THE ECONOMIZATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

Almost ten years have passed since the reform of higher education in the Republic of Serbia, conducted under the banner of the Bologna process. This paper gives a critical insight into some aspects of changes which resulted in the economization of higher education in the Republic of Serbia, such as the establishment of private universities, ranking and market competition among higher education institutions, the management of universities and faculties in accordance with managerial principles, the issue of the ways of promoting professors to higher positions and the like. The idea to write a paper providing a criticism of some aspects of the economization of higher education is not new. In the last couple of years, a great number of journals and books have been published in the country, the region and abroad, in which authors tried to provide a critical insight into the current state of education in the context of the changes of educational paradigms. The subject of this paper is the economization of higher education in the Republic of Serbia and the analysis of the consequences that occurred in this field due to the spreading of the principles of neoliberal ideology. The final part of the paper emphasizes the fact that university professors need to have a critical attitude towards what educational policy has to offer. Through their intellectual work, a resolute and critical constructive analysis of what an educational policy has to offer, they need to stand up for universities as the driving forces of the highest academic education.