One year after the launch of a protest movement by part of Serbia’s academic community, symbolically named “Universities at a Crossroads”, employees in higher education will once again gather today in front of the Serbian Government building to raise their voices in defence of universities and to send a message that they will not abandon the fight to protect academic autonomy.
Over the past year, not only has the controversial Decree on Norms and Standards for Working Conditions at Universities and Faculties remained in force – despite being one of the key demands of the June 2025 protests – but the authorities have also continued to exert pressure on universities.
Katarina Jovanović, a professor at the Faculty of Music Arts, points out that since 1 January this year the financial operations of faculties within universities have been transferred to the centralised SPIRI system under the Treasury Administration of the Ministry of Finance, while faculties have lost control of their own bank accounts.
Earlier, the Rebellious University initiative called on members of the academic community and the wider public to gather on 9 June in front of the Faculty of Law at the University of Belgrade at 11:52 a.m., where, as every day, a sixteen-minute silence will be observed in memory of those who died in the collapse of the canopy at Novi Sad Railway Station.
Participants will then proceed to the Constitutional Court, where at 12:30 p.m. they will submit the initiative challenging the legality and constitutionality of the regulations that introduced the SPIRI system into higher education.
“Later the same day, beginning at 7 p.m., we will mark one year since our major protest, which lasted 17 days and 16 nights at the intersection of Nemanjina and Kneza Miloša Streets in front of the Government headquarters. University and faculty employees, gathered through informal networks of rebellious and free universities from all university centres across Serbia, will attend the event. We want to highlight that there has been no positive progress regarding the demands we put forward a year ago. On the contrary, the situation has deteriorated further,” Jovanović said.
She notes that this assessment is reflected in the continued enforcement of the decree that redefined the 40-hour working week. Under the new rules, 35 hours are allocated to teaching and teaching preparation, while only five hours are reserved for research activities. Before the amendment, teaching and research were allocated 20 hours each.
“The decree was adopted despite strong opposition from higher education employees. We regard it as an attack on university autonomy and an additional form of pressure on the academic community. It serves as a disciplinary mechanism because it makes it possible to reduce salaries to symbolic amounts if employees once again protest or decide to suspend work or strike due to threats to their financial security, which is recognised under the Strike Act as a legitimate reason for such action,” Jovanović explained.
She underlined that today’s gathering in front of the Government building is not a threat of a strike, nor are academics returning to the crossroads because they wish to remain there or announce another work stoppage.
Asked what has changed over the past year, Jelena Vranješević, a professor at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade, offered a mixed assessment.
“What has not changed is the fact that our key demands remain unmet. I do not count the Government’s decision to dissolve the working group responsible for amendments to the Higher Education Act. The controversial decree, which seriously hampers scientific research and cooperation with institutions around the world, is still in force. A year ago, we also demanded enrolment quotas. We eventually received them – although the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade received them with significant delay. Now, however, we are again hearing threats that the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš may be denied quotas for programmes in Serbian language, history and Russian language,” Vranješević said.
Svetlana Stanarević, a professor at the Faculty of Security Studies at the University of Belgrade and a member of the Network for Academic Solidarity and Engagement, believes that one year after the major protest outside the Government building, Serbia is witnessing an even greater erosion of university autonomy and academic freedoms.
She argues that this comes at a high cost: intellectual withdrawal, social alienation, divisions, increasing political instability and a crisis affecting all levels of society. “For that reason, universities need even greater courage at a time when the state itself is undermining the independence and very foundations of science and education by refusing to withdraw the controversial 5/35 decree. Investment in science and research has been completely neglected. As a result, not only at the national level but also internationally, we are increasingly losing the ability to apply successfully for projects and meet the required criteria,” Stanarević warned.
She added that attacks on university freedom and autonomy, censorship, political and economic pressures, and various forms of conditionality and coercion directly threaten the mission and vision of higher education: providing high-quality education, ensuring free access to knowledge for all, fostering intellectual curiosity and academic freedom, and producing professionals committed to the public good.
(Danas, 09.06.2026)
https://www.danas.rs/vesti/drustvo/akademska-zajednica-protest-vlada-srbije/