American University in BiH Accredited Only in 2016, Osman Mehmedagić's Diploma from 2013 Invalid!?

By A. Vrabac

The American University in BiH, based in Tuzla, has come into the spotlight after it was revealed that the director of the Intelligence-Security Agency of BiH, Osman Mehmedagić, possesses a diploma from that university obtained in 2013. Mehmedagić submitted this diploma to the Committee for Oversight of the Intelligence-Security Agency of BiH and declared it a secret document! His diploma from the University of Business Studies Banja Luka was annulled, after which Mehmedagić submitted the diploma from the American University in BiH.

At the same time, the BiH Prosecutor's Office is conducting checks and has requested additional information from the Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance. It was determined that the American University in BiH received its accreditation certificate on February 9, 2016.

On February 13, 2018, the Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance of BiH published a Decision on the registration of the Higher Education School "American School of Economics" Sarajevo in the State Register of Accredited Higher Education Institutions in BiH. The founder of the American School of Economics is the American University in BiH, and the Patria News Agency has problematized the validity of diplomas obtained from this university in several articles, as well as the enrollment and conduct of classes for students in Sarajevo, although the American University was never registered in Sarajevo nor did it receive a license to operate under that name in the Sarajevo Canton. For this reason, a court case was conducted at the Municipal Court in Tuzla, which ruled in favor of the American University in BiH. We are still awaiting the decision of the appellate body on the appeal filed by the Patria News Agency.

The accreditation process at the "American School of Economics" was conducted in 2017. Since 2014, the Ministry of Education, Science, and Youth of the Sarajevo Canton has been warning the heads of this educational institution that they need to submit a request for the accreditation procedure.

In a press release published on the Ministry of Education's website in March 2015, the Assistant Minister for Higher Education, Sifet Kukuruz, spoke with representatives of the American University in BiH and the American School of Economics, Denis Prcić and Esmir Ganić, and drew their attention to the fact that the Ministry "issues consent for student enrollment only to licensed higher education institutions that have obtained a decision on accreditation after the prescribed procedure has been completed."

In the meantime, numerous state agencies, including security agencies such as the Border Police of BiH and SIPA, have signed cooperation agreements with this private university. The Assistant Minister of Security of BiH, Samir Rizvo, is also a professor at the American University, as is Selmo Cikotić, a former advisor to the BiH Presidency member and SDA president Bakir Izetbegović, and currently a candidate for the BiH Minister of Security.

A group of students has accused the American University in BiH and its president, Denis Prcić, of withholding their diplomas, demanding an additional payment of 1,500 KM for the American University in BiH and Prcić to pay 450,000 KM for accreditation in the USA, even though this was not stated as an obligation in the contract signed by the students with the American University in BiH.

The American University in BiH, or rather the American School of Economics in Sarajevo, has changed its premises for conducting classes several times, and in its advertisements, it claimed to have its own campuses.

The final word on the case of the diploma(s) of the head of the Intelligence-Security Agency of BiH, whose reappointment is demanded by the SDA and Bakir Izetbegović, will be given by the BiH Prosecutor's Office, which is handling the case.

Incidentally, a case concerning reported irregularities at the American University in BiH, for which SIPA provided material, has been pending at the Sarajevo Canton Prosecutor's Office for years.