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Retour Conference on academic integrity held in Belgrade

Conference on academic integrity held in Belgrade

On Friday, 8 December 2017, a conference on “Strengthening a culture of academic integrity: challenges and solutions” took place in Belgrade. The conference offered practical and useful insights, ideas and potential solutions to challenges not only in the domain of academic integrity in Serbia but also dealt with issues of ethics and transparency in higher education which are, all together, crucial for quality education and its sustainability today.

The conference was divided into two parts: plenary sessions with questions and answers delivered by Council of Europe international experts and, in the second part, a panel discussion. The conclusions, recommendations and views from the conference will be summarised and will provide a starting point for specific actions or modus operandi required in the field of academic integrity in Serbia.

Participants at the conference developed a greater understanding about the mechanisms and tools needed to strengthen ethics, transparency and integrity in higher education and learned about best practices and experiences from the Council of Europe member states and beyond.

The conference also provided a forum for key stakeholders and decision-makers in the higher education sector and offered an opportunity to learn about the policies and tools needed to develop a culture of integrity at the institutional level as well as how to identify, select and apply appropriate methods in order to successfully connect practices with policy.

The conference was attended by around 130 participants including the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, the National Council for Higher Education, the Commission for Accreditation and Quality Assurance, the Conference of Universities of Serbia, the Anti-Corruption Agency, the Committee on Education, Science, Technological Development and Information Society of the Parliament of Serbia, student associations, public and private universities and faculties, colleges of applied sciences, civil society organisations and other relevant partners. A high level delegation from the higher education sector from Montenegro also attended the conference.

Belgrade, Serbia 08/12/2017
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Strengthen integrity and combat corruption in higher education in Serbia

The Council of Europe assists relevant authorities in Serbia to improve the quality of education through applying preventive mechanisms based on Council of Europe standards and practices. The actions is being implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development while involving a wider group of relevant stakeholders, including public universities, the Anti-Corruption Agency, education policy and research institutes, NGOs and academics.

The action is co-funded by the European Union and Council of Europe as part of the European Union – Council of Europe programmatic framework “Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey” and is implemented by the Council of Europe Education Department in cooperation with the Council of Europe Office in Belgrade.

The duration of the action is set at 24 months and it is expected to be completed by 30 March 2019, with an overall budget of 200,000 euros.
 

Objectives and expected results

Strengthen integrity and combat corruption in higher education

The overall objective is to strengthen integrity and combat corruption in the higher education system in Serbia through applying preventive mechanisms based on Council of Europe standards and policies.

The first specific objective is to support relevant higher education institutions in developing ethical standards, combat corruption and promote best practices of quality and integrity in education. This specific objective shall be accomplished through the achievement of the following results:

  • Relevant public authorities adopt mechanisms to prevent corruption and to strengthen ethics, transparency and integrity in higher education;
  • Mechanisms in place take into account standards and good practices promoted by the Council of Europe’s Ethics in Education Platform (ETINED).

The second specific objective is to raise awareness and improve knowledge of the main education actors on ethical standards and how to address corruption. This specific objective shall be accomplished through the achievement of the following result:

  • Educational professionals and students in public higher education institutions have increased competencies to recognise and address issues challenging the integrity in higher education.
     

Background information

On 11 April 2016, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, and the European Union’s Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Johannes Hahn, announced a new co-operation initiative of the two organisations aimed at supporting South-East Europe and Turkey in their efforts to comply with European standards. The initiative is called the European Union/Council of Europe Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey (Horizontal Facility). It is a three-year programme (May 2016 – May 2019), focusing on three themes: ensuring justice, fighting economic crime as well as combating discrimination and protecting the rights of vulnerable groups. It has a budget of €25 million, of which €20 million has been provided by the European Union and €5 million by the Council of Europe.  Through the Horizontal Facility, the European Union and the Council of Europe will assist beneficiaries in South-East Europe and Turkey to comply with Council of Europe standards and the European Union acquis, through a complementary two-fold approach of technical co-operation and the provision of expertise. The Horizontal Facility relies on the Council of Europe’s unique working methods, whereby tailor-made technical co-operation activities are based on conclusions and recommendations of the Council of Europe’s monitoring bodies, which highlight areas where improvements are needed in legislation and policies of the beneficiaries to comply with the Organisation’s standards.