Serbian Government cuts budget places for master and doctoral programs at Niš Faculty of Philosophy

The Government of Serbia issued a decree removing all publicly funded budget places for master’s and doctoral studies in the departments of History, Serbian language and Russian language at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Niš. The decision also affects the previously allocated budget places for undergraduate programmes, despite an earlier ruling by the Administrative Court that ordered a temporary suspension of the cuts.

Students occupying the faculty in protest have demanded that the government restore the budget positions, citing the court order and warning that the loss of funding forces them to bear the full cost of advanced education or abandon further academic development. They warned they would pursue all legal and civic avenues if the positions are not reinstated. The decree allocates 97 budget places for master’s programmes and 8 for doctoral programmes nationwide, with a note that the specific programmes at Niš are excluded.