STUDENTS OF THE FACULTY OF ECONOMICS' DEPARTMENT IN BUJANOVAC VISTING THE PARENT FACULTY

The Coordination Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja organized for the students of the Faculty of Economics’ department in Bujanovac a two-day visit to their parent faculty. The visit of students of the Bujanovac department to Subotica is one more Coordination Body’s activity aimed at providing the necessary conditions to Bujanovac students for receiving quality education and exchanging experiences with their fellow students from Subotica and Novi Sad.  The said activity made it possible for Bujanovac students to get to know their fellow students, to talk with them about their joint initiatives in the future and to see how classes in Subotica were organized.  

During the second day of the visit, students from both Subotica and Bujanovac attended a lecture in philosophy. The new friends from Subotica showed students from Bujanovac around the faculty’s building, while members of the Student Parliament instructed them on how to organize student bodies, which would be instrumental to contributing to an improvement in the living standard of students and to conditions for university education.   

Upon being shown around the faculty’s building and socializing with one another, the students were, in the full ceremonial hall of the Faculty of Economics, greeted by Minister Milan Markovic, President of the Coordination Body, Nenad Vunjak, Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Zarko Obradovic, Minister of Education and Science, Mary Warlick, the US Ambassador to Serbia, Michael Davenport, the British Ambassador to Serbia, Thomas Moore, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Shaip Kamberi, President of the Municipality of Bujanovac and Galip Beqiri, President of the Albanian National Council.   

“The winter semester classes were successfully organized in Bujanovac. The joint taking of classes brought students from the Albanian and Serbian communities closer. Although Bujanovac students are 550 km away from their classrooms, this faculty is their home, too”, said Dean Vunjak, adding that he expected from students to have even better exam results during the following semester. “Over the past few months, students showed that they could take the classes in both Serbian and Albanian. The joint taking of the classes brought students with the Albanian and Serbian ethnic backgrounds even closer”, said Dean Vunjak.   

Minister Milan Markovic, President of the Coordination Body, said that Bujanovac students benefited the most from the project of opening the Faculty of Economics’ department in Bujanovac, because, in addition to being provided with quality education, they were enabled to study at home.

“Studying at the Faculty of Economics’ department in Bujanovac makes it possible for you to get employed anywhere upon getting your university degrees. Not only will you find personal happiness, but thanks to your skills and knowledge, you will also help Bujanovac and Serbia to develop. A great deal of responsibility lies on you.” Minister Markovic pointed out that “the Vojvodina model and concern for common future should be transferred to Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja. If we see our chance in togetherness and in multi-ethnicity, then we will eventually succeed in making the three southern Serbian municipalities resemble Subotica.”

“The Faculty of Economics in Subotica has a tendency to grow because of its quality classes and professors and its cooperation with other faculties and companies. This is a place where you will acquire perfect knowledge and skills, which you will be able to use”, Minister Obradovic said.  

“The opening of the Faculty of Economics’ department in Bujanovac is a great achievement and the success of all those who were part of the process, especially of the Coordination Body, which worked tirelessly on the project, as well as of the Faculty of Economics in Subotica, which recognized the importance of the initiative and made the opening of the department possible”, said Mary Warlick, the US Ambassador to Serbia.

“For you, students, the opening of the department is the beginning of hard work. The Coordination Body, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Faculty of Economics and the Albanian National Council worked hard in order to provide you with the opportunity to get educated. It is your responsibility to create new chances for yourselves in accordance with the created opportunities”.   

Michael Davenport, the British Ambassador to Serbia, said “I’m aware that the first year of operation of the Faculty in Bujanovac is full of numerous challenges, both for professors and students.  I’m sure that you will be proud of having contributed to viability of a new educational institution in the environment. I hope that this faculty, along with its educational standards, would impact on improving the quality of the overall education in South Serbia and that we will, in the near future, witness the positive influence of this process on the wider community.”   

Thomas Moore, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, said that Bujanovac and Subotica were two different cities, which resembled each other in their multi-ethnicity. “You have come to the environment that is very different from the one in which you live, but with which you share multi-ethnicity. You are growing up in Serbia that differs from the one in which your parents grew up. Your visit to Subotica is the symbol of that change.”   

“I believe that we may find further examples of cooperation with Subotica, since our cooperation with this city, which should be an example of good practice, ought to be perceived from the aspect of symbolism. Both Subotica and Bujanovac are multiethnic environments. Given that Subotica is more developed than Bujanovac, I think that we may learn a lot from citizens of this city”, said Shaip Kamberi, President of the Municipality of Bujanovac.
 
“I was skeptical at the very beginning of the initiative for opening the Faculty of Economics’ department in Bujanovac”, said Galip Beqiri, President of the Albanian National Council. He also said: “There were a lot of difficulties and I’m pleased that we found in Subotica the appropriate model for organizing classes in multiethnic Bujanovac and that Dean Vunjak was willing to cooperate on this extremely important project”.   

The attendees of the event were addressed by female students of the Faculty of Economics in Bujanovac and Subotica, who voiced satisfaction with being in the position to socialize with their fellow students and who underscored that they had good conditions for studying at the department in Bujanovac.   

Upon socializing with their fellow students from the parent faculty, students from Bujanovac paid a visit to their colleagues studying at the Faculty of Economics’ department in Novi Sad.  

The Coordination Body shall remain dedicated to improving the conditions for studying and to developing the possibility for quality university education in South Serbia.