Megatrend University, where Vojin Mijatović and Petar Đokić obtained their degrees, had its operating license revoked

(Patria) - The Ministry of Education of the Republic of Serbia issued a decision on August 26 this year to revoke the operating license of the higher education institution Megatrend University, based in Belgrade, Serbian media recently reported, writes Slobodna Bosna

The decision was made based on a letter from the National Accreditation and Quality Assurance Body in Higher Education, which informed the Ministry of Education that Megatrend University's application for new regular accreditation was rejected, according to a statement from the Ministry of Education.

"The Ministry of Education, based on Article 53, Paragraph 8 of the Law on Higher Education ('Official Gazette of RS', Nos. 88/2017, 73/2018, 27/2018 – other law, 67/2019 and 6/2020 – other laws, 11/2021 – authentic interpretation, 67/2021 – other law and 76/2023); (hereinafter referred to as the Law on Higher Education), informs the public that on August 26, 2024, it issued Decision No. 612-00-01793/2024-06 on revoking the operating license of the higher education institution – Megatrend University, based in Belgrade, Bulevar oslobođenja number 215, based on a letter from the National Accreditation and Quality Assurance Body in Higher Education, which informed the Ministry of Education that Megatrend University's application for new regular accreditation was rejected," the ministry's decision states.

Controversial University, Controversial Students

This, by all accounts, puts an end to the operation of this controversial higher education institution, an unofficial symbol of private faculties in Serbia. In the meantime, numerous politicians and high-ranking officials from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro have obtained their (dubious) academic titles there.

The most well-known names from BiH who obtained their diplomas from Megatrend University are Petar Đokić, president of the Socialist Party and long-time coalition partner of SNSD, and Vojin Mijatović, current minister in the FBiH Government and high-ranking official of SDP.

In Serbia, the most famous Megatrend graduate is Nebojša Stefanović, former Minister of Internal Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia. One of the biggest scandals that shook Serbia in 2019 was precisely the uncovering of numerous controversies surrounding the academic path of the then-minister Stefanović. His case exposed the model by which this "educational" institution operated.

Stefanović allegedly "graduated" in the 1990s in London from Megatrend International Expert Consortium Limited. This "diploma" was recognized in 2005 by the Faculty of Business Studies at Megatrend University in Belgrade. However, diligent Serbian journalists, who would later make a documentary film about Stefanović's dubious education ("Mega Diplomac"), determined that London-based Megatrend International Expert Consortium Limited was not a higher education institution at all, especially not an accredited one, but a consulting firm founded in 1990 with a meager initial capital of only a few hundred pounds.

Megatrend University in Belgrade itself, where Đokić (according to his biography in 1991, and according to ministry data in 2005) and Mijatović (2002) obtained their diplomas, received accreditation and an operating license from the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science, and Technological Development only at the end of 2016. Although it was founded 30 years ago, during the rule of the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Hague indictee Slobodan Milošević, by Mića Jovanović, a controversial businessman close to all Serbian regimes in the last three decades.

Professor Mila Alečković, a distinguished expert in psychology with a doctorate from the Sorbonne, who taught at Megatrend University for a time, best explained the nature of this higher education institution.

She stated that shortly after starting her employment at Megatrend University, she realized what kind of institution it was and that the purpose of such institutions was to create "cadres for the government."

“I actually realized that it is not a real academic institution, that is my conclusion, it is not binding on anyone, but rather a place, as I would say, there are such schools in the world, but they provide cadres for the government. But as such, they are clear that they are annexes of the government, and this is not Oxford, this is not Sorbonne, this is not Heidelberg, this is not Lomonosov, this is not Pennsylvania, this is not Massachusetts. So, this is an appendage of the government, that's what it is in the world, and then cadres are educated. The then-rector or dean, whatever he was, stated that 50 percent of the members of the main board of the Serbian Progressive Party had either graduated or completed this faculty. His sentence alone tells you that it is actually a place from which people are appointed for a certain party, government, or administration,” said Professor Alečković.