Avoiding Political Control of UNSA: Senate Requests Postponement of Higher Education Law Adoption

With the Draft Law on Higher Education prepared by the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of the Sarajevo Canton, the situation at the University of Sarajevo has reached a boiling point. At the faculties and the Rectorate, public debates were held, dissatisfaction with the proposed draft was expressed, and numerous criticisms were directed at the fact that the University of Sarajevo is being placed under political control, i.e., the autonomy of UNSA is being lost, writes the Bosnian news agency Patria.

One of the most drastic examples is the composition of the Management Board, according to which the Sarajevo Canton Government appoints as many as six out of 11 members, four members are appointed by the UNSA Senate, and at least one representative is from the student body. Although the current situation is such that the majority in the Management Board consists of members appointed by the Sarajevo Canton Government, this is precisely the main objection of the academic community.

For instance, although according to the law the Management Board has 11 members, the current composition, since the end of 2015, has been operating without one member, and that position has never been filled. As the Patria agency learns, not all members even attend Management Board meetings, and the decisions made are highly questionable. The current members of the Management Board, whose mandate expires this year, are: Chairman Mevludin Mekić, Prof. Dr. Mehmed Jahić, Prof. Dr. Velija Katica, Sifet Kukuruz, Azemina Njuhović, Munir Talović, Osman Topčagić, Sandra Začinović, Almedina Zuko, and Seid Hadžibajrić (student).

The bleak scenario looming over the University of Sarajevo was warned about by academician Esad Duraković, who resigned from his membership in the UNSA Management Board in January 2014.

What is at the very least strange is that Sifet Kukuruz and Azemina Njuhović were appointed to the UNSA Management Board, even though this violates the Rulebook, given that they are employees of the Ministry of Education, Science and Youth of the Sarajevo Canton, which is responsible for overseeing the legality of the University's operations, and Kukuruz is the Assistant Minister for Higher Education and Science!?

Precisely because of numerous objections and criticisms from the academic community regarding the proposed Draft, a special session of the UNSA Senate was held, at which amendments proposed by the University's academic community and the University Student Parliament were considered and unanimously adopted, which are the result of proposals from the public debate held at the University of Sarajevo on January 30, 2017.

- At the held Senate session, it was concluded that the adoption of the Law on Higher Education in the form in which it was proposed should be postponed. The Senate of the University of Sarajevo formed a working group with the aim of finding adequate solutions in joint work with the Government of the Sarajevo Canton, in order to establish a quality proposal for the Law on Higher Education of the Sarajevo Canton. The Senate of the University of Sarajevo will submit the adopted amendments to the Government of the Sarajevo Canton within the legal deadline – it was announced.

Although we requested more information about the proposed amendments, we were told that they would be published on Monday on the official website of UNSA.

As we learn, the amendments will relate to the composition of the Management Board, the status of students who, under the proposed draft, lose their regular student status if they lose one year and switch to self-financing, student knowledge assessment, the teaching process...