The Faculty of Philosophy in Niš announced today that the decision of the Administrative Court to accept their lawsuits requesting interim measures in the administrative dispute against the Ministry of Education has created conditions for preserving the legal and institutional status of the Faculty until a final court ruling is made.
By a decision of the Ministry of Education, the operating license of the Faculty of Philosophy was amended, and eight study programs from three departments were removed from it – the Department of Serbian Studies, the Department of Russian Language and Literature, and the Department of History.
“By accepting the request for interim measures, conditions have been created for all teaching, examination, scientific-research and other activities at the Faculty of Philosophy to continue under the regular operating regime, in accordance with accredited study programs and the rights of students and employees, until the court proceedings are concluded,” the statement published on the official website of the Faculty of Philosophy said.
“The Faculty of Philosophy will continue in the coming period to protect its interests and rights exclusively through legal means within the competent institutions, convinced that respect for legality and institutional procedures is the foundation of stable and high-quality higher education,” the statement announced.
Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš, Vladimir Jovanović, stated at a press conference on April 29 that the Faculty had initiated proceedings before the Administrative Court against the decision granting an operating license to the new “Faculty of Serbian Studies” and the decision amending the operating license of the Faculty of Philosophy.
“What bears the hallmark of the Faculty of Philosophy, what bears the hallmark of our intellectual property, what we have created, we would not like to hand over to someone else. With a simple stroke of the pen, one quarter of the Faculty of Philosophy was supposed to be taken away and turned into a new institution called the Faculty of Serbian Studies,” Jovanović said at the press conference.
He also emphasized that the Faculty of Philosophy has nothing against “the name and essence of the Faculty of Serbian Studies.”
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“We cannot oppose the decision of the Government of Serbia to establish new faculties. However, we believe that this was not done in accordance with regulations and legal procedures. This is a kind of precedent,” Jovanović said.
Attorney Jovan Rajić, whose law office represents the Faculty of Philosophy in the dispute before the Administrative Court, stated at the same press conference that the Court had been asked to annul the operating license issued to the new faculty and the amended operating license of the Faculty of Philosophy.
“Given that the Administrative Court takes, on average, five to six years to make a decision, we requested a so-called interim measure, which under the Law on Administrative Disputes is called a postponement of the execution of a decision,” Rajić explained.
According to him, the interim measure requested that the Administrative Court suspend the implementation of the license granted to the newly established faculty and the amendment to the license of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Niš until a final decision on the legality of those acts is made.
He said they have strong legal arguments and evidence that unauthorized bodies made the decisions on the establishment of the “Faculty of Serbian Studies” and the amendment of the operating license of the Faculty of Philosophy.
Students participating in the blockade at the University of Niš announced earlier today that the Administrative Court had accepted the Faculty of Philosophy’s request to postpone the execution of the Ministry of Education’s decision on amending the operating license of the Faculty of Philosophy and issuing an operating license to the so-called “Faculty of Serbian Studies.”
“One step closer to victory. We continue forward and go all the way because students win,” the Students in Blockade stated on social media.
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Source: Nova.rs, Foto: Radule Perisic / ATAImages