PRESS RELEASE - Bilingual Faculty in Bujanovac

27. October 2011.

A department of the Subotica-based Faculty of Economics is going to be opened in Bujanovac on Friday, October 28, 2011. The first generation of 69 students were enrolled in the 2011/2012 academic year and they will attend the classes that shall be held in Serbian and Albanian. The classes for students from the Serbian and Roma community will be in Serbian, whereas students from the Albanian community will, during a four years’ long studying, attend the classes in 14 subjects in Albanian. The studying of all the students will be financed from the budget.The establishment of the department of the Faculty of Economics is the example of a systemic solution of the issue of higher education in South Serbia. This is a true example of the cooperation of national minorities and of their joint work on providing conditions for higher education of the young in the multiethnic environment.

The municipality of Bujanovac gave away the community center’s premises for the needs of the said department, the adaptation of which was financed by the Coordination Body. The necessary IT equipment was provided by the Coordination Body and the United Nation’s PBILD Program, while the classrooms were fitted out by the municipality of Bujanovac.

The establishment of the department of the Subotica-based Faculty of Economics is a success jointly achieved by the Faculty of Economics from Subotica, the University of Novi Sad, the State University of Tetovo, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Coordination Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, the Albanian National Council, the Government of the Republic of Serbia and the Government of the AP (Autonomous Province) of Vojvodina. A significant contribution to the opening was made by the OSCE Mission to Serbia, the High Commissioner on National Minorities’ Office and by other representatives of the international community in our country.