Free University of Nis Demands Reinstatement of Three Closed Departments

Faculty of Philosophy, University of NIS (BETAPHOTO/Sasa Djordjevic)

On April 9, the Free University of Nis – an informal network of professors, lecturers, researches and associates of the University of Nis – demanded the voiding of the decision shutting down three departments of the School of Philosophy, and also called for the urgent protection of student rights and respect for the academic community instead of political decrees.

According to the network’s representatives, the Ministry of Education decided to, “in one fell swoop,” shut down three departments within the School of Philosophy, despite opposition from the School’s Education and Science Council, without approval from the University Council and completely independent of the people working and studying at the School.

The Free University members went on to claim that the action does not constitute a reform but rather the administrative extinction of knowledge. If the University, they added, does not have the right to make decisions about itself, then it is no longer a university but a mere extension of the regime.

In a decision delivered to the Nis School of Philosophy on April 8, operating licenses were revoked from the Serbian Studies Department, the History Department and the Russian Language Department – with the announced plan to include them in the newly-formed School of Serbian Studies in Nis. This sparked a protest of the School’s student body and faculty, who stated it was “a shameful move in the unfolding illegal founding of the School of Serbian Studies.”

According to the protestors, this latest decision on part of the Ministry of Education “violates the autonomy of the University as well as the rights of the students and faculty of said three departments.”