Academia to establish a system of short-cycle higher education in Serbia

The Government of the Republic of Serbia wishes to re-establish the model of dual education in the country and strengthen the highly important professional education for the needs of both local and international businesses operating in the Republic of Serbia. The purpose of dual education is primarily to strengthen the delivery of study programmes with practical training in companies, the so-called "Learning by doing", which provides students with the acquisition of modern professional knowledge and faster employment in companies.

As a leader in experiential education and the first institution in Slovenia to obtain the international quality standard ISO 9001:2000, today 9001:2008, Academia will, within the framework of the project, establish a system and framework of criteria for quality assurance and monitoring in short-cycle higher education, which will then be implemented into the school system by the ministry responsible for education in the Republic of Serbia.

"We are extremely pleased with the invitation to collaborate. As it appears, our lead partner, the University of Tallinn, recognises us as an internationally competitive short-cycle higher education institution, entrusting us with such an important area as quality in education," said mag. Majda Kralj, Business Director of Academia Institute of Technology Academia.

In Slovenia, we must thoroughly reform the delivery of professional studies

Mag. Kraljeva, who was also a member of the National Group of Bologna Experts in the years 2011-2013, added: "At the same time, this project is a reminder for us in Slovenia that the region is approaching the development of short-cycle higher education very seriously and in a structured manner, and that if we wish to remain at least regionally competitive, we will have to thoroughly reform the delivery of professional studies at the national level in Slovenia. Otherwise, international companies will prefer to go to countries where the development of professional staff is simply better and more flexible."

Academia will also carry out the first pilot external evaluations of the operation of short-cycle professional programmes within the framework of the project – delivery of lectures and laboratory exercises, as well as the delivery of practical training in companies.

Project participants:

• The University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom
• Open Universiteit, Netherlands
• University of Tallin, Estonia
• University of Szeged, Hungary
• Univerzitet Metrapolitan, Serbia
• The School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Applied Studies, Serbia
• University of Belgrade, Serbia
• University of Novi Sad – Subotica Faculty of Economics, Serbia
• University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Technical Sciences Čačak, Serbia
• Irvas, Serbia

Source: Academia (12. 8. 2015).

This English summary was produced automatically from the Slovenian article and is pending editorial review. Slovenska različica