The economization of higher education in the Republic of Serbia

Abstract

Almost ten years have passed since the reform of higher education in the Republic of Serbia, conducted under the banner of the Bologna process. This paper gives a critical insight into some aspects of changes which resulted in the economization of higher education in the Republic of Serbia, such as the establishment of private universities, ranking and market competition among higher education institutions, the management of universities and faculties in accordance with managerial principles, the issue of the ways of promoting professors to higher positions and the like. The idea to write a paper providing a criticism of some aspects of the economization of higher education is not new. In the last couple of years, a great number of journals and books have been published in the country, the region and abroad, in which authors tried to provide a critical insight into the current state of education in the context of the changes of educational paradigms. The subject of this paper is the economization of higher education in the Republic of Serbia and the analysis of the consequences that occurred in this field due to the spreading of the principles of neoliberal ideology. The final part of the paper emphasizes the fact that university professors need to have a critical attitude towards what educational policy has to offer. Through their intellectual work, a resolute and critical constructive analysis of what an educational policy has to offer, they need to stand up for universities as the driving forces of the highest academic education.Keywords: education, higher education, university, economization of education JEL Classification: I20, I21, I23principle. We are rushing to "McUniversity" -"widely available and standardized service" .The impact of neoliberal ideology in the field of education is manifested through the economization of higher education institutions. In the Republic of Serbia, this process started with the introduction of tuition fees and the opening of the first private universities and faculties. The modern era is characterized by university and faculty rankings at the international and national levels, the strengthening of a competitive spirit among the faculties and academic staff, the establishment of universities and faculties functioning as enterprises due to the fact that they are run in accordance with managerial principles. It can be seen that higher education is now based on business logic. "The key novelty within this university concept lies in the tendency to treat universities as enterprises that produce knowledge and sell educational and academic services on the free market" (Lolić, 2006, 122). In the past, the ideal used to be reflected in the transfer and acquisition of knowledge and competences and in the strengthening of human potentials. Nowadays, when we talk about the ideals and goals of education, we often use economic terms or "market lexis": efficiency, mobility, productivity, competitiveness, market.The educational system is the key issue of the survival and efficient develop...