“In order to successfully complete the reform of public administration and become a real ‘administration tailored to citizens’, the high quality human resources are the most important factor, which possess the knowledge and skills needed to follow contemporary processes and methods of working. The goal is to promote public administration as a desirable employer through student internships, as well as to point out the wider importance of work in public administration and participation in reform processes for the overall improvement of various aspects of economic and social life”, the Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Marija Obradović, has said after the signing of the Cooperation Agreement between 18 state and other bodies and five state universities, which should enable senior students to take part in internship programmes in public administration.
She has welcomed the response of state universities in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Kragujevac, Niš and Novi Pazar, which have shown readiness to overcome the challenge that every institution of higher education has, which is finding the right measure between theoretical knowledge and practical skills of students.
The Rector of the University of Belgrade, Prof. Vladan Đokić, PhD, has pointed out that the universities recognize the establishment of partnerships with public administration as a basis for improving the quality of the existing student programmes, especially in terms of providing a framework for acquiring practical student skills and achieving a high level of competencies for work in a real work environment.
“On the other hand, we recognize the experience of staff in public administrations as a valuable resource of knowledge that can be shared through different types of teaching and extracurricular activities, and which may contribute to creative and problem-solving thinking by future experts in various fields”, Đokić has added.
The Rector of the State University in Novi Pazar, Prof. Bratislav Mirić, PhD, has said that it is extremely important for the state authorities to point out to the senior students the essence and modalities of work that they may encounter following the completion of their studies. He has stated that these types of cooperation are part of the worldwide practice, and that today’s initiative can be summed up in one sentence – give young and learned persons a chance.
Today’s signing of the Agreement is the starting point for establishing the obligation of the body to, in cooperation with institutions of higher education, enable the students to apply theoretical knowledge in practice, the first step on that path being the Student Professional Practice in Public Administration Fair 2021/2022, which will be held on 4 and 5 November this year, organized by the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, with the support of the EU project “Visibility and Communication of Public Administration Reform”.
The first Student Professional Practice in Public Administration Fair will be held online, in the virtual space of the Palace of Serbia, at which the state authorities will present themselves to students in an innovative and modern way, while 400 of them will have the opportunity to get acquainted with the offers and programmes of professional practice through the following web-portal: www.strucnapraksa.mduls.gov.rs .
The plan is to increase the number of state bodies that will join this programme in the coming years, as well as to provide a more diverse offer of professional practice for undergraduate students and students attending master studies.
The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, the Protector of Citizens, the Commissioner for Information of Public Importance and Personal Data Protection, the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, the National Academy of Public Administration, the Public Policy Secretariat of the Republic of Serbia, the Human Resources Management Service, the Office for Information Technologies and eGovernment, as well as the cities of Belgrade, Niš, Kragujevac, Novi Pazar and Subotica, have signed the Cooperation Agreement on providing public administration support to institutions of higher education in the educational process with state universities in Belgrade, Kragujevac, Novi Sad, Niš and Novi Pazar.
Photo gallery
