Montenegrin higher education institutions must step away from personalized management and strive for institutionalized decision-making. They also need to balance between central and decentralized management. These are the conclusions given in the evaluation report on 9 Montenegrin higher education institutions, developed by a team of independent international experts, who were engaged by the European University Association (EUA) within the Programme for the Institutional Evaluation.
“The new analysis was conducted in order to see whether the recommendations given in the last evaluation were successfully implemented. Compared to 2014, there has come to visible and positive changes in the legislative and financial context. Current situations looks promising but unstable as well. Having in mind the fact that the reform is ongoing, Montenegro might be able to achieve significant progress in the area of higher education through adoption of innovative and proven approaches already used by the rest of EHEA. However, the reform process is incomplete and sometimes not radical enough,” suggests the Report signed by Thomas Ekman Jorgensen of the European University Association.
The existing decentralized and often personalized managing structures, the Report says, represent serious limitation to the institution’s capability for making and implementing strategic decisions in all activities, which was also mentioned 4 years ago.
“Smaller institutions partially or fully rely on the part-time staff who work in other Montenegrin higher education institutions or abroad,” the Report says.
It is also noted that classes in English still represent a problem for the incoming mobility even though there’s a possibility of having accredited English programs. Also, it might be good if Montenegro would totally accede to the Erasmus program, and students to have their civic and social activities recognized as “practical education”, the Report recommends.
