When Politics Interferes with Science: UK and Minister Mesihović Keep UNSA and Campus Development in a Drawer

In October 2023, the Master Plan for the University of Sarajevo Campus was presented as part of the "Urban Regeneration of UNSA Campus."

At that time, the idea was initiated to declare the UNSA Campus an area of significance for Sarajevo Canton, where new buildings for faculties, institutes, and constituent members of the University of Sarajevo would be constructed in the coming years, thus completing the story of the oldest public university in BiH. According to the latest Webometrics ranking, UNSA is the best-ranked university from BiH and among the top 4.5 percent globally.

However, when politics interferes with education, the result is the halting of projects that would improve the work of the University of Sarajevo and provide its constituent members with modern facilities and working conditions.

The Campus area houses several faculties, institutes, UTIC, the National and University Library of BiH, and the construction of the University Library is underway thanks to a grant from the Saudi Fund for Development. Apart from clearing bushes and removing an illegal building from the Campus, there are no other activities.

However, precisely for this reason, it is necessary to place this area under the special jurisdiction of Sarajevo Canton to ensure the continuity of the initiated project and for Sarajevo to gain a modern and functional university campus that would attract both domestic and foreign students and compete with regional and world universities.

The then-presentation was attended by the Minister of Higher Education, Pavle Krstić (Naša stranka), who remained in office until November 2023, when a new Government of KS was formed. Instead of Krstić, Adna Mesihović became the Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Youth, proposed by Damir Marjanović and the Za nove generacije movement.

On July 19, the University of Sarajevo presented a series of criticisms against the current minister and the KS Government regarding the University of Sarajevo. Mesihović denied claims that she halted the project of employing 150 most successful students, while UNSA refuted her, as there is official correspondence in which she requested a fiscal assessment by year for that project.

Employing these students and covering their salaries for four years would require slightly over 20 million KM. However, in the long run, these are future professors at UNSA. The average age of staff at the University of Sarajevo signals that it is time for serious staff strengthening in faculties, academies, and institutes. A certain number of professors will retire next year, and necessary steps must be taken in time.

In May this year, the Rector of the University of Sarajevo, Rifat Škrijelj, whose term ends on September 30 this year, sent an initiative to the KS Government, the relevant minister Adna Mesihović, and the Prime Minister of KS Nihad Uk to establish the UNSA Campus Development Program as a project of special importance for Sarajevo Canton and to define the spatial scope of the Campus as an area of special importance for Sarajevo Canton for the construction of public facilities.

Minister Mesihović never responded to this letter.

In his letter, Rector Škrijelj referred to a previous working meeting and attached updated documentation related to the UNSA Campus Development Program.

"Additional financial resources, which need to be secured in the KS budget and are related to the adoption of the Decision on adopting the subject initiative, relate to the costs of preparing amendments to the Regulatory Plan in an amount consistent with the cost estimate determined by the KS Development Planning Institute," the letter states.

At a press conference on July 19, Škrijelj called on the KS Government and the relevant ministry to unblock projects and stop acting as if the ministry were the private ministry of one individual.

Škrijelj announced that he would clearly state the situation in September if things do not change by then.

"We have been living and working in these premises for 75 years; buildings must be constructed, the university must be modernized," said Škrijelj.

If the renovation of the Sarajevo tram line can happen after 60 years, then it is time for the University of Sarajevo, as the largest and oldest university in BiH, to be prioritized.

(A. Vrabac)