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EACEA National Policies Platform:Eurydice
National reforms in higher education

Serbia

14.Ongoing reforms and policy developments

14.4National reforms in higher education

Last update: 27 November 2023
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2023

In 2023 the Serbian “National Entity for Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education” (NEAQA) became a full member of the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) which main purpose is to promote and advance excellence in higher education through the support of an active international community of quality assurance agencies. The network focuses on the development of the theory and practice of quality assurance, the exchange and understanding of the policies and actions of its members, and the promotion of quality assurance for the benefit of higher education, institutions, students, and society at large. 

National Entity for Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education (NEAQA) is a national independent body responsible for performing the accreditation tasks, the assessment of quality of higher education institutions and their units, evaluation of study programmes and quality assurance in higher education. The aim of NEAQA is to improve higher education in Serbia by ensuring its compliance with internationally recognized standards for accreditation and quality assurance, as well as to raise the training level of reviewers and to ensure their independence and their professional and ethical behavior in the process of accreditation and quality assurance. 

NEAQA was established in 2018 by the Government of the Republic of Serbia, in accordance with the Law on Higher Education.  

2022

There have been no reforms up to date in this area. 

2021

In 2021 the Law on Student Organization has been adopted by The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. This law regulates the status, responsibilities and financing of student representative  bodies and student organization l at the national level. The law also defines the types and forms of student organizations of their establishment and supervision of their work. The main forms of student organizations are: student parliaments, student conferences (University Student Conference and Student Conference of Academies of Vocational Studies and Colleges), but also student organizations, whose work will be regulated by a single legal regulation, with the main goal of improving the conditions for the personal and social development of students, their inclusion in the life of the academic community, better information and involvement in decision-making related to them. This law also made a distinction between two types of organizations:  

  1. Student organizations, which are registered in the register of citizens' associations and whose membership consists exclusively of students, and whose goals are aimed at students,  
  2. Organizations for students, which represents any association that is entered in the register, and whose goals, among other things, are aimed at students.   

Also, the establishment of the National Union of Student Organizations was defined by this law, with the aim of achieving common interests and full representativeness of students.  

Additionally, in 2021, the Ministry of Education adopted the Amendments to the Law on Higher Education. The amendments referred to the process of appointing members of the National Council for Higher Education and the National Accreditation Body. Namely, by this change of a procedure, the members will be appointed by the decision of the National Assembly, not the Government of the Republic of Serbia. In accordance with this change, the separate bodies was formed as parts of the National Accreditation Body.