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🇷🇸 Serbia /Culture & Society

Niš University Senate Decides on Faculty of Serbian Studies Proposal as Students Protest

From N1 Serbia · () Serbian

Translated from Serbian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources In the courts
  • The University of Niš Senate is considering whether to add the newly established Faculty of Serbian Studies to the university.
  • Students and staff from the Faculty of Philosophy oppose the move, calling the separation of three departments unlawful and politically motivated.
  • An administrative court temporarily restored the previous operating arrangements while legal proceedings continue, but a union representative says the measure has not been respected.

Students and citizens gathered outside the University of Niš as its Senate considered whether to bring the newly established Faculty of Serbian Studies into the university. The proposal comes amid an unresolved legal dispute over how the faculty was created.

Tatjana Paunović, a professor and representative of the Nezavisnost trade union at the Faculty of Philosophy, said the protest aimed to remind Senate members that the establishment of the Faculty of Serbian Studies remained unlawful. “We came to ask how it is now possible to include the Faculty of Serbian Studies in the Statute of the University of Niš when that is unlawful,” she said.

In October 2025, the Serbian government began the process of separating three departments from the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš: history, Serbian studies, and Russian language and literature. The departments were to be linked to the new Faculty of Serbian Studies. Employees and students at the Faculty of Philosophy largely opposed the separation, saying the procedure was illegal and politically motivated.

The Administrative Court postponed enforcement of Education Ministry decisions that changed the Faculty of Philosophy’s operating permits. That effectively restored the previous situation while the court case continues: the Faculty of Philosophy regained permits for the affected programs, while the Faculty of Serbian Studies was temporarily denied an operating permit. Paunović told N1 that the measure had not been followed and that the Senate was now considering incorporating the new faculty into the University of Niš.

We came to ask how it is now possible to include the Faculty of Serbian Studies in the Statute of the University of Niš when that is unlawful.

· Tatjana PaunovićThe professor and Nezavisnost union representative explained why students and citizens were protesting outside the Senate meeting.
About this summary

Originally published by N1 Serbia in Serbian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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