OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities visits Serbia, expresses support for multi-ethnic education in south

OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Astrid Thors expressed her ongoing support for multi-ethnic higher education in southern Serbia during a visit to the country from 28 to 31 January 2014.

On the final day of her trip she chaired the second stakeholders’ committee meeting of the Bujanovac Department of the University of Novi Sad’s Faculty of Economics in Subotica. The meeting was attended by all stakeholders, including Education Minister Tomislav Jovanović.

The Bujanovac Department offers undergraduate degree courses in economics in the Serbian and Albanian languages to 265 students.

"I welcome the planned long-term agreement between the Municipality of Bujanovac and the Subotica Faculty of Economics of the University of Novi Sad on facilitating the building of new premises. This is a positive step towards sustainable provision of higher multi-lingual education in southern Serbia," said Thors.

While visiting southern Serbia, Thors also assessed progress made to date on the further integration of society and southern Serbia’s importance in a broader regional context.

Earlier, on 28 January in Belgrade, Thors met with high level government officials including the Education Minister.

In her visit to eastern Serbia, she met representatives of national minorities and other stakeholders. Thors took stock of steps taken by the Serbian authorities following the informal consultations facilitated by the HCNM between the Serbian and Romanian governments.