Serbia

For a general discussion of virtual education in this country see Yugosphere

Original Re.ViCa entry by Paul Bacsich

For entities in Serbia see Category:Serbia

Partners situated in Serbia

None.

Serbia in a nutshell

Serbia (Serbian: Србија, Srbija), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: Република Србија, Republika Srbija), is a landlocked country located in both Central Europe and Southeastern Europe. Its territory covers the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and central part of the Balkans.

Serbia borders Hungary to the north; Romania and Bulgaria to the east; the Republic of Macedonia to the south; and Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro to the west; its border with Albania is disputed.

The population of Serbia is around 7.3 million (2009 estimate, excluding Kosovo).

Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, is among the largest cities in Southeastern Europe.

Serbia is a member in numerous organisations such as the United Nations, the OSCE, Council of Europe and CEFTA which it presides over in 2010. Serbia is classified as an emerging and developing economy by the International Monetary Fund and an upper-middle income economy by the World Bank. WTO accession is "expected in 2010". Serbia has a high Human Development Index while Freedom House in 2008 listed Serbia as one of few "free" Balkan states. The country is also an EU membership applicant.

Source : http://www.cia.gov

Geography and rivers

The province of Vojvodina, occupying the northern third of the country, is located entirely within the Central European Pannonian Plain. The easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The northeastern border of the country is determined by the Carpathian Mountain range, which run through the whole of Central Europe. The Southern Carpathians meet the Balkan Mountains, following the course of the Velika Morava, a 500 km long (partially navigable) river. The Midžor peak is the highest point in eastern Serbia at 2156 m. In the southeast, the Balkan Mountains meet the Rhodope Mountains. The Šar Mountains of Kosovo form the border with Albania, with one of the highest peaks in the region, Djeravica (2656 m). Dinaric Alps of Serbia follow the flow of the Drina river (at 350 km navigable for smaller vessels only) overlooking the Dinaric peaks on the opposite shore in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Although landlocked, there are around 2000 km of navigable rivers and canals, the largest of which are: the Danube, Sava, Tisa, joined by the Timiş River and Begej, all of which connect Serbia with Northern and Western Europe (through the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal – North Sea route), to Eastern Europe (via the Tisa, Timiş, Begej and Danube Black Sea routes) and to Southern Europe (via the Sava river). The two largest Serbian cities – Belgrade[65] and Novi Sad, as well as Smederevo – are major regional Danubian harbours.

Demographics

Serbia with Kosovo has a population of 10.1 million distributed between Kosovo, Vojvodina, and Central Serbia. Central Serbia has the largest population of 5 million, while Vojvodina and Kosovo have slightly over 2 million each. The three largest cities are Belgrade, Novi Sad, and Pristina. Belgrade is the largest city with a population of 1.5 million, followed by Pristina with 600,000, and Novi Sad with 270,000.

Serbs form the largest ethnic group, with significant minorities consisting of Hungarians, Bosniaks, Albanians, Roma, Croats, Czechs and Slovaks, Macedonians, Bulgarians, Romanians, Germans, and Chinese. According to the UN assessments, 450,000 to 500,000 Roma live in Serbia, most of whom have been exiled from Kosovo. The German minority in Vojvodina was more numerous in the past (336,430 in 1900, or 23.5% of the population). The northern province of Vojvodina is ethnically and religiously diverse.

The last census was not conducted in Serbia's southern province of Kosovo, due to it being under administration by the United Nations. According to the EU estimates however, the overall Kosovo population is estimated at 2.1 million inhabitants, of whom 92% are Albanians, 6% Serbs and others 2%.There are also around 200,000 Serbian and other refugees,who are expelled from Kosovo. Refugees and IDPs in Serbia form between 7% and 7.5% of its population – about half a million refugees sought refuge in the country following the series of Yugoslav wars. Serbia has the largest refugee population in Europe. On the other hand, it is estimated that 500,000 people have left Serbia during the 1990s alone - and a significant amount of these people were college graduates.

Serbia has the fourth oldest overall population on the planet, mostly due to heavy migration and low level of fertility, which is expected to continue in long terms. In addition, Serbia has among the highest negative growth population rates in the world, ranking 227th out of 233 countries overall.

Regions

Serbia is divided into 24 districts (excluding Kosovo) plus the City of Belgrade. The districts and the City of Belgrade are further divided into municipalities. Serbia has 2 autonomous provinces: Vojvodina (7 districts, 46 municipalities) and Kosovo and Metohija. Kosovo has declared independence, which Belgrade opposes, and is presently under the administration of the UN.

The part of Serbia that is neither in Kosovo nor in Vojvodina is called Central Serbia. Central Serbia is not an administrative division, unlike the two autonomous provinces, and it has no regional government of its own. In English this region is often called "Serbia proper" to denote "the part of the Republic of Serbia not including the provinces of Vojvodina and Kosovo", as the US Library of Congress puts it. This usage was also employed in Serbo-Croatian during the Yugoslav era (in the form of "uža Srbija", literally: "narrow Serbia"). Its use in English is purely geographical, without any particular political meaning being implied.

Vojvodina province is 25% Catholic or Protestant, while Central Serbia and Belgrade regions are over 90% Orthodox Christian. (Kosovo is 90% Muslim.)

Economy

With a GDP PPP for 2008 estimated at $79.662 billion ($10,792 per capita PPP), the Republic of Serbia is an upper-middle income economy as judged by the World Bank. Foreign Direct Investment in 2006 was $5.85 billion or €4.5 billion - for 2007 iy reached $4.2 Billion while real GDP per capita figures are estimated to have reached $6,781 (April 2009). The GDP growth rate showed increase by 6.3% (2005),[99] 5.8% (2006),[100] reaching 7.5% in 2007 and 8.7% in 2008[101] as the fastest growing economy in the region.[102] According to Eurostat data, Serbian PPS GDP per capita stood at 37 per cent of the EU average in 2008.

The economy has a high unemployment rate of 14% and a unfavourable trade deficit.

Apart from its free-trade agreement with the EU as its associate member, Serbia is the only European country outside the former Soviet Union to have free trade agreements with the Russia and, more recently, Belarus.

Serbia claims to grow about one-third of the world's raspberries and is a leading frozen fruit exporter.

Serbia education policy

Education in Serbia is regulated by the Ministry of Education.

Serbia education system

Education starts in either pre-schools or elementary schools. Children enroll in elementary schools (Serbian: Osnovna škola / Основна школа) at the age of seven, and remain there for eight years. After compulsory education students have the opportunity to either attend a high school for another four years, specialist school, for 2 to 4 years, or to enroll in vocational training, for 2 to 3 years. Following the completion of high school or a specialist school, students have the opportunity to attend university.

For more details see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Serbia

Higher education

There are 14 universities in Serbia: seven public universities (with a total number of 85 faculties) and the same number of private universities (51 faculties),

There are also five independent single-faculty (specialist) institutions and 49 public and 32 private tertiary-level institutions.

About 150,000 students attend public universities; several dozens of thousands attend private universities. In 2007 more than 230.000 students had been studying at universities in Serbia. In 2009 there are 260,000 students in Serbia, who study at 14 universities.

Universities in Serbia

Some of the largest universities are:

1. University of Belgrade - http://www.bg.ac.rs/en_index.php (in English)
2. University of Niš - http://www.ni.ac.rs/en/ (in English)
3. University of Novi Sad - http://www.ns.ac.yu/en/ (in English)
4. University of Kragujevac - http://www1.kg.ac.rs/defen.asp (some information in English)
5. University of Novi Pazar - http://www.uninp.edu.rs (Serbian only)

The University of Belgrade is the oldest and currently the biggest university in Serbia. Established in 1808, it has 31 faculties, and since its inception, has trained an estimated 330,000 graduates. Other universities with a significant number of faculty and alumni are those of Novi Sad (founded 1960), Kragujevac (founded 1976) and Niš (founded 1965).

There is also the University of Pristina - based in Kosovo, whose current status is unclear

Public universities

1. University of Belgrade, (Универзитет у Београду; Univerzitet u Beogradu, Belgrade)
2. University of Niš, (Универзитет у Нишу; Univezitet u Nišu, Niš)
3. University of Novi Sad, (Универзитет у Новом Саду; Univerzitet u Novom Sadu, Novi Sad)
4. University of Kragujevac, (Универзитет у Крагујевцу; Univerzitet u Kragujevcu, Kragujevac)
5. University of Arts, (Универзитет уметности у Београду; Univerzitet umetnosti u Beogradu, Belgrade)
6. University of Novi Pazar, Novi Pazar

There is also the single-subject

• Academy of Criminalistic and Police Studies, (Криминалистичко-полицијска академија; Kriminalističko-policijska akademija, Belgrade)

Private universities

1. METROPOLITAN University, (Универзитет МЕТРОПОЛИТЕН; Univerzitet METROPOLITAN)
2. Alpha University, (Алфа универзитет; Alfa univerzitet) (ex University Braća Karić)
3. Megatrend University of Applied Sciences, (Мегатренд Универзитет; Megatrend Univerzitet) - http://www.megatrend.edu.rs/o_univerzitetu.php?un=onama&phpMyAdmin=VHqIxgKmMzReanXPe%2Cwn5PrOQwd&language=1&language=1
4. Singidunum University, (Универзитет Сингидунум; Univerzitet Singidunum)
5. Union, (Универзитет "Унион"; Univerzitet "Union")
6. European University, (Европски универзитет; Evropski Univerzitet) - http://www.eu.ac.rs/WEBeng/index3.htm (in English)
7. Economics Academy, (Привредна Академија; Privredna Akademija), Novi Sad
8. Faculty of Information Technology, (Факултет информационих технологија, Fakultet informacionih tehnologija), Belgrade
9. Management Faculty, (Факултет за менаџмент, Fakultet za menadžment), Novi Sad
10. Faculty for sport and tourism, (Факултет за спорт и туризам, Fakultet za sport i turizam), Novi Sad
11. Faculty for European law and political studies in Novi Sad, (Факултет за Европске правно-политичке студије; Fakultet za Evropske pravno-političke studije), Novi Sad
12. Faculty for law and business studies, (Факултет за пословне и правне студије, Fakultet za poslovne i pravne studije), Novi Sad
13. Faculty for Entrepreneurial Management,”(Факултет за предузетни менаџмент, Fakultet za preduzeni menadžment, http://www.fpmbk.edu.rs/), Novi Sad

There is also the private non-profit foundation

• Novi Pazar International University, (Универзитет у Новом Пазару; Univerzitet u Novom Pazaru) - http://www.uninp.edu.rs (Serbian only)

Polytechnics in Serbia

The oldest college (faculty) within current borders of Serbia dates back to 1778; founded in the city of Sombor, then Habsburg Empire, it was known under the name Norma and was the oldest Slavic Teacher's college in Southern Europe.

Higher education reform

The Bologna Process

See the progress report Adaptation of Serbian University to Bologna Process, 2009, http://www.cshe.nagoya-u.ac.jp/publications/journal/no9/16.pdf

Serbia HEIs in the information society

Towards the information society

89% of households in Serbia have fixed telephone lines, and the number of cell-phone users surpasses the number of population of Serbia itself by 30%, accounting to 9.6 million users (7,39 million citizens). 46.8% of households have computers, 36.7% use the internet, and 42% have cable TV, which puts the country ahead of certain member states of the EU. Serbia is ranked 59th in the world in terms of Internet usage out of 216 states by the CIA World Factbook. Newest estimates (2009) put Serbia ahead of all Balkan countries save for Croatia in terms of No of Internet users (45% of its population).

Virtual Campuses in HE

Interesting Virtual Campus Initiatives

None found.

Interesting Programmes

We expect to find some.

Re.ViCa Case-study

None.

Lessons learnt

Unclear at this stage.

References

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Serbia

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For OER policies and projects in Serbia see Serbia/OER

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