Supreme Court of RS upholds Prometej College diplomas

The Supreme Court of Republika Srpska has ruled in favor of the Prometej College of Applied and Legal Sciences in Banja Luka, confirming the legality of diplomas and academic titles earned by its students.

The court rejected a request from the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Higher Education for an extraordinary review of a previous ruling by the District Court in Banja Luka. This decision concludes a long-standing dispute regarding students in the Transport Engineering program who enrolled during the 2012/2013 and 2013/2014 academic years.

The Ministry and the Republic's educational inspectorate had argued that the college should have applied newer regulations to award the title of “professional specialist.” However, the Supreme Court ruled that new legal regulations cannot be applied retroactively to the detriment of students. The court noted that students enrolled under valid previous regulations and rightfully earned the title of graduate traffic engineer.

Furthermore, the court emphasized that legal vacuums caused by delays in government agencies issuing sub-legal acts should not penalize educational institutions or students who completed their studies properly. The ruling also criticized the Ministry and inspectorate for attempting to collectively invalidate dozens of diplomas without individual examination or justification for each student.