Great hopes for increasing the number of foreign students are India, Pakistan and China, assures the former Minister of Education Mladen Šarčević, creator and special advisor of the company for supporting academics who come to our universities from abroad.
Photo: M. Spasojevic

In all university centers in Serbia, there are more planned places on study programs than there are students. The insurmountable gap between the stipulated quota and the shared indices could be reduced by a significant increase in the number of foreign students. Their presence at higher education institutions is a sign of prestige and quality everywhere in the world, including here. At the same time, it enriches and enriches the academic experience for all students, encourages cultural exchange, increases the visibility and international recognition of the university, influences a better placement on national and world rankings, contributes to the improvement of education and brings profit.

At the University of Belgrade in this school year, there are hardly 1,500 real international students, those who study in English, and including students from the region, there are 3,000 to 4,000 foreign academics out of a total of 90,000 studying at UB. These data were presented by prof. dr. Vladan Đokić, rector of the UB, assessing that the number of foreign students is very modest and emphasizing that from October, when his next three-year term as the first man of our oldest and largest university begins, he will particularly advocate for the number of international students to be significantly higher.

Mladen Šarčević constantly spoke about the benefits of increasing the number of foreign students in Serbia, which he advocated when he was in the position of Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development. Former minister, now v. d. director of the “Official Herald”, is the creator, financial sponsor and special advisor of the new, if not the only, company whose work is based on increasing the number of foreign academics in our homeland. It is called NTD Consulting International. It has been officially operating since February this year. So far, says Šarčević, it has cooperated with several Asian countries, among them China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Turkey…

– In the world, good learning is appreciated and it is a serious opportunity for us. The best part of Serbian society is higher education. It is better than any in the region, the Shanghai list shows. And now let’s take the example of foreign students from Pakistan. According to the data I received, Croatia has about 3,000, Hungary about 5,500, Bulgaria 2,500, Romania 2,800, and Sarajevo 900. In Serbia, there are only 17 of them and most of them are in Novi Pazar. The fact that we were once popular and that we are relatively good compared to world standards, we should not only know, it must go to the world and we must know how to use it. We have great hopes for increasing the number of foreign students in India, Pakistan and China, we are working on Indonesia, we also have contacts with Thailand, and Azerbaijan is our next destination – explained Šarčević for “Politika”.

He also thinks that the number of real foreign students in our country is virtually invisible, that all our universities would welcome an increase in that number, but he also points out that rectors do not have people who know how to do it.

– Okay, the faculty will enable the program in English and determine the price of the studies, but a manager is needed to do all the other extensive work and to be paid for it – explains Šarčević.

– We had to make contacts with apartment builders and hostel owners, to lower accommodation prices because this is work for the whole year – says Šarčević.

The education of foreign students in Serbia is not new, but it has drastically declined after the collapse of the country, sanctions, bombings and has not been a priority for a long time. After a long break, in 2010, the Government of Serbia launched the “World in Serbia” program, which provides scholarships to foreign students. At the time when Šarčević was at the head of the education system and in agreement with the then Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, the “Study in Serbia” project began in 2018.

Док се писала Стратегија развоја образовања до 2030. године, прича Шарчевић, размишљао је да би требало да од 2020. до 2027. године достигнемо квоту од 30.000 страних студената. Сад мисли да до краја ове декаде та квота може и да се премаши.

Он сматра да би ваљало да новац од страних студената може да остане у систему, да од тога могу да зараде и менза, и домови и студентска поликлиника у сваком универзитетском граду у Србији.

– Посебно је важна здравствена нега, а она код нас не препознаје страног студента, они се третирају као било који странци, и то мора да се исправи у новим законима. Ми имамо буџетске и самофинансирајуће студенте, страни не спадају у буџетске, а код нас би морало да се измени доста тога да бисмо привукли више страних студената – указује Шарчевић.