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MEDIA ADVISORY: Council of Europe and European Union to hold a conference on academic integrity

On Friday, 8 December 2017, a conference “Strengthening a culture of academic integrity: challenges and solutions” will take place at the Hotel Moskva in Belgrade. The event is part of the action to Strengthen integrity and combat corruption in higher education implemented under the European Union and Council of Europe joint programme “Horizontal Facility for Western Balkans and Turkey”. 

The conference will aim to offer practical and useful insights, ideas and potential solutions to challenges not only in the domain of academic integrity in Serbia but also with the issues of ethics and transparency in higher education. Participants will discuss policies and tools needed to improve academic integrity at the institutional level but will also tackle the issues and challenges affecting the students in relation to this and explore which mechanisms, tools and resources are needed for the implementation of desired visions that will result in a sustainable change.

The conference will be attended by around 120 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 will also attend the Conference.

Speakers at the opening session will include Mr Mladen Šarčević, the Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development (invited), Mr Nicolas Bizel, Head of Operations at the EU Delegation to Serbia; Ms Irina Sahakyan Vetter, Deputy Head of Office, Council of Europe, Ms Vesna Atanasova, Programme Manager, Education Department, Council of Europe, Strasbourg.

The conference will start at 10:30 on Friday, 8 December 2017, at the Moskva Hotel in Belgrade. Serbian and English simultaneous interpretation will be provided.

Press statements are not envisaged.

Contact for media registrations and inquiries:   Kristijan Rajković mobile 063/639-281,

 Preliminary agenda of the conference “Strengthening a culture of academic integrity: challenges and solutions”

Belgrade (Serbia) 29 November 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.