Students of the Bujanovac Department of the Subotica Faculty of Economy today laid the cornerstone for the new building in which this renowned high education establishment will be working. “The new building will be the place in which we will learn, socialise and plan on how to use the knowledge we acquire for the development of Bujanovac and our country,” the students said. The launch of construction was marked in the presence of Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development Srđan Verbić, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Astrid Thors, Head of the Delegation of the European Union in Serbia Michael Davenport, Chairman of the Coordination Body for Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa Zoran Stanković and Bujanovac Mayor Nagip Arifi.
The new building, 2,300 square metres in area, will comprise six modern 60 to 80 seat classrooms, an auditorium, student parliament offices and an administrative section.
The construction of this modern and well-equipped building, in which the current and future students will acquire their high education, is a partnership project of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, the Bujanovac Municipality, the Subotica College of Economy, the European Union and the Government of Switzerland. The European Union and the Government of Switzerland allocated around 800,000 Euros for the construction of the building via the European PROGRES Programme. The Bujanovac Municipality and the Serbian Government through the Coordination Body are to support the project with around 280,000 Euros.
Speaking about the importance of this project for the development of education, Minister Verbić said that “education of persons belonging to minorities in their native language and the official language is one of Serbia’s educational priorities. I hope this college will be the alma mater of many highly-qualified experts in our country”.
“The construction of the Bujanovac Department of the Subotica Faculty of Economy is proof that perseverance and unanimity yield results. The most positive message comes from the very students, who see their future in this college regardless of their national affiliation,” Ambassador Davenport said, adding that the European Union would carefully monitor the construction of this college building and the construction works.
“This happens when local leaders and the international community join visions and resources and move from well-meaning words to deeds. I hope that this college will be a magnet for those students realising the advantages of bi-lingual studies,” the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Astrid Thors, said.
“This is a historic day, the day when Bujanovac became a university town,” Bujanovac Mayor Nagip Arifi said, recalling that the long and difficult road we had to pass to arrive at this point was behind us.
The new building will improve the conditions for university studies and “with the support of our friends and partners, we will try to equip the building with state of the art equipment with a view to improving the quality of education,” Chairman of the Coordination Body for the Municipalities of Preševo, Bujanovac and Medveđa Zoran Stanković said.
The Subotica Faculty of Economy, part of the Novi Sad University, opened a Department in Bujanovac in 2011. It currently offers majors in three accredited study programmes: Marketing, Finance, Banking and Insurance, Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics. Four generations of students have to date enrolled in the Bujanovac Department and a total of 302 Albanian, Serbian and Roma students are attending bilingual classes in Serbian and Albanian. The problem of space, which appeared as the number of students grew, will be addressed in the long term by the construction of the building.
Ambassador Davenport in the morning visited Leskovac, where he met with Mayor Goran Cvetanović and discussed the progress in the implementation of projects funded by the European Union in this city. The delegation also visited the Green Zone, a project for which the European Union and the Government of Switzerland earmarked 338,772 Euro via the EU PROGRES Programme. They discussed the steps to be taken in the forthcoming period for the Zone to realise its full potential and facilitate the development of agriculture and the competitiveness of Serbia’s export industries.
