Transcript Slide 1

Sustainable Reform of Higher
Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Prof. dr. Genc Trnavci
School of Law University of Bihać
INTRODUCTION
• Bosnia and Herzegovina is located in Southeastern Europe. Land area is 51 129 sq km
and population is 3 835 777 (last census was
organised in 1991).
• Its recent history was turbulent: Declaration
of sovereignty (1991), civil war (1992-1995),
the Dayton Agreement (1995) and transition
from marksist-socialist to market economy.
The privatisation process in this country is
still not over.
Introduction
• BiH has achieved macroeconomic stabilization and some
structural reforms have been made, but the pace of reform
needs to be accelerated and new legislation introdiced in
order to gain access to Euro-Atlantic integration processes.
• Today BiH is sovereign state but is divided in to equal parts-entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the
Bosnian Serb Republic. These two parts have presidents
and governments that are responsible for wide array of
given to entities according to the constitutions. The statelevel (central) government is responsible for, inter alia,
these policies: foreign, monetary, trade, etc. However, its
regulatory powers in the filed of ESD are limited.
ESD in BiH
• Laws specifically promoting SD are non-existant
at any level whatsoever (cantonal, entity or
national level).
• Some elements of SD are incorporated in existing
legislation regulating agriculture, forestry, water,
energy, regional development, nature protection
etc. Yet, these are not integrated into the
education process comprehensively. As such, SD
is not a clearly defined component of the
education system in BiH.
ESD in BiH
• Sustainable development as a concept wider than
environmental protection has not been fathomed
properly by by education management, teachers, or
students.
• The notion of ESD has been reduced a few courses
on environmental protection (biology, my
environment, nature and society etc.). The missing
element of ESD in BiH is a transdisciplinary approach
that encompasses changing attitude and behavior of
major stakeholders (children, parents, schools,
governments...), which is best achived in the
elementary school context over the long term.
State of Education System in BiH
• The education system in BiH is highly decentralized
and thus fragmented and disharmonized. Its
perplexing structure very much reflects the one of
the government. The are many layers of government.
Besides the one at the national (state) level, there
are other levels of government composed of two
entities (Federation of BiH and Republic of Srpska),
and Brčko District. FBiH itself is composed of 10
cantons. Each canton is given a high level of
autonomy that encompasses constitutional
competences, local government and the power to
promulgate laws, including those in field of
education system.
State of Education System in BiH
• The system of governance in education in BiH
includes two subsystems:
1. Management of the organization of
financial, legal and administrative aspects
education process, and
2. Quality management of teaching curricula
(content), methods, evaluation of student’s
achievement, etc.
Levels of Regulatory Authorities in BiH
• At the national (state) level there is Department for
Education, Science, Culture and Sports of Ministry of Civil
Affairs is responsible for education issues. However the
authority of this agency is reduced to coordinating lower
administrative agencies and overseeing implementation
of the Framework Act on Primary and Secondary
Education as well as the Framework Act on Higher
Education in BiH. Entity ministries and administrative
agencies are actually in charge of implementing these
enactments.
• It is worth mentioning that, at the state-level, there is the
Agency for Preschool, Primary and Secondary Education
that is focused on ensuring quality of education.
Levels of Regulatory Authorities in BiH
• There are two ministries responsible for
education matters at the entity level, in the
FBiH, the Federal Ministry of Education, in the
RS, the Ministry of Education and Culture. In
the Brcko District there is the Department of
Education of the Brcko District Government
that is responsible for education matters.
Levels of Regulatory Authorities in BiH
• In the Federation, responsibility for education is further
divided among 10 cantons. Each canton has its own
ministry of education, each implementing separate
laws on education. Therefore, the role and powers of
the Federal Ministry of Education is reduced to
coordinating various ministries and agencies at the
cantonal level. Cantonal ministries are thus main
regulators of education matters ranging from
elementary to higher education. Almost each canton
has its own pedagogical institute. The functions and
capacities of these institutes vary from canton to
canton, and there is an overlap of competencies
among ministries and pedagogical institutes
Levels of Regulatory Authority in BiH
• Pedagogical institutes are responsible for
determining curricula and monitoring their
implementation. They also exercise
pedagogical supervision, provide technical
assistance to teachers and organize programes
of training of teachers.
Education Finansing in BiH
• The education system is financed by the
government grom the entity, cantonal and
municipal budgets. The share of education
funding from the state budget is negligible.
The RS allocates around 4% of its GDP for
education, while the FBiH gives a little bit
more--about 6% of total GDP. Brčko District
allocates around 11.2% of its budget.
Education Finansing in BiH
• In BiH the percentage of public spending
invested in education is above the regional
average, while slightly lower than the EU
average. Over 50% of public spending on
education is spent on primary education. As
much as 88% of all budget resources
designated for education are allocated for
salaries and social benefits for employees, 8%
for material costs, while only 4% of education
budget goes for capital investments.
ESD in Higer Education
• Higher education in Bosnia and Herzegovina is
highly decentralized (reflecting the constitutional
complexities and political strife in the country) in
that it is regulated by the Framework Act on
Higher Education in Bosnia and Herzegovina
adopted in July 2007, which sets the basic
standards and principles for the area of higher
education, while all other issues in the area of
higher education that are not regulated by this
enactment are governed by entity laws and
cantonal laws.
The Structure of HE in BiH
• The universities in BiH are financed from the cantonal
budget (in RS from the entity budget) mainly and partly
from tuition fees. There is an issue that burdens financing
higher education regarding the absence of a midterm
financing strategy and effective evaluation mechanisms
that would ensure a results-based allocation of funds.
Budgets for higher education institutions mainly cover their
operating costs. In this situation, it is difficult to implement
reforms without having a clear strategy and sufficient funds
for implementation. Under the existing system, higher
education institutions receive funds based on the number
of students enrolled. Higher education institutions do not
have a legal obligation to justify effective use of funds,
which can negatively affect the quality of education
The Structure of HE in BiH
• Universities organize undergraduate and graduate studies
in accordance with the relevant laws. Studies can be
organized in two semesters, e.g. fall and winter semester,
and by the year of studies. Curricula for postgraduate
studies are developed by universities or their units, and
include general and joint courses that are offered in the
first and second year of studies. University is required by
respective ministry of education to develop and update the
register (a data base) of all study programs offered in the
academic year, as well as to provide the names of teachers
responsible for teaching selected courses. The University
has established institutions and teaching service units in
charge of monitoring the implementation of the teaching
process
The Structure of the HE in BiH
• Universities may organize their curricula according to their needs
inasmuch as the consent issued by a cantonal ministry that is a
prerequisite for those curricula to enter into force. The diploma
supplement (DS) is issued as required by the law. Academic staff is
formally appointed through public competition, in accordance with
the law, and generally accepted professional standards. However,
since the accreditation has not started as yet in BiH, there is an
issue as to political interference into the appointment process.
• The level of investment in research and development (R&D)
activities is not sufficient to cover the needs of research, and it is
low according to most international standards. Investment in R&D is
an important element of the modernization of the higher education
system of any country. BiH and universities alike need to increase
investment in research and development in pursuit of the desired
level of development.
Missing elements of ESD in BiH
• The overarching task of education is to enable people to live
together in ways that contribute to sustainable development of
their communities and polities. However, in BiH at present,
education often contributes to unsustainable living because of the
lack of opportunity for participants in the education system
(learners) to question and eventually change their own lifestyles
and the systems of values as well as models of behavior leading to
unsustainable models and practices. A remodeling of formal
education structure and its content content towards sustainable
development is thus highly recommended. This includes helping
students understand what sustainable development requires from
the both global and local perspective, and also empower them to
use their own capacity for critical reflection in order to reorient
themselves towards systemic and future-oriented way of thinking,
as well as motivate themleves to consider actions towards
sustainable development.
The Main Problems Hampering
Promotion of the ESD in BiH
• Besides main challenge posed by absence of political
cohesion (e.g., resulting in lack of of accreditation of
HEIs in BiH, which has not begun in earnest due to
political obstruction), compounded with the second
challenge manifested as confounding (not clearly
defined) relations and division of tasks and
responsibilities among main stakeholders, including
relevant ministries, pedagocial institutes, HEIs, and QA
agencies, the BiH’s education system in general and
higher education in particlular face another crucial
challenge as there is no political will in the country to
treat the introduction of ESD as one of the country’s
priorities.
Need for promoting TDR
• In order to increase outreach of and effectiveness of the
education system in BiH in a quest to develop a knowledge
based society, there is a great need to increase and acquire
new funding recourses for introducing TESD programs
aimed at conducting internationally recognized,
academically excellent and problem-oriented
transdisciplinary research and teaching on environmental,
social, legal and economic aspects of sustainability. These
programs should draw on various social and natural science
disciplines, including ecological economics, environmental
economics, legal science, policy studies, development
studies, business and management, geography, sociology,
science and technology studies, ecology, environmental
science and soil science in our work.
Need for Reform
• Introducing ESD is too a challenging socio-political-cultural
task, broader than any formal curriculum can aspire to
encompass, which requires revisiting and even abandoning
traditional didactical and pedagogical models of
knowledge transmission, replicated in formal education
systems throughout the world, currently precipitating
unsustainable development both globally and locally .
Education thus needs to be restructured into education for
sustainable development and research into TDR that should
strive for more than reducing deficiency of knowledge
towards including an attitude to act based on the
interactive stimuli from the immediate natural and socioeconomic environment.
Need to Reform
• In line with the UNESCO’ (2009) report, there
is a need to include the ESD into formal
education so as to make adjustments, either
minor or substantial, to the existing education
system in BiH, with all its previous strengths
and weaknesses. The ESD content should be
construed as “an integrative, cross-curricular
theme that can bring together many of the
single issues that schools are already expected
to address” (UNESCO, 2009, p. 48.)
Reccommendations
• Establishing the ESD is BiH provides a long-term toolkit for a
sustainable future. By planning and undertaking the important task of
implementing the ESD in BiH, policymakers shall open the way to a
more sustainable future for their community and nation.
• When introducing the ESD in BiH it must be locally relevant and
culturally appropriate, reflecting the environmental socio-economic
and legal tradition of the BiH’s community.
• The ESD and TDR in BiH should be introduced through a democratic
process—the one of public participation in which stakeholders from
across the community can express their visions for a sustainable
community and expectations as to what an education reoriented
towards sustainability should include.
• The premise is that each discipline, teacher, and administrator from all
levels of education can contribute to ESD according to the strengths
model.
• Communities and school systems should work proactively and jointly
to sustainably achieve community goals.