Conference of Rectors of the Republic of Srpska: To Enter the Public Universities from the Republic of Srpska in the National Register

After the meeting held on 31 May 2019, the Conference of Rectors of the Republic of Srpska made a plea to Enver Halilovic, Director of the Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to fulfil the obligations that fall within his responsibility and enter two public universities from the Republic of Srpska in the National Register of Accredited Higher Education Institutions in BiH.

Professor Radoslav Gajanin, PhD, who chaired the Conference of Rectors of the Republic of Srpska, said after the meeting in the Rectorate of the University in Banja Luka that this plea also refers to the registration of the accredited study programs.

"I wish to emphasize that both of the public universities from the Republic of Srpska have been accredited and that they have been entered in the register kept at the Centre for Information and Recognition of Qualifications in Higher Education at BiH level, so our students do not need to worry about it", said Prof. Radoslav Gajanin, Rector of the University of Banja Luka.

Rector of the Independent University of Banja Luka Prof. Zoran Kalinic, PhD, said that, according to the information shared by the RS Higher Education Accreditation Agency,  the two public universities in the Republic of Srpska have successfully completed the institutional re-accreditation and accreditation of study programs, and that the processes are either in progress or almost finalized for a certain number of private universities.

He pointed out that they expect that other universities will join these processes in accordance with legal procedures and possibilities.

"It is important to stress that this Agency / RS Higher Education Accreditation Agency / especially emphasized the problems related to the relationship with the Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance of BiH, with which there had been many misunderstandings, especially in regard to the registration of re-accredited and accredited higher education institutions from the Republic of Srpska in the register kept at the BiH level", said Kalinic.

He emphasized that the academic community in the Republic of Srpska is committed to the development of higher education, and urged his colleagues from the Federation of BiH to join this trend.

Rector of the University of Istocno Sarajevo Prof. Stevo Pasalic, PhD, said that the personnel setup was also discussed at the meeting, as this is an important factor for the growth and development of each university.

"Our goal is to improve the quality of higher education, and we all agree on that. It is to be desirable that there is cooperation between the universities ", added Rector Pasalic.

The Conference of Rectors also discussed the proposal of the cooperation agreement between the universities in the Republic of Srpska, gathered around the RS Conference of Rectors. They also talked about activities undertaken in regard to the initiating of the issue of membership of private universities from the Republic of Srpska at BiH Conference of Rectors. Furthermore, presence of the RS Conference of Rectors at meetings of the Conference of Universities of Serbia was also considered.