Autonomous Calm

"In the past few years I have noticed a decreased interest in the curriculum, and drop in the students' success, perhaps I'm finding it more difficult to establish contact with the new generations, but none of the concepts have been drastically changed", said Djordje Paunovic, professor of telecommunications at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade and vice-chancellor of the Belgrade University team for scientific-research work and teaching, talking to VREME

Professor Paunovic underscored that he was speaking in his name and not that of the University, and gave the following assessment: "The internal autonomy of universities in Serbia (there are six) is strong and sufficient when speaking of the teaching, teaching plans, choice of assistants and professors. The state has strong outside control with regard to the development of departments, groups, trends and structure of development, manner of dividing finances, and sometimes with regard to the choice of the university leadership. If this is too much or too little depends on what you expect. There were times when we didn't have such an organized structure, and everything was dictated. The state's control is natural - it pays for the University, and wishes to exert control. It is unrealistic to expect an autonomy which would mean that we get the money and then do as we please."

There is no single answer today to the question if the University should be involved only in narrow academic affairs, or the planning of a strategy of social development, or whether it has to be "society's conscience", i.e. should politics enter the University. In January 1992 the Assembly of University Professors and Scientists of Serbia adopted the "Ethical Code of University Professors and Scientists" which in the chapter on transgressions along 11 other articles cites the "ignoring of universal human rights", and "politically biased informing of domestic and foreign universities, the scientific and political public on issues which are of vital interest to the Serbian people, and the use of tenures for political and personal gain". According to the University Acts, the freedom of creativity is guaranteed and party organizing is banned. Professor Srbijanka Turajlic who teaches Automatic Control (computer process application) and is Director of the Computer Center of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering sums up the problem with the following words: "When all this started, it left its mark on the university and this faculty. The students' concern led to the professors being concerned and they might have continued with their professional activities, not realizing what was happening, because that's what they were taught during Communism. It was natural that the University should react in 1992 (student demonstrations, note R.N.). The University showed itself to be a strong intellectual force, and the authorities didn't like this, and they seriously tried to undermine its independence. By appointing Velickovic (Dragutin, elected in June 1993) Chancellor, the authorities wished to defuse the situation, deaden the University and prevent its collective engagement in all segments. Velickovic not only defused the situation, he also sat very firmly in his position. Today the University does not function as a collective in cases when it could, when deciding on professional matters, the duration of studies, enrollment. It is not involved in anything, not even with itself, even though it was too involved in politics earlier. After being a social force, the University has become a simple sum of faculties which have been taught not to mix in University affairs - and they are even happy."

And the students? Professor Turajlic believes that the students are no longer interested in what is happening around them. "They have gained the impression that they can't influence anything, and they no longer ask any questions. If we were to put up a notice saying that they had to go around the building every morning before entering class - they'd do so, without asking why; but they are very interested in what they are studying. And this situation will last a long time. June 1992 cost the students a lot. They felt alone, abandoned, betrayed and that was the situation. It is illusionary to animate them for a collective good today. No one believes in the general anymore."

Professor of Logic at the Faculty of Mathematics Milan Bozic is quite happy with the degree of autonomy enjoyed by the University. "From the point of view of legislature on paper, the University's autonomy corresponds with the highest European standards. In France for example, the Ministry of Education approves the programs and is responsible for the hiring and the firing. Our professors are chosen by the University Council which is made up of professors only. The Dean cannot dismiss a professor any longer, nor can the University Board.

"We are not happy with the administrative organs - the faculty boards and the University. The boards elect the deans and the chancellor, and they are established on a parity basis: half the members are elected from the faculty's scientific board, half by the founder, and in the case of Belgrade University, the founder is the Government.

Professor with the Faculty of Philosophy Zagorka Golubovic, claims that since she first started working at the faculty (1957), the situation with the University has never been this bad. In the former Yugoslavia she was dismissed from the University, but she still had the chance of fighting for its dignity, while the "current situation is that of an ostrich which buries its head in the sand. In the exceedingly abnormal situation in which we live, everybody at the University pretends that things are normal. The University has a tradition which goes back before 1945, and it was never completely obedient in the former Yugoslavia, it was always a sort of a critical conscience. Today the University is stuck in the mud. It is now a professional organization which deals with expert problems in the measure in which it can under the present circumstances."

The students have understood that the professors and the Vice-Chancellor's Office have abandoned them, and they have become passive, their only goal is to get their diploma and go abroad. They have understood that the University is not an institution which can do anything and they see no future in such a climate, so why should they become involved? In all my practice I have never come across such silence and disinterestedness. I teach socio-cultural anthropology, and even when I touch on reality which affects them - there is no reaction. The students come when they must and sit their exams. Every time when I enter the faculty, I ask myself what's point? Professor Golubovic concludes: "The University used to be the center of leading intellectuals. It has become a minor, marginal institution. Not only do they not ask anything, they don't wish to ask."

Antrfile

A Dog-eared Photocopy

In 1980, the Department of Social Psychology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade used to get 72 foreign magazines and they bought 220 foreign books. In 1990 there were no more foreign magazines and since 1991, only 20 cheap Russian books found in local second-hand bookshops have been bought. There is no material for future psychologists. There are five sets of intelligence tests on which a hundred students study. This is why teachers bring along their own sets, so that it won't happen that the students see the material for the first time when they start working.

"There is a chance that the situation will improve," said Assistant Professor with the Department of Social Psychology Dragan Popadic. The Serbian Ministry of Science has reached an agreement with the National Library on purchasing six of the most important magazines. They were supposed to arrive for the last academic year. We only got one. Even if all six magazines were to arrive now, a large gap in continuity and following a science which is one of the most expansive in the world has occurred, so that magazine articles are not sufficiently comprehensible to us.

There are faculties at which the financial situation isn't as disastrous as with the Faculty of Philosophy. Professor Srbijanka Turajlic of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering said that it had to be said that the Ministry of Science, and even the Ministry of Education were making efforts at investing significant means in the purchase of equipment. Cooperation with the economy is much decreased compared to what it was earlier, but it does exist because small firms also need electronic equipment. Of the money which is earned half goes into the Faculty cash box - and this is something that none of the other faculties do, said Turajlic. As a result, the Computer Center has all the latest computer equipment - a least one piece, so that the students can see it. There is one class with 20 computers which is open round-the-clock. They have 150 computers linked together in a network. Magazines have been arriving in spite of sanctions, not as much as before, but nevertheless they do get something.

Zagorka Golubovic believes that poverty is one of the main reasons for the prevailing lethargy at the University. Hyperinflation resulted in the complete degradation of the University. Professors could not buy newspapers with their 10-20 DEM salaries, let alone books and magazines. This humiliated the people "and killed their fighting spirit".

Vice-Chancellor Paunovic said that hyperinflation discontinued all research activities at the University, and the organized purchase of publications because there wasn't enough money for salaries, and even less for books. However, those who made an effort managed to get something, even though it was difficult and sometimes illegal to find foreign currency for the import of magazines. The situation started to normalize in mid 1994. Normal channels for the purchase of books and magazines started working once more - meaning that it was possible to buy them for dinars.