Higher Education (2005) acknowledged that HE reforms were not likely to be effective unless there was a gradual change in the mode of university governance. It therefore created a framework for the process of university integration, supporting a number of integrative functions. International cooperation and mobility were, from a legislative point of view, perceived as a responsibility of the university. The Project intends to keep strengthening the university integrative function by developing coherent institutional policies steering international relations and enhancing institutional capacities that provide optimum conditions for the growing participation in international projects. It envisages the adoption of separate university strategies of internationalisation and academic mobility that reflect particular features of Serbian HEIs and at the same time achieve common national goals. The concept of functional integration that describes all internal processes, structures and procedures enhancing (through internal consensus) the effective use of resources of the university as a whole is taken up by the Project in creating the necessary synergy between HE stakeholders and among members of the Serbian academic community.

Through partnering with a large international enterprise in Serbia, the Project emphasizes the link between employability and internationalisation, aiming to raise awareness among students, scholars and employers in Serbia of competences graduates need to acquire to be competitive in the domestic and global labour markets. The concept of employability has been an integral part of the Bologna Process from its onset, together with the idea of an unhindered flow of students and scholars. The Project therefore intends to bring the issue of knowledge and skills enhancing employability of Serbian graduates to the fore of the new internationalisation agenda for the Serbian higher education system - both through organized seminars and through its activities on the development of the National Strategy of Academic Mobility and Recognition of Degrees.

Aims and Objectives

Strengthening the role of Serbian Higher Education and Research within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and European Research Area (ERA) through building and advancing policies and capacities of national higher education bodies and higher education institutions to effectively manage and embed the process of internationalisation in education, research, mobility and services.

Specific objectives:

• Developing and advancing national legislative which will underpin the process of internationalisation of Serbian higher education and research.


• Building the university integrative function through institutional policies for the internationalisation of education, research, mobility and services.


• Enhancing institutional capacities for effective participation in large-scale international collaborations.

Participants from Singidunum University:

prof. dr Milovan Stanišić, prof. dr Milan Milosavljević, prof. dr Verka Jovanović, doc. dr Svetlana Stanišić, doc. dr Marina Marjanović Jakovljević, doc. dr Lazar Dražeta, doc. dr Vojislav Marjanović, doc. dr Marko Šarac, mr Marina Savković, Stefan Perišić, master