News

Director of the Higher Education Accreditation Agency of the Republic of Srpska, Biljana Vojvodic, PhD, attended the opening ceremony of the 15th International Education Fair "Putokazi" on the 4th of March 2020, which was held this year as part of the Book Fair and International Art Exhibition "Art Expo" in Novi Sad.

The Education Fair aims to promote education for all ages and the affirmation of lifelong learning, and presents an overall picture of the educational profiles of secondary and higher education.

About 150 exhibitors from 13 countries and more than 70 educational institutions from Serbia, Republika Srpska, Croatia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Italy, France and Canada participated in the fair.

After several months of repeated requests, the Agency  for Developement of Higher Education and Quality Assurance has registered the University of Banja Luka and the University of East Sarajevo in the State Register of Accredited Higher Education Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (the Register).

The enrollment followed discussions between the Higher Education Accreditation Agency of Republika Srpska, Ministry for Scientific and Technological Development, Higher Education and Information Society and the Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance, which was mediated by experts from the TAIEX Mission of Professional Assessment - Accreditation of Higher Education Institutions organized by the European Commission.

It is important to emphasize that enrollment in the Registry establishes continuity in the accreditation of higher education institutions and that students will have no problems enrolling in other higher education institutions in countries from the region and Europe, which is also important for the participation of universities in EU funded projects.

We remind that the delay of the entry in the referred Register lasted more than ten months, and that the Delegation of the European Union to Bosnia and Herzegovina was actively involved in mediating in overcoming this problem. In this regard, the European Commission has submitted a notice on the holding of the Professional Assessment Mission - Accreditation of Higher Education Institutions, held from February 4-7, 2020 in Sarajevo and Banja Luka.

The Steering Board considered and adopted a number of important documents for the Agency's work, namely: The Agency's Work Report with the Financial Statement for 2019, the Work plan of the Agency with the Financial Plan for 2020, the Public Procurement Report for 2019 and the Plan of public procurement for 2020.

The members of the Steering Board were also informed of current developments in the process of accreditation of higher education institutions and of the Law on Quality Assurance.

Dragomir Jovicic, PhD, acting Member - Representative of the founder, was elected as Chairman of the Steering Board of the Agency.

At its 21^st  regular session, the Agency's Steering Board reviewed all the activities of the authorities and institutions in Republika Srpska so far and noted that all necessary activities were undertaken to accredit the two public universities in Republika Srpska in accordance with positive legal and other regulations in the field of quality assurance. Therefore, the Board requests the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a matter of urgency, to ensure the legality of its work and to remove obstruction by the Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance in BiH.

It was also noted that public universities in Republika Srpska suffer with numerous negative consequences in their work and functioning. Therefore, it is necessary to complete all the activities undertaken in order to provide a lawful solution for the entry of the University of Banja Luka and the University of East Sarajevo in the State Register.