Jovana KARAULIĆ

Jovana Karaulić, Vice-Dean & Assistant Professor, Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade; President of the Cultural Policy Committee, Democratic Party of Serbia; Vice-President, Ljuba Davidović Foundation

A moment of solidarity between students and professors in Serbia opened up a democratic space – which was quickly met with revenge from the ruling authorities. What followed was a full-scale assault on higher education, an attack that demands a stronger European response.

When student-led protests broke out in Serbia at the end of 2024, demanding justice and institutional responsibility after the fall of an overpass at the newly reconstructed railway station in Novi Sad, when 16 people were killed, and an organised attack on a student following state failures and violence, the academic community did something unprecedented: it stood by them. Professors from all public and private faculties openly supported the students’ demands, recognising in them a broader democratic impulse, and, therefore, universities became platforms for civil resistance. It was this unity that made them a target.

Over the months that followed, the Serbian government launched a coordinated campaign of financial, legal and institutional pressure against higher education institutions. What began as administrative harassment soon escalated into what many now describe as an attempt to dismantle the autonomy – and dignity – of the academic profession.

Undermining science and autonomy by decree

In March 2025, the caretaker government adopted regulation 5/35, which drastically altered the official work-hour allocation for university teaching staff: from an equal 20/20 distribution between teaching and research to 35 hours of teaching and just 5 for research. The result has been twofold: professors no longer receive pay for research hours – in practice, many earn as little as €70 per month – and scientific activity has been institutionally de-prioritised.

This move, widely criticised by the academic community, has not only financially destabilised public universities but also jeopardised Serbia’s participation in European research frameworks. Accreditation systems have been disrupted, participation in Horizon Europe and other projects has become nearly impossible, and international cooperation has stalled. The Serbian government adopted the illegal regulation without consulting the academic community or following legal procedures – an approach that undermines legal certainty and academic governance.

Criminalising academic leadership

The campaign has not stopped at structural interference. In May 2025, criminal charges were filed against Vladan Đokić, the rector of the University of Belgrade, and the entire rector’s board, reportedly based on allegations from a government-aligned student group. The charge – abuse of office – is widely seen as politically motivated and aimed at delegitimising university leadership.

This comes after months of verbal attacks by government officials and a relentless media narrative portraying professors as the hidden hand behind the protests. Aleksandar Vučić, Serbia’s president, went so far as to publicly mock educators, stating that professors who support blockades will “get potatoes”, instead of salaries. These events have deepened an already worrying atmosphere in which academics face a choice between silence and punishment – between protecting institutional values and the existence and future of universities or  protecting their livelihoods.

Divide and isolate

A key feature of the government’s approach has been the division of the academic sector. While the vast majority of faculties remain in lockdown or on legal strike, a few have been forced to adopt alternative teaching models, including asynchronous online teaching. The aim is clear: to weaken collective action, fragment solidarity and create a semblance of normality, while ignoring that this largest student movement in Serbian history refuses to participate in such a contrived teaching. In this way, the possibility of a new and very dangerous division between professors and students is created. In parallel, a new draft law on higher education has been announced, raising concerns that this crisis is not temporary, but a step towards the structural erosion of academic autonomy.

Repression against academic solidarity

It is important to stress that the academic community did not initiate this political conflict. It responded to it – by defending constitutional values and the rights of its students. In January, university rector Đokić addressed the Parliamentary Committee for Education, explicitly stating that the university supports students’ democratic demands. This message was echoed by the majority of the faculties, marking an institutional moment of democratic clarity in an increasingly authoritarian environment. That position, however, has come at great cost.

Professors and students have been painted as enemies of the state. Salaries have been suspended for more than two months. Accreditation is under threat. And those who stand firm face personal and professional consequences. The goal appears to be not only punishment, but deterrence: to make future acts of civic solidarity less likely.

A call for European solidarity

The situation did not go unnoticed. In May 2025, at the meeting of the Friends of the Western Balkans in Ljubljana, European progressives adopted a declaration explicitly condemning political repression in Serbia and supporting the civil and academic movement. 

The declaration highlights that free, fair and timely elections are the only sustainable democratic solution to the current crisis. It includes a strong stance against the ongoing repression of university autonomy, and calls on EU institutions to end the policy of appeasement toward the Serbian government.

However, political declarations must be followed by civic and institutional support. Numerous European academic organisations already collaborate with Serbia through research and policy exchange. We call on these partners – and on the broader European academic and political community – to speak up, offer platforms for visibility and stand with those in Serbia who are defending the public mission of the university. When academic freedom is lost in one country, it is a warning to all others.

Photo credits: Shutterstock.com/Mirko Kuzmanovic