Students' Protests in Belgrade 2008

Bologna at a Loss

When the students gather, the youth and future of any country in the world, no one is indifferent. They usually want socio-economic changes and very often succeed in accomplishing that, not selecting the means to do it because they don't have anything to lose. The fact that the school reform, which is closely related to the high-school institution, doesn't reduce the negative sides of the former way of work, but brings new problems such as increasing the number of graduated students instead of increasing the quality of education, forced these young people once again to go out on the streets


By LJILJANA SAMARDŽIĆ
from Sombor, SERBIA


Uproar and discontent are hitting the streets of Belgrade again. The ones whose future is uncertain, whom the others are playing with, the ones who don't know where to go anymore or who to ask to explain what's really going on and how far will it go, came out to find the answer. The only problem larger than their discontent is the number of those who were affected by the same thing. Attempts to transfer the guilt on the students' inability to keep up with the program will not pass so easily, especially now, when we are witnessing the strikes of Italian and Spanish students at the same time. The protest is related to school reforms, but also to the bad economic situation of the citizens. Last time the students were unsatisfied, we got a revolution of the entire society. Will it be somewhat different this time?

The school reforms are executed referring to the Bologna Declaration. However, the reality is different. The goal of the University is to provide more income for its members by quoting this document, but the declaration doesn't contain this: "Charge for every non-gained point", nor the item: "Increase the scholarships high above the paying abilities of an average citizen and by doing so, make high education a privilege". Everything has come down to charging the students for not completing their duties, but there is no mention of uncompleted duties towards the students. One more thing is not mentioned and it is very important - the preparation of young people for a new way of working; people who, until that moment, were working by a totally different system for almost 19 years. That system, the one which primary and secondary schools still work by, destroys and cuts down any trace of a child's imagination, creativity, innovation. That system teaches us to be obedient, less worthy or even toady. After all that, we move on to the University where the jungle rules intensify, but we have already learned how to live under those rules. Now they tell us that some other rules are valid, we get points for activities we are not enabled to perform, for knowledge they don't request from us. Actually, they tell us we should play a game that looks like this:

Taking into consideration the fact that we want to join the European Union as soon as possible, even by skipping a few main steps (we can do that because we are very smart people), we will point out that everything works under their rules. We will pretend that we have everything they ask from us, but how that actually works in real life - we are the only ones to know. Now we will emphasize the most important things that we have to provide and which of those things you actually have. But, you must not forget one thing in this new game- An old system rule still stands, saying that without good connections and a large sum of money, you will not be able to achieve successfully deserved knowledge.

According to the Declaration, we (the University) should provide students with:

- The possibility of postgraduate studies at any European University if the resident country is a ratifier of the B.D. - this is enabled only with the ERASMUS program, which has organized a different option for those countries that are out of range of ERASMUS (such as our country), called Erasmus Mundus;

- Before the foregoing, came the establishment of a system that is very familiar, but NOT THE SAME as in other ratifier countries-our "experts" try to impose the same system as in other countries, forgetting that it not only changes the habit of the students to, for example, study regularly, but also the professors to, for example, allow activities of students on lectures, which happens rarely. It should be emphasized that in March, more precisely on the 2nd of March 2008, a program was brought up which took into analyzing the ESPB points and finding a better way of adapting them

- Corresponding recognition of knowledge, which means three levels : Bachelor, Master or PhD - the first level isn't even mentioned in our country, and with the established system, it should exist; the Master is still undefined, which means that we should all have a PhD so we could MAYBE move on to the next step

- The possibility of hiring: A massive production of highly educated people is being performed in our country, so we are becomming short of workplaces, the students mostly enroll in Master studies, and because of that we have the wrong perception that we suddenly became smarter as a nation.

If we all play our parts as agreed, others will tihk that Bologna really does function.

However, it is obvious that Bologna is more than we can handle, even for it's creators. In the plan for year 2007-2009, accepted by the Bologna Follow up group in a meeting in Lisbon on the 2nd and 3rd of October 2007, there was a mention of an intensive work on creating an adequate institution which would allow everyone to study, no matter what their economic status and social background is. As a ratifier of Bologna, we should also work on it, and the fact that the scholarship which the state provides monthly for students submits to only 5100 RSD, doesn't leave a positive picture.

The students of many faculties have decided that the people in charge cannot go any further. The protests are carried out as agreed, the students keep in touch through numerous Internet pages, not only with all the interested students from our country, but from all countries overtaken by this problem. Since the people in charge realized that a huge mistake has been committed, all students who have earned 42 points are slowly enrolling. Some faculties still have place available, while others have less place for all the students they promised to enroll in budget studies. This is one of the indicators that the previous system, by which the condition for budget studies was to pass all annual exams, wasn't bad at all. Everything would be less complicated if scholarships were simply reduced. If someone isn't capable of leading these reform, he shouldn't even be trying, he should find someone who is capable, so that others wouldn't redeem other people's failures and pride.

Considering the fact that there is no such thing as an institution or a person responsible for the regularity of managing the Bologna Declaration, a question is born - Who is to be blamed for failed reforms? - Insufficient capability of educators, reformists who know little about the reform itself, the University head office which has the power to rise the scholarships sky high, the state which ignores the problem, the parents who, even with two jobs, cannot provide their children with proper education, the students who are looking for a solution or someone else?


(Published: 15.11.2008.)