Attitudes about the academic integrity of employees at universities in Serbia

Posted on by MASS in News

Issues of academic integrity are actually a broad field that includes a whole range of different topics, which can range from plagiarism of scientific papers, bad relationships between colleagues, to the relationship between professors and students. The university represents a special social world in miniature, in which there are written and unwritten rules, but in which at the same time some important topics, such as academic integrity, are not sufficiently present in academic communication.

The Academic Solidarity Network (MASA) therefore, with the support of the US Embassy in Belgrade, implemented a project dealing with the topic of academic integrity in the academic community in Serbia. As part of the second phase of the Project, we carried out a survey, the results of which we present here reports.

The results of qualitative research with employees in the USA academic community, on the subject of academic integrity, can be found at the following link. 

Research Report on Academic Integrity Issues in US Universities

Posted on by MASS in Publications, News

The Network of Academic Solidarity and Engagement (MASA), with the support of the US Embassy in Belgrade, implemented a project dealing with the topic of academic integrity in the academic community in Serbia. An integral part of the Project was research on issues of academic integrity at US Universities, with the aim of identifying problems and best practices in one of the most developed university communities in the world, and to make an attempt to transfer best practices in the coming period. The research operated with several research questions:

1. What is usually meant by academic at US universities
integrity?
2. What are the most common problems in practice that occur when it comes to academic integrity?
3. What are the mechanisms for protecting academic integrity?

You can find the full report at the following link.

Politics in NAT

Posted on by MASS in News

The Network of Academic Solidarity and Engagement (MASA) recently, in a collegial and extremely benevolent spirit, pointed out to the Board of Directors of the National Accreditation Body (NAT) the legal problem of one of their members. Unfortunately, our direct warning was not met with a response, but we learned from the media from NAT officials, including the chairman of the NAT Board of Directors, that the replacement of the members of the Board of Directors is not within their authority, but the National Assembly's. We hope that the new National Assembly and the government will help the NAT Board of Directors to replace the accused member as soon as possible.

In addition, now taking into account political involvement and personal responsibility, we would like to remind our respected colleague and lawyer prof. Žika Bujuklić as a new deputy in the National Assembly that he should step down as a member of the NAT Board of Directors, because based on the Law on Higher Education (Article 16, paragraph 10), a member of the Board of Directors cannot be a person elected, appointed or appointed to a position in a state body. MASA once again insists on the independence of academic institutions and is firmly against party-appropriate employment to the detriment of the quality and credibility of university representatives.

Coordination Board of MASA

Responding to the decision of the Constitutional Court on the constitutionality of the Statute and regulations of the University of Belgrade

Posted on by MASS in News

UNCONSTITUTIONAL DECISION OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT VIOLATING THE AUTONOMY OF THE UNIVERSITY

On the occasion of the recently published decision of the Constitutional Court of Serbia, the Network of Academic Solidarity and Engagement (MASA) again points to dangerous encroachments on the constitutionally guaranteed autonomy of universities. A year ago, we pointed out the limitation of autonomy by the legislative authority, when adopting amendments to the Law on Higher Education and legalizing the practice of the so-called blessings at the theological faculties, which limit the rights to education and work guaranteed by the Constitution.

This time, the Constitutional Court, with its purely textual interpretation of the Constitution, significantly limited the freedom of universities to review and revoke the titles that they are authorized to grant according to the Constitution and the law. The Constitutional Court thus once again failed to contribute to the filling of legal gaps with a more active approach and transferred the responsibility to the parliament, which has not performed its basic role for a long time. Nevertheless, MASA hereby calls for a new convocation of the National Assembly to, by adopting amendments to the Law on Higher Education, support the autonomy of universities, instead of further limiting and collapsing it.

MASA expects the Constitutional Court to show the same zeal and efficiency in deciding on the initiative to evaluate the constitutionality and legality of the provisions of the Law on Science and Research, which are related to the appointment of management boards of scientific institutes, where the majority are members appointed by the Government. This initiative was submitted in October 2020, and until now it is not known whether and in what way the Constitutional Court acted on it. The recently published decision of the Constitutional Court of Serbia regarding the initiative submitted in the interests of Minister Sinisa Malog has unequivocally shown that personal official initiatives have priority. By placing itself in the service of state officials, the Constitutional Court contributes to the further collapse of the academic community, in order to achieve the personal goals of those currently in power.

Unfortunately, the fact that the initiative was submitted to the Constitutional Court by Siniša Mali, who was proven at the University of Belgrade to have plagiarized his doctorate, attracted the public's attention the most. The Constitutional Court made a great effort to show that the rulebook regulating the procedure for determining non-academic behavior at the University of Belgrade is unconstitutional and should not be applied retroactively to cases started before 2016. MASA reminds that before 2016, these procedures were not regulated by law or any other by-law, and the adoption of university regulations was the only way to process various cases of non-academic behavior, including plagiarized doctorates.

Although plagiarism by several high-ranking state officials has been proven in the past ten years, while in the case of others proceedings have been conducted but have not yet been concluded, legal and moral sanctions have been largely absent until now. Academics and the general public are rightly concerned, because court proceedings are still ongoing in which Siniša Mali is trying to defend the indefensible, using exclusively arguments of a formal and procedural nature, the fact that by plagiarizing his doctorate he did not only an act that entails responsibility in academic circles, but also an act due to which in any democratic state he would have long been forced to resign from the high state office he holds. MASA hereby calls on the University of Belgrade to persevere in the procedures during which the plagiarism of Sinisa Malo was proven, as well as in the efforts to finally deprive him of the undeserved title of Doctor of Science.

Why hasn't the convicted member of the Board of Directors of the National Accreditation Body been replaced yet?

Posted on by MASS in News

Some media recently announced that professors from the Belgrade Academy of Business and Art Vocational Studies were arrested and convicted for selling exams. According to information that can be found on the website of the National Accreditation Body (NAT), one of the arrested professors is a member of the Board of Directors of this important institution, which, based on Article 14 of the Law on Higher Education, carries out accreditation, quality control of higher education institutions, evaluation of study programs and quality assurance in higher education. Members of the NAT Board of Directors should be renowned experts and honorable professionals who will not subordinate the public interest to their private or political interest. The Network of Academic Solidarity and Engagement (MASA) turned to the Board of Directors of NAT to make a statement about its controversial member and to inform the public whether the process of dismissal of the aforementioned member, who was elected to the Board of Directors on the proposal of the Conference of Academies and Colleges, has begun. As we have not received any response so far, we are forced to publicly address the Management Board of NAT with the request that they disassociate themselves from the arrested colleague and submit a request for his removal to the Serbian Parliament. By tolerating the illegal and unethical behavior of a professor who sits together with them on the Board of Directors of such an important institution, the reputation of the education system in Serbia is further damaged and, unfortunately, calls into question the credibility of NAT's further activities. Aside from the public party involvement (election campaign, signatures of support) of certain members of the NAT Board of Directors, which should be incompatible with the exercise of public office in an institution whose basic role is to be independent and impartial, we are now facing a direct damage to reputation and credibility the highest authority for checking the quality of higher education institutions.

 

Letter to the Science Fund regarding the competition for new projects that were announced during the annual vacations

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The Network of Academic Solidarity and Engagement (MASA) sent a letter to the Fund for Science regarding the call for new projects that were announced during the planned vacations, you can read the letter in its entirety below.

Respected,

We are addressing you on behalf of the members of the Network of Academic Solidarity and Engagement (MASA), but we are sure that the request we are sending you on this occasion is supported by a large number of our colleagues engaged in scientific research work. First of all, we would like to welcome the call for tenders for new projects by the Science Fund in several research areas. However, this is not the first time that the Science Fund has issued a call for financing projects before the beginning of the annual vacations, which practically shortens the deadline for the preparation of project documentation from the anticipated 2.5 months to 1.5 months. This is not only about not respecting the right of scientists and researchers in Serbia to their well-deserved annual vacations, which violates their working rights, but also puts them in an almost impossible position to obtain documentation for applying at a time when the administration is also at a high number of NIOs on annual vacations, as well as teaching staff in the Ethics Committees. At previous meetings with the management of the Science Fund, the researchers reached an informal agreement that such situations would not be repeated again, following a similar situation that occurred with the announcement of calls for Promise and Ideas, but also due to other objections to the work of the Fund.

According to the information available to us, our colleagues will request a postponement of the deadline for applying through various forums. MASA will strongly support these requests. In addition, MASA will point out, through domestic media and other public actions, the extremely unfavorable position in which the domestic scientific community found itself on this occasion.

If the budget deadlines are in question, they can be administratively overcome, but if it is a situation in which certain persons/organizations were in a privileged position of knowing in advance when the invitation will be announced and, therefore, able to immediately of these invitations obtain the necessary documentation along with pre-prepared projects, then this is a situation that speaks of systemic corruption and will be the subject of our organization's fundamental interest.

Bearing in mind the above, as well as the fact that it is about two calls, where a total of 28.5 million euros will be distributed, which will finance over 100 research teams that will gather more than a thousand researchers from Serbia, MASA demands that the application deadline moved to November 1, 2022, and that the decision to move the deadlines be made urgently, and certainly before the beginning of the annual vacations, which at NIO begin in the second half of July.

 

Report from the forum regarding the announcement of the reintroduction of military service

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Network of Academic Solidarity and Engagement (MASS) organized a forum on the recently updated topic of mandatory military service. Namely, the topic is recognized as legitimate and significant for the academic community as well, which can offer new and more comprehensive approaches when determining priorities and specific development goals of a society and state. For the development of long-term plans, policies and opportunities, the analyzes and research results of scientific institutes, faculties, expert teams, as well as the involvement of the wider public, are very important, in order to more clearly and precisely determine all potential problems and obstacles that indicate limited opportunities to carry out the announced changes, that is, presented the benefits and opportunities for the realization to be successful.

The segment that was less talked about in public, and is important for the topic of mandatory military service, includes part of the realization of the recruitment process itself. In its structure, this process implies the fulfillment of numerous criteria, which through standard procedures exclude a significant part of potential recruits, because they require minimum mental, medical and physical standards, educational and moral requirements, age limits, the issue of security checks and the like. For this reason, it was important for the public to hear the words of experts from various scientific and professional bodies and institutions in the fields of medicine (psychiatry, public health), education, security, physical culture and education, economics and many others, which we partially managed to provide to the interlocutors who responded to our call.

The tribune was held in Tuesday, 21.6.2022. year at 6 p.m. in Club Polet (Cetinjska 15, Belgrade).

The speakers were:

 

  1. Jovan Mirić, prof. of the Faculty of Philosophy in retirement (Department of Developmental Psychology)
  2. Svetlana Stanarevic, associate professor, Faculty of Security, UB
  3. Dr. Miroslav Marković, Institute for the Improvement of Education and Training, President of the Serbian Association of Physical Education and Sports Teachers
  4. Slobodan Spasic, psychologist, PhD student (Faculty of Philosophy)

 

After an introductory presentation on the chronology of initiatives on the reactivation of mandatory military service from 2011 to the present day, the political, media and professional discourse in the said period was briefly presented. It was pointed out the last advertisement of the competent minister, with the statement that several models designed in the Ministry of Defense are ready, which will be sent to the president, and then a wider public discussion will be opened. While we are waiting for that moment, MASA has organized a forum, in order to listen to the thoughts of the academic public and the community on the issue and open up space for engagement in future public discussions. There were talks about moral behavior and moral governance of young people, patriotism, theoretical insights into those concepts, but also the importance of connecting with the subject of mandatory military service. Meeting physical standards during the recruitment process requires certain physical characteristics and readiness of potential recruits. Based on recent research on the physical and motor skills of children and young people and very worrying results (increased obesity, diabetes, various forms of spinal deviation, etc.), the potential of the future recruitment contingent can be questioned. In addition to the importance of meeting physical criteria and standards, it is very important to take into account the psychological and mental state of the young population, especially in the process of psychological assessment and selection for military service, the characteristics of psychometric instruments, weaknesses and strengths, as well as the possibilities to adapt to gender requirements in in the event that both women and men are recruited, the different experiences of foreign armies when it comes to mixed or unisex military units, and more. Based on the content of the speaker's presentation, we can say that the need for an important role of the academic community has been confirmed, which is increasingly showing its willingness to engage in public discussion regarding issues that represent the strategic determinations of our society and the state in the sphere of security, but also beyond. It is necessary to determine what are the capacities and significant research endeavors, which can result in a greater contribution in fulfilling normative, political, strategic and operational requirements, so that life takes place in conditions of greater safety, security and better quality. Also, it is important that public policy planning is carried out in an integrated way, whereby greater attention must be paid to the balance between responding to security needs and other essential needs of the population (such as education, health, employment, access to clean water, food, access energy, etc.). Representatives of the academic community and educational institutions at all levels, with their different specializations, represent a set of expertise that can contribute to improving the state's response to the multidimensional (security) needs of citizens, but also support public decision makers by analyzing needs, analyzing opportunities, independent evaluation of existing policies and formulating proposals for future work.

MASA organizes a forum on the occasion of the announcement of the reintroduction of military service

Posted on by MASS in News

Network of Academic Solidarity and Engagement (MASS) invites you to a forum on the recently updated topic of mandatory military service. MASA recognized the topic as legitimate and significant for the academic public as well, because according to the way it was opened, it indicated the necessity of a more serious and comprehensive approach to determining priorities and specific goals of the development of a society and state. For the development of long-term plans, policies and opportunities, the analyzes and research results of scientific institutes, faculties, expert teams are very important, as well as the involvement of the wider public, in order to more clearly and precisely determine all potential problems and obstacles that indicate limited opportunities to carry out the announced changes, that is, presented the benefits and opportunities for the realization to be successful.

The segment that was less talked about in public, and is important for the topic of mandatory military service, includes part of the realization of the recruitment process itself. In its structure, this process implies the fulfillment of numerous criteria, which through standard procedures exclude a significant part of potential recruits, because they require minimum mental, medical and physical standards, educational and moral requirements, age limits, the issue of security checks and the like. For this reason, it is important for the public to hear the words of experts from various scientific and professional bodies and institutions in the fields of medicine (psychiatry, public health), education, security, physical culture and upbringing, economics and many others.

The forum will be held in Tuesday, 21.6.2022. year at 6 p.m. in Club Polet (Cetinjska 15, Belgrade).

Speakers:

  1. Jovan Mirić, prof. of the Faculty of Philosophy in retirement (Department of Developmental Psychology)
  2. Svetlana Stanarevic, associate professor, Faculty of Security, UB
  3. Slobodan Spasic, psychologist, PhD student
  4. Dr. Miroslav Marković (Institute for the Improvement of Education and Training, President of the Serbian Association of Physical Education and Sports Teachers)

In the background of the issue of mandatory military service, there are also the following issues that we will open:

1) How does our society, that is, representatives of state institutions and decision-makers determine priorities and whether they rely on reliable data and research results when making those decisions; how familiar they are with the importance and understanding of the advantages and limitations of some information and data; how much and in what way the general public is involved, especially when it comes to topics that come from the security sphere and that require ever greater openness and the possibility to realize an appropriate public discussion.

2) To what extent is the academic community ready to engage in public discussion regarding issues that represent the strategic determinations of our society and the state in the sphere of security, but also more broadly; does it have sufficient capacity and significant research endeavors that can result in a greater contribution in meeting normative, political, strategic and operational requirements, so that life can take place in conditions of greater safety, security and better quality.

3) Is the planning of public policies carried out in an integrated way, paying attention to the balance between responding to security needs and other essential needs of the population (such as education, health, employment, access to clean water, food, access to energy, etc.) and why not? Representatives of the academic community and educational institutions at all levels, with their different specializations, represent a set of expertise that can contribute to improving the state's response to the multidimensional (security) needs of citizens, but also support public decision makers by analyzing needs, analyzing opportunities, independent evaluation of existing policies and formulating proposals for future work. Participants of the forum are invited to give their opinion and state their views on the current topic of compulsory military service, which reflects many other important issues in our society, which are looking for satisfactory answers and solutions.

MASA sent a request for clarification of the conditions under which teaching staff at faculties can exercise the right to funding of scientific work

Posted on by MASS in News

The Network of Academic Solidarity and Engagement sent a request to the State Secretary for Science, as well as to the assistant ministers from the Science Sector and the Higher Education Sector, for clarification of the conditions under which teaching staff at faculties can exercise the right to funding of scientific work.

Namely, according to News which was published on the website of the Ministry, at the end of 2019, the project funding of the scientific work of employees at faculties ended and "combined funding of the scientific research work of all employees in accredited scientific research organizations (NIOs) was introduced, depending on whether they engage in scientific research through funding according to the annual NIO's work plan, or they are engaged in projects of the Science Fund of the Republic of Serbia for a certain period of time".

However, the combined form of funding does not cover all faculty employees. This type of financial compensation is not received by those who were not engaged in projects during the project financing, as well as those who were employed in NIO after the introduction of the combined form of financing, which, according to an unofficial estimate, includes at least several hundred employees at the faculties. Many tried through the faculties where they are employed to request to be included in the combined financing, but they were rejected without an explanation based on the provisions of the Law on Science and Research ("Official Gazette of RS", No. 49/2019).

Since in the Law on Science and Research ("Official Gazette of the RS", No. 49/2019) which in Article 135 regulates the combined form of financing, we did not find a basis for such different treatment, and that requests from institutions for financing additional staff were rejected, MASA asked for clarification on what is the condition for teaching staff to be included in the mentioned form of financing scientific research work. If there is no clear legal basis, this kind of practice can be considered discriminatory, which we consider unacceptable treatment of teaching staff.

MASA demands a public apology from TV Happy television, as well as its presenters Aleksandra Brčić and Milomir Marić, for insulting the academic community

Posted on by MASS in News

From 100 euros for young people, we reduced it to 1,000 dinars for future members of the academic community. The former was used in the election campaign of the current government, and the latter on one of the numerous television stations with a national frequency that are in the service of that government. In essence, both the humiliating 100 euros and the shameful 1000 dinars are based on the underestimation of young and educated people in a country that is fighting the white plague and that can be "raised" by numerous emigration. This underestimation corresponds not only to the inflation of the cost of living in recent months, but also to the multi-year devaluation of education embodied in plagiarist ministers, unprofessional state staff and dubious retraining of high-ranking officials. The network of academic solidarity and engagement demands a public apology from TV Happy television, as well as its presenters Aleksandra Brcic and Milomir Marić, for insulting the academic community, because it is not a matter of misinterpretation and misunderstanding, as stated in the announcement of this television. At the same time, we ask the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, all universities in Serbia and student organizations that represent the interests of students to announce themselves on this occasion and defend the honor of students and the reputation of the university. We must respond to every insult from the academic community because silence opens the door to further insults and reprisals. We make a public appeal to stop once and for all insulting the academic community and its future members for the sake of the daily political ambitions of the current government in Serbia.