University of Belgrade, UB

The University of Belgrade (UB) is the oldest university in Serbia and the largest in the region. Founded in 1808, it consists of 31 schools, 11 research institutes, 8 centers, Computer Center and the University Library with more than 3.500.000 volumes. It provides education in Technology, Engineering, Science, Social Sciences and Humanities, with 342 study programs, 88,742 students, 3,869 academic and research staff, 3,239 papers in 2012 on SCI, SSCI and AHCI lists, numerous publications and research projects. The University disposes of 11 endowments and 7 funds for supporting the best students. In 2012 its institutional income was 193,799,440 EUR.

The University of Belgrade has been participating in numerous projects, including those within Tempus program.

University of Novi Sad, UNS

University of Novi Sad (UNS) was founded in 1960, operating in the four major towns of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina: Novi Sad, Subotica, Zrenjanin, and Sombor. The University is comprised of the following 14 faculties covering all major fields of study: Faculty of Philosophy, Faculty of Agriculture, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Technology, Faculty of Economics, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Sciences, Academy of Arts, Faculty of Civil Engineering, ‘Mihajlo Pupin’ Technical Faculty, Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, Faculty of Education, and Teachers’ Training Faculty in Hungarian. In December 2007. UNS also has Institute of Lowland Forestry and Environment, Institute of Food Technology, Association of Centres for Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Studies and Research, UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurial Studies, and centres for applied statistics and education development.

Currently at UNS is enrolled more than 43.000 students at bachelor level of studies, and around 6.500 students at master and doctoral level, studying on more than 350 study programmes. Number of employees is more than 5.000, including teaching staff of around 3.770, and around 130 foreign teachers.

Research at the University is achieved through basic, applied and development research in the field of law, economics, mathematical, technological, social and medical sciences. UNS has significant international cooperation with other HEIs and its experienced and well qualified staff plays a significant role in great number of projects across Europe.

The University of Novi Sad is the second largest among six state universities in Serbia. Having invested considerable efforts in intensifying international cooperation and participating in the process of university reforms in Europe, the University of Novi Sad has come to be recognized as a reform-oriented university in the region and on the map of universities in Europe.

University of Kragujevac, UNIKG

University of Kragujevac (UNIKG) is a modern educational and research center embracing all major areas of teaching and research, presently comprising 12 faculties with 20 000 students and more than 1 000 academic staff. E-learning and Long Life Learning activities at the UNIKG expand rapidly in last years through various national and international projects. The University Center for LLL is established in the framework of the Tempus project “Development of Lifelong Learning Framework in Serbia”, and has the mission to promote research in educational and social policy and particularly in the fields of continuing education, the education of adults and of individuals with special needs. UNIKG participates in several of international projects such as FP7, EUREKA, COST, TEMPUS, EURECNA, SEE ERA NET PLUS and WUS.

Faculty of Technical Sciences in Čačak (FTS ČA), as one of unit of University of Kragujevac, educates professionals in the field of technical and pedagogical sciences and became first-level scientific and educational institution in the region. Faculty possesses Laboratory for Computer science, Laboratory for Information technology, Laboratory for Mechatronics, Laboratory for Energy Efficiency and Laboratory for Nanotechnology. FTS ČA has newly equipped laboratory for video-conferencing thus enabling students and professors to benefit from distant training by professionals and experts worldwide. Department for Information technology is engaged in developing and creating online courses for educational institutions, enterprises and other organizations. Its researchers are active participants in several international research projects concerning industrial software development, intelligent systems and long-life training of teaching professionals. At the moment there are three running national research projects funded by the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technology where Department for Information Technology takes active participation

Belgrade Metropolitan University, BMU

Belgrade Metropolitan University (BMU) aims to become innovative and entrepreneurial University. Its role is not only to provide education and research missions, but also the third mission: support of entrepreneurship of its students and their faculties by developing new ideas into innovative products, especially in area of IT. BMU is realizing this mission with close cooperation with IT companies, especially in software development. Few business models have been developed so far to support different needs of BMU partner companies.

BMU is an integrated university consisting of three faculties, which are no legal entities. Every year BMU enrols 350-400 new students in area of computing, business management and digital arts. BMU offers BSc programs in information technology, software engineering, information systems, game development, operations management, business and marketing, graphic design, design of interactive media and fashion design. MSc programs are in information security, software engineering, information systems, marketing management, management in creative industries and design of new media. PhD programs are in area of computer science and bioinformatics, software engineering, management and development, and design of new media.

BMU operates in two campuses in Belgrade and Niš.

Almost all study programs are offered in two forms: “face-to-face” and “online” (using e-learning). Online option is very convenient for employed students and student not living in Belgrade or Niš. This is the reason why 40-50% of BMU students are online students. BMU has experience dealing with employed online students that face many problems due to the fact that the Low of Higher Education does not recognize part-time studies.

BMU plans to offer specific short cycle study programs in IT and programming, aiming adults who wish to change their profession.

School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of app. stud, VISER

The School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of Applied Studies (VISER) is public high educational institution, financing from the budget of the Republic of Serbia and the income from tuition fees. The main activity is 3 year of vocational studies with 180 ECTS (7 different programs) and 1 year of specialized professional with 60 ECTS (5 different programs). Curricula for seven foundation study programs are developed, authorised and accredited, in three- year duration and granting upon their completion 180 ECTS points: Audio and video technologies, Automation and Vehicle Control Systems, Electronics and Telecommunications, E- Business, New Energy Technologies, New Computer Technologies, Computer Engineering. Students may continue further education at 6 accredited specialist study programs in one year duration and granting upon their completion 60 ECTS points: Multimedia and digital television, Mechatronics, Electronics and Telecommunications, Information Technology, Electric Power Engineering, Security of Information and Communication systems. Graduate students receive bachelor and specialized diplomas. The school has a building with 4000 square meters, 24 different laboratories with top-edge equipment, specializes laboratories, Regional HDTV studio and class rooms with more than 1120 seats. The School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of Applied Studies was coordinating institution for one regional Tempus project no.517022 successfully finished.

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, MEST

Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development is in charge of administration tasks related to: research, planning and development of education; administrative supervision in education and student standards; participation in the construction, equipping and maintenance of facilities for education; pedagogic supervision in education and student standards; organization, performance appraisal and supervision of the training of employees in education; validation of public documents acquired abroad; improvement of social care for gifted students; improvement of social care for students with special needs, creating conditions for access and implementation of projects within the scope of the Ministry who are funded by the EU IPA funds, grants and other forms of development assistance, as well as other duties prescribed by law.

Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development carries out public administration tasks related to the system, development and promotion of scientific research in the scientific, technological and economic development; proposing and implementing policies and strategies of scientific and technological development; identification and implementation of programs of scientific and technological research and development; training of personnel for scientific research; proposing and implementing innovation policy; knowledge and technology transfer in the economy; development and improvement of the innovation system in the Republic of Serbia; regulations in the field of transport and intellectual property rights; development of the functioning of scientific and technological information and program development of scientific and technological infrastructure.

The National Council for Higher Education of Serbia, NCHES

The National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) has a leading role in the higher education in Serbia as a professional organization representing the academic community. NHCE is the highest institution in the Republic of Serbia which, according to the Law on Higher Education, responsible for ensuring the development and improvement of the quality of higher education. NHCE determines scientific, artistic and vocational areas within fields referred to in Article 27 of the Law on Higher Education, based on the proposal of the Conference of the Universities of Serbia and the Conference of high school principals. Members of the NCHE are elected by CONUS, the roof organisation of all Serbian Universities. NCHE is in charge of proposing criteria for accreditation of HE institutions and long distance learning. Overall, NCHE is responsible for all other activities in HE in Serbia in close cooperation with Ministry of Education, science and technology development of Serbia.

Conference of Universities of Serbia, CONUS

Conference of Universities of Serbia (CONUS) is a roof organization of all Universities in Serbia. Members of the CONUS are all accredited Universities in Serbia, 8 state and 10 private Universities. Since its foundation, some of the most important goals of CONUS are coordinating work of all Universities in Serbia, defining common action plans, realizing common interest and performing work established by law. Furthermore, some of the most important activities are enhancing activities which are important for development of research at the Serbian Universities, coordinating enrollment procedures among the Serbian Universities, giving opinion on quality control on education, research and art sciences. Also, CONUS is selecting members of the National Council for Higher Education and Committee for Quality Control and Accreditation. CONUS is suggesting to the National Council for Higher Education criteria for selecting and promoting teachers at the Serbian Universities.

IRVAS International d.o.o., IRVAS

IRVAS International Ltd. (IRVAS) is a software SME offering services and solutions in the field of Content management, ERP, and custom development. The company has a strong technical background in Internet/Intranet, n-tier client/server and system integration.

IRVAS supports a range of mainstream technology platforms that are most suitable for today’s enterprise and public internet systems, such as: DITA, SCORM, ePub, J2EE, ZK Framework (Ajax MVC and MVVM framework), REST, CMIS, JSON, Lucene, Spring Security, BPMN2.0, Java, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, XML, XSL/XSLT, SQL, Python,  PHP,.

The company has completed complex projects on Linux, Microsoft, UNIX and open-source platforms, utilizing the most appropriate toolsets and development systems for the specific task.

Over the last few years IRVAS has been working on the development and implementation of the DITA-based content authoring solution for formal and informal education purposes. The solution includes the usage of DITA eLearning specialization for the creation of a pool of reusable learning objects in collaborative web environment. Furthermore, IRVAS possesses extensive experience in  producing various output formats (pdf, e-pub, Kindle, SCORM, …) of the learning materials derived from DITA, with the aim of integration with various learning systems.

IRVAS has a good and long cooperation with research and scientific institutions, such as the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, Institute of Physics Belgrade, the Univeristy of Nis, the Faculty of Electronic Engineering – Nis, the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering – Nis.

The Belgrade Chamber of Commerce, BCC

The Belgrade Chamber of Commerce (BCC) was established and started its activities in January 1962. It is an interest-based, independent, business and professional association of enterprises registered primarily on the territory of Belgrade, although after re-registration in 2013, it has become open to members from the whole territory of Serbia. It offers a wide range of services to companies and entrepreneurs through its associations and centres. It has also been involved in various activities that confirm Chamber’s dedication to socially responsible behaviour and community progress (social inclusion of vulnerable groups, enhancement of educational environment and culture in Serbia, etc.). The BCC has a wide network of partner organisations from the country and abroad.

BCC has been recognised as a successful organiser or co-organiser of various trainings, seminars, round tables, high-level business events, promoter of new initiatives, and a reliable project partner. It has successfully completed over 30 projects in the last 10 years, most of them EU-funded.

It presently has 154 employees. Its offices are in a six-storey building in downtown Belgrade, which includes 6 conference rooms accommodating from 20-150 people, media center for around 50 people and a fully equipped computer training room.