Brain Drain

In Danas daily an unusual, provocative ad appeared under the caption Does Yugoslavia Need Electrical Engineers? . This ad, spread across an entire 32x45 page is actually a systematic, documented report on the "brain drain", an appeal to stop the "systematic destruction of the Electrical Engineering School in Belgrade", once one of the best university institutions.  Since the new, now already old and infamous University Law came into effect less than two years ago, the Electrical Engineering School in Belgrade has been left without one third of its faculty: 58 staff members were fired, chased out, forced to leave, or have simply decided to hand in their notice. Two thirds are younger than 35!

In this unique ad which is actually an open letter to the public, a group of former Electrical Engineering School (ETF) students decided to acquaint the public with the alarming conditions at the ETF, since they believe that neither the current ETF students, their parents nor the public at large are properly informed of all that is occurring at this School, nor of the consequences of it all.

"Apart from its undergoing financial destruction due to the poverty and isolation of our country, ETF is being destroyed via its cadre. Poverty and isolation were things that were somehow overcome, thanks to the contacts and closeness of former students with their professors, as well as due to personal connections with foreign colleagues. However, the departure of the faculty members and the replacement (if such a thing exists) of those who have left with professors whose specialization is not in that field along with rump lectures is threatening to undermine the education of future electrical engineers to such a degree that with their acquired knowledge they will no longer be able to take part in contemporary technological developments even in the country, let alone in the world", state a group of electrical engineers educated at ETF in Belgrade in their ad.

All those who have left the school owing to the dean's or their own personal wish or because they were, as one young assistant remarked - disgusted, are listed individually, by their names. Therefore, for example, academicians Aleksandar Marincic and Branko Popovic, scientists of a world known reputation and guest lecturers at a couple of well known universities around the world were, following a decision made by the dean, forced to retire even though they wanted to and were legally entitled to continue to work. Some were handed their notices due to the famous and arbitrarily qualified "five days of not coming in to work": professor Dr. Srbijanka Turajlic was in that time frame on dutifully reported sick leave and Jovan Mikulovic, intern assistant, and MSc Petar Drljaca, intern, were drafted in order to defend their country in that time frame (period of NATO aggression). Mikulovic left, leaving behind him a written but not yet defended MSc thesis, as is precisely claimed in the ad. Various techniques were employed in order to wipe out the ETF faculty members: for certain professors there were no longer any vacancies, others were handed their notices because they asked for a one-year leave for specialization purposes which is a right guaranteed them by law!? The largest number of young people who quit ETF packed their bags and left the country. The ad in Danas stresses that "along with catastrophic personnel policies, the current ETF officials are leading catastrophic scientific-expert policies: the dean refuses to allow certain professors to attend conferences, even when their own works are to be presented or are part of the organizational committees". It is also claimed that the dean forbids certain professors, otherwise top experts, to work on scientific projects and projects connected with the economy. The consequences are, as stated in the ad, that the school no longer has an income from these sources, and, along with other things, no longer has the funds to buy the equipment, nor to maintain what it already has. They also stress: "Until a year and a half ago, the number of interns varied between 20 and 30 annually; they held practical training in the laboratories and worked on projects (most of them were later taken in as assistants). At this moment ETF has only 4 interns!"

At the end of this dismal report this "group of engineers educated at EFT in Belgrade" poses a question to the public and to the government of the Republic of Serbia as well: can ETF in Belgrade, as it now stands,  provide young electrical engineers with a good education and future successful careers? Along with, does Yugoslavia need electrical engineers at all?

Vreme tried to hear the comments of ETF's top officials on this unusual ad, along with the opinion of some of the best known professors of this School. The Dean Vlada Teodosic, true to his well-known style, refused to give any comments, the associate dean "never even heard of the ad". Professor Dr. Srbijanka Turajlic believes that she's said enough, all that she now says could be interpreted as "sour grapes" by some. Professor Dr. Borivoj Lazic, the School's former dean, believes that the situation at ETF is a lot worse: "Certain professorships don't have any young successors, automatics for example. The situation is such that it is very difficult to even find assistants for more attractive subjects. This School has always had a chronic lack of professors and associates, but this is now more pronounced: we have less professors and more students than ever. At the same time, Milos Laban is still lecturing, even though he wasn't even appointed associate professor according to procedure, and they are now going to give him a full-time professorship!? I believe that ad, that announcement, was actually gently put: the atmosphere at the School is difficult, is counter productive for work, but how does one describe that? There is no doubt that the quality of the studies is diminishing and, if this situation is not halted soon, the damage will be irretrievable."

Something of that atmosphere can even be felt by a visitor to ETF in Belgrade: security staff in front of the doors of certain cabinets, other doors barred, bulletin boards displaying two-year old pamphlets on certain professors and a decision of the dean which has in the meantime been judicially reversed on "removing" professor Dr. Slavoljub Marjanovic "from future lectures".

"Yes, it's true what our colleagues wrote. Unfortunately, that list is dynamic: in the meantime, two more names have to be added to it: full-time professor Slobodan Simic left ETF and assistant intern MSc Marija Rasajski has also been removed from teaching, and is now on some kind of trial waiting period. The situation is truly dismal: the dean has drawn up certain black lists, of, according to his opinion, unsuitable associates, he doesn't allow work on the projects, professors and associates who had supported any of the actions of the legal syndicate aren't allowed to travel abroad to attend expert and scientific meetings!? The School has closed in on itself in every sense of the word: there are no colleagues from the other schools in our committees which is unheard of in today's world", says Dr. Slavoljub Marjanovic while talking to VREME.

There wasn't a single school in former Yugoslavia which had a better international rating that the School of Electrical Engineering in Belgrade. The International Association of Electrical Engineers placed it in the top ranks amongst the fifteen best schools in the world! Today it is merely a dire house.