Dispute over New Serbian Studies Faculty in Niš Continues Without Agreement

The creation of a Faculty of Serbian Studies in Niš, Serbia, is currently stalled, marked by a significant disagreement between the Faculty of Philosophy's Academic-Scientific Council and the newly established faculty. Teachers from three departments, Serbian Studies, History, and Russian Language and Literature, who had planned to propose recommendations for resolving the crisis have reportedly been labeled extremists.

Milan Videnović, an assistant at the Department of History within the Faculty of Philosophy, stated that he and other interested faculty members remain employed by the Faculty of Philosophy. He explained that professors who support the move to the Faculty of Serbian Studies continue to receive their salaries from the Faculty of Philosophy. However, legal obstacles prevent the smooth transfer of departments to the new institution, as the Faculty of Philosophy still holds a valid accreditation while a portion of its operating license has been removed outside of the standard procedure.

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We want to return things to the starting point, that is, to do what they did not do when they planned to establish a new faculty, to first talk about it internally, to present our proposals, theirs, and based on that, form a final stance, because it has been shown that it is not possible with external intervention.

Seeking a constructive path forward, a delegation of employees from the three departments met with the University of Niš rector, Jovan Stepanović. He advised them to reach an internal agreement before the university could consider any solutions. Following this advice, a working group proposed initiating an internal dialogue. The goal is to return to the initial planning stage, emphasizing internal discussion before external intervention, which has proven ineffective.

The proposed solution involves allowing each employee to declare their intention to move to the new faculty by a specific date. These declarations would then form the basis for a live discussion to explore potential compromises. Videnović highlighted the need to consider three perspectives: employees who wish to transfer, those who prefer to remain at the Faculty of Philosophy, and, crucially, the students who are most affected by these developments. There is an expectation that professors wishing to stay will be able to do so without pressure from the Ministry.

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We have a valid accreditation, and on the other hand, part of the operating license has been removed from us outside of the procedure.