INAUGURAL SPEECH OF THE RECTOR
Our University has been built on a twenty-year-long tradition of education, primarily in the fields of law, economics and dentistry, and we should continue to foster its development in the same direction. When analyzing the way our University operates and trying to set future targets, we need to start from the indisputable facts that we have already achieved a high level of academic education at all three levels of study and that each new academic year we are faced with a large number of student candidates at all faculties within our University. Of course, it is extremely important to continue working on further improvements and innovations that will contribute to raising quality levels in all segments and result in continuous development of the University Business Academy in Novi Sad.
Our University has been built on a twenty-year-long tradition of education, primarily in the fields of law, economics and dentistry, and we should continue to foster its development in the same direction. When analyzing the way our University operates and trying to set future targets, we need to start from the indisputable facts that we have already achieved a high level of academic education at all three levels of study and that each new academic year we are faced with a large number of student candidates at all faculties within our University. Of course, it is extremely important to continue working on further improvements and innovations that will contribute to raising quality levels in all segments and result in continuous development of the University Business Academy in Novi Sad.
Our University’s future development largely depends on scientific and research work. We have good potentials for that at our University, and this should only be further encouraged and guided towards scientific recognition both in the Republic of Serbia and in the wider Southeast Europe area. International projects represent the backbone of our future work and our goal is to put a special focus on applying to international projects, such as: HORIZON EUROPE, COST, ERASMUS, IPA, INTERREG, SCOPES etc.
In our opinion, the University Business Academy must be strongly oriented towards comprehensive internationalization, by which we primarily imply membership in the YUFE (Young Universities for the Future of Europe) partnership. YUFE is the best-rated University network of the European Commission's largest pilot project (Erasmus+), known as the European University Initiative. Such memberships include strategic cooperation in all areas, with an emphasis on open programs for students, quality systems based on attractive curricula, innovative methods and a digitally transformed learning process.
In the coming period, the University Business Academy will increase its regional influence through knowledge transfer, educational programs, joint scientific projects with public institutions and the business sector, while our cotinuous efforts will be focused on motivating the teaching staff to produce more academic and research papers. The management of the University, lead by the university rector in the first place, will initiate the creation of innovative infrastructural ecosystems of science, public sector and business sector, while supporting entrepreneurial activities and providing the necessary professionals for the development of this ecosystem.
The quality of studying and working with students shall remain our permanent priority at the University Business Academy. New programs with a large selection of courses will certainly raise the level of quality of studying and work at our University. In addition, increased cooperation with higher education institutions from related fields, as well as intensifying exchanges of visiting professors from abroad, shall definitely be the areas which we want to continuously work on. At our university, special attention has always been given to the cooperation of teaching staff from our University with teachers from the entire Republic of Serbia and the European Union, with the aim of offering joint lectures or other kinds of joint academic and research work. We would also like to put a greater focus on our young academic staff i.e. young researchers. This refers particularly to doctoral students, whose involvement in teaching and research work we wish to increase.
Students are the very center of our attention, and, as such, need to be involved in the development of policies and processes at the University. Their satisfaction with the study process and their future employment based on the acquired competencies shall be the priority of my mandate. What is more, in the coming period we are going to improve the system for rewarding the best students. Namely, we wish to introduce some other kinds of benefits and rewards for them, besides the already existing stipends for the best students. We believe it is necessary to build other support systems for excellent students, such as the possibility of additional training, additional work, additional mobility, but also assistance in finding employment. However, it is more important to provide students with on-going possibilities for research and academic work, because that is what gives students the necessary feeling of belonging and affiliation to their University and thus contributes to the overal satisfaction with studies.
The ultimate goal for the University Business Academy is to reach a prestigious position in the higher education system of the Republic of Serbia, as well as to become an important vehicle for student and staff mobility programs in the countries of the European Union.