At its 10th regular session of 19 July 2017, the University of Sarajevo Senate was acquainted with the text of the Proposal of the Law on Higher Education of Sarajevo Canton, which the Sarajevo Canton Government adopted the same day which should be discussed at the next Sarajevo Canton Assembly session scheduled for 31 July 2017.

In this regard, the University of Sarajevo Senate lists the following:

1. The existing Draft of the Law on Higher Education is unacceptable for the University of Sarajevo, bearing in mind guaranteed academic freedoms, academic self-government and autonomy. Although we appreciate the efforts invested by the Sarajevo Canton Government, headed by the Prime Minister, in its endeavor to come up with a better text of the Law, the University of Sarajevo deems that this text of the Law is still not a reform law.

2. The University of Sarajevo Senate finds unacceptable the solution from the Proposal of the text of the Law granting the Steering Committee the right to dismiss Rector/Dean / Director, although it should never be within the Board’s competences. The University of Sarajevo considers that the core of its autonomy is the institutional autonomy of its bodies, which implies that the dismissal of Rector /Dean/Director is in the exclusive competence of those bodies that elected them.

3. The basic assumption of the mission, vision, operating and the strategic goals of the University is its financing.
The University of Sarajevo accepts all clear and precise procedures for transition to treasury operations. However, the University warns against and expresses concern that the offered solutions for setting up treasury operations are incomplete, inaccurate and unclear, and that their implementation would be impractical and jeopardize the further functioning of the University, especially taking into account international projects and involvement of the University on Sarajevo in the European Higher Education Area.

4.  A real timeframe is not foreseen for the implementation of the offered solutions regarding the University of Sarajevo’s integration, which can lead to a grinding halt of work and development of the University of Sarajevo.

Finally, the issue of the procedure under which this law is passed with regard to the withdrawal of the previous motion from the parliamentary procedure, and the fact that this is a new proposal for the Sarajevo Canton Law on Higher Education remains debatable.