The 10th University of Sarajevo Extraordinary Senate Session

At the 10th extraordinary University of Sarajevo Senate session of 20 March 2018, the implementation of the Sarajevo Canton Law on Higher Education was considered and noted that the said Law (“Sarajevo Canton Official Gazette” No. 33/17) contains provisions that directly limit the University of Sarajevo’s autonomy, including the provisions that cannot be implemented within the set deadlines.

The Senate unanimously adopted following conclusions:

1. Hereby the text of the proposal for amendments to the Higher Education Law (“Sarajevo Canton Official Gazette” No. 33/17) is adopted in urgent procedure.
2. On the basis of the procedure for amending the Law by urgent procedure, the Rector and Commission for the Making Proposals to Amendments to the Law on Higher Education (“Official Gazette of the Sarajevo Canton” No. 33/17) are obligated to urgently undertake further activities and report back to the Senate.
3. The Commission for the Harmonizing the University of Sarajevo Statute with the Law on Higher Education (“Official Gazette of Sarajevo Canton”, No. 33/17) is obliged to incorporate in the University of Sarajevo Draft Statute text justified objections and proposals of the UNSA organizational units and the Sarajevo Canton Ministry of Education, Science and Youth, as well as to explain the reasons why certain complaints and suggestions were not accepted in the Draft Statute text preparation.
4. After completing activities from the point 3 of these conclusions, in the first half of April 2018 a thematic UNSA Senate session will be held at which the text of the Proposal of the University of Sarajevo Statute will be considered.
5. The UNSA Senate is of the opinion that at the moment it is premature to adopt the Decision on the Merging of University of Sarajevo Faculties, Academies and Research Institutes having the status of the legal entity into the University of Sarajevo, within which they continue working as organizational units without the status of a legal entity.
6. The Senate requests withdrawing the proposal of the Decision from point 5 of these conclusions from the procedure until consideration is given to the amendments to the Law on Higher Education, the University of Sarajevo Statute and until all previous actions necessary for the reorganization of the University of Sarajevo have been completed according to a model acceptable to the University of Sarajevo.
7. The Senate considers that the adoption of the Decision on the Merging of University of Sarajevo Faculties, Academies and Research Institutes having the status of the legal entity into the University of Sarajevo, within which they continue working as organizational units without the status of a legal entity would have  brought immeasurable damage to the University of Sarajevo, especially having in mind that the Higher Education Area Collective Agreement has not been signed yet, the status of current University of Sarajevo Faculties and Academies has not been changed, the University of  Sarajevo information system has not been completed and other necessary activities not carried out.
8. The deadline of Article 10 of the Proposal for amendments to the Law on Higher Education, according to which the University and organizational units are obliged to align its status with the Law no later than December 31, 2020, is acceptable to the University of Sarajevo.

The conclusions reached will be submitted to the Sarajevo Canton Government through the Sarajevo Canton Ministry of Education, Science and Youth.