Three-month courses available soon – Short study programs adapted to employers' needs

In 2020, Serbia will get its first experts with a three-month education, as confirmed by Bojan Tubic, assistant minister for higher education. The National Council for Higher Education adopted the pertinent regulation in late March, but it has come into effect only now.

Based on this regulation, higher education institutions will be able to prepare short programs and submit them to the National Council for Higher Education. The first certificates, comparable to university diplomas, are expected to be issued in 2020.

– The law envisages short study programs, which would connect higher education and the labor market. They wouldn't need to be accredited. Instead, guidelines are implemented, defined by this regulation. Anyone with a high school diploma, looking to gain additional education in a certain field, can enroll at a short study program – Tubic explains for Novosti.

Of course, those with a college or a university degree can also enroll if they want to develop their knowledge in their own or some other field. The ministry assumes that the IT sector will prove to be the most interesting to candidates.

Under this regulation, a short program features 300-600 active classes and can take 3 to 18 months. Upon completion, candidates are given certificates featuring a description of the job they are now educated for and the competences.

The aim of introducing short programs in the education system is to enable an efficient training for a concrete job in a short amount of time, such as can match higher education in the level of competences and complexity and as per the need of employers, the National Council for Higher Education says.

Nacionalni savet za visoko obrazovanje

regulation of organizing executing and issuing certificates for short study programs

Bojan Tubic

IT sector

three month diploma

education