Authorities Increasing Pressure on University

Belgrade University Ranked Between 201-300th by Shanghai Academic Ranking

Belgrade University Rector Ivanka Popovic’s decision to support the students who had been blocking the Rectorate building for 10 days demanding that Finance Minister Sinisa Mali’s doctoral thesis be subjected to scrutiny for alleged plagiarism, the authorities understood as a message that an important institution – the University of Belgrade – is about to break away from its grasp. What is at stake, therefore, is not just the need to prevent evidence of the finance minister’s plagiarism from surfacing (which could lead to his dismissal), but fear of wider repercussions if others were to follow the University’s example.