The public hearing before the Commission for the Fight against Corruption of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina further raised questions about the accreditation of private universities, their operating licenses, the degrees held by public sector employees, and the role of the competent institutions. The following universities were in focus: European University “Kallos” Tuzla, the International University of Brčko District of BiH, the University “Academy of Economy” Brčko District of BiH, and the International University in Goražde. Members of the Commission, Branislav Borenović, Zlatan Begić, Jasmin Emrić, and Nenad Grković, posed questions to journalists Anisa Mahmutović and Adis Mujdanović, who provided additional details regarding the work of the institutions under scrutiny, political support, pressure on journalists, and possible consequences for the public sector and healthcare.
Mujdanović: International University Seeks 200,000 BAM in Damages
Journalist from Brčko, Adis Mujdanović, said that the International University is currently suing Brčko District after receiving an operating ban from the Inspectorate, while the decision was later overturned by the Appellate Commission.
“They are now suing Brčko District because they received an operating ban from the Inspectorate. The decision, which was later overturned by the Appellate Commission, resulted in a lawsuit seeking 200,000 BAM in compensation,” Mujdanović said.
He added that local laws in Brčko District, including amendments adopted a month ago, allow universities, in cases of extraordinary circumstances, to continue operating based on a decision by the competent Department of Education, despite the existence of other disputed issues.
Nedeljko Stanković and Accreditation
Branislav Borenović, Chair of the Commission, asked whether there is any information on whether Nedeljko Stanković, as a member of the Steering Board of the Agency for the Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance of Bosnia and Herzegovina, voted in favor of granting accreditation to a university with which he is connected. Mahmutović said that she did not attend those sessions, but that he probably did.
She emphasized that Stanković is technically still a member of the Steering Board, as the new composition has not yet been confirmed by the House of Peoples of Bosnia and Herzegovina. According to her, the Director of the Agency has also not been officially appointed, meaning that this position is still in an acting mandate.
“We have heard that there are lobbies influencing the appointment of the Agency’s Director, ensuring that the selected individuals are always people close to such universities,” Mahmutović said.
At the same time, she emphasized that the issue is not private universities as a whole, but institutions which, as she stated, were primarily established with political support.
“In Bosnia and Herzegovina, we have serious private universities that operate to very high standards, but we also have universities that primarily began operating due to political support,” she said.
No Register of Degrees, but There Is a Register of Employees
When asked whether there is a published register of people who obtained degrees from the universities mentioned, Mahmutović responded that such a register does not exist.
Mujdanović, however, pointed to the register of employees in Brčko District, which, as he said, he personally analyzed.
“I personally analyzed that register, and there are hundreds of people from the universities we mentioned, including the University ‘Academy of Economy’ Brčko District of BiH, which has not yet been accredited. Until 2022, when they had not yet received accreditation, several hundred people were employed in the public sector of Brčko District, which directly violates the Framework Law on Higher Education of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” Mujdanović said.
Medical Degrees and Healthcare Institutions
A significant part of the hearing referred to medical faculties and the healthcare sector. Borenović asked about study programs in medicine, biomedicine, and healthcare. Mahmutović also explained that, according to a statement by the Minister of Education of the Tuzla Canton, European University “Kallos” Tuzla did not have a license for those study programs at the time when the decision was made to revoke its operating license.
When asked where personnel from such universities work, Mahmutović said she does not have complete data, but that there is information suggesting they are working in healthcare institutions in Republika Srpska. She added that for more precise data on 18 medical professionals, the President of the Medical Workers’ Union in Republika Srpska should be contacted.
Agency Gives Accreditations, but Does Not Follow the Quality of Work?
The hearing also focused on the authority of the Agency for the Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mahmutović claims that the Agency shifts responsibility for all questions related to the quality of university work to the local ministries.
“They were never interested in discussing that topic. Everything related to the quality of work, and everything else, they shifted to the local educational institutions,” she said.
Borenović noted that it is unusual for an institution that grants accreditation and conducts evaluations to have no information or apparent interest in monitoring the further work of such institutions.
Goražde and Degrees via “Mail”
The Commission Chair started the meeting by asking questions about the International University in Goražde. She wanted to know more about the claims referring to the information that the school organized fake lectures for students from Italy. Mahmutović answered by pointing to the recent arrest of the Chair of Živinice City Council. Part of that criminal investigation, she noted, directly involves degrees obtained from the Goražde University.
“He ordered them like he was ordering from Temu, if the current details of the investigation are true. He simply sent the data by email and ordered those degrees,” Mahmutović said.
She explained that the school held a conditional license for just two years, in the period from 2021 to 2023. Local decisions made that whole arrangement possible, Mahmutović added.
How Many Private Medical Institutions Are There?
When Nenad Grković asked how many private faculties that focus on medical sciences are there in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mahmutović listed several examples: Goražde, European University “Kallos” Tuzla, the International University of Brčko District of BiH, the University “Academy of Economy” Brčko District of BiH, as well as some institutions in Republika Srpska and Bihać. She added that she did not mention all the faculties.
Regarding the University “Academy of Economy”, she warned that medical personnel are being educated within a facility where, as she claims, a driving school, a university, and a polyclinic are also located.
Mujdanović added that significant marketing is invested in promoting these study programs. This includes advertisements offering discounts for enrolment in medicine and health sciences.
“What my colleague and I generally observed, which is a common link among all these private universities we are discussing, is that it is purely a business. Nothing else,” Mujdanović said.
“Very Aware” of Students and Parents
Grković asked whether students at such faculties are aware of the responsibility and weight of the profession they are training for, especially when it comes to medicine. Mahmutović responded that they are.
“Very aware, to be clear,” she said, adding that after the publication of one of their articles, people from the healthcare system asked what would happen with their degrees. She also noted that parents, including practicing doctors, were seeking shortcuts for their children’s education.
As an example, she referred to the former Director of the University Clinical Center Tuzla.
“The Director of the University Clinical Center Tuzla, former Mr. Alen Husić, obtained his PhD very quickly at the European University ‘Kallos’ Tuzla in order to meet the requirements for appointment as Director of the University Clinical Center Tuzla,” Mahmutović said.
She added that some students come from smaller communities, attracted by study programmes they cannot enroll in at public universities or for financial reasons, but that there are also many wealthy families who use such institutions as an alternative after failing to gain admission to public universities.
Mujdanović: They Already Have an Issue with Such Personnel
Mujdanović warned that some doctors from public healthcare institutions in Brčko said they are already facing issues with personnel coming from private universities.
“People without a completed secondary medical school enroll in these programmes and obtain degrees in medical, more precisely health sciences, and they come without any knowledge, without any basic medical understanding,” he said.
He added that medical experts working outside Bosnia and Herzegovina told him that a private medical faculty can only exist if it is led by a person with an impeccable biography, which, as he said, is far from the case here.
Begić: Outdated Law and “Degree Laundering”
Member of the Commission, Zlatan Begić, said that the Draft Law on Higher Education is outdated and requires amendments. He pointed, as a possible direction, to practices in countries with a high level of the rule of law, where, as he stated, legal, pedagogical, and medical faculties cannot be private.
He spoke about what he described as an attempt of “degree laundering”, referring to situations where individuals use a degree obtained from a private faculty to enroll in a second or third cycle of studies at state universities. According to him, such candidates are considered underqualified for admission to higher study cycles.
“Biography laundering,” added Borenović, which Begić confirmed.
Begić said that in Bosnia and Herzegovina there are high-quality state universities and professionals who can work anywhere in the world, and that they should not be placed in the same category as the institutions discussed at the hearing.
Emrić: Political Nexus and Degree Purchase
Jasmin Emrić thanked the journalists for their readiness to testify before the Commission and assessed that this is a serious issue of political nexus with educational structures.
“This political nexus with educational structures is a serious issue, and an even more serious issue is the fact that in the Steering Board of the Agency for the Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance of Bosnia and Herzegovina there are professors and doctors who create an environment for these private faculties that function as diploma mills,” Emrić said.
He also raised the question of the 2024 decision of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, under which, as he stated, procedures for verifying degrees of employees in state institutions were limited only to suspicious degrees, which he described as a latent halt to broader verification.
In her response, Mahmutović said that as long as universities are formally accredited, the validity of degrees issued within that framework cannot be disputed.
“The issue of accreditation and licensing is a key thing, because that is where the main problems lie, as we have so many unusual universities and higher education institutions where degrees are obtained,” she said.
Journalists Are Not Seeking Personal Protection, but Systemic Protection of the Profession
Emrić told journalists that, as reporters on corruption issues, they can seek protection from the Agency for Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption. Mahmutović said that she personally does not feel threatened, but that the journalistic community needs systemic protection.
“As far as I am concerned, I currently do not need any kind of protection, but the journalistic profession does need systemic protection from the various forms of pressure it faces,” she said.
Mujdanović said that he personally does not feel threatened, but confirmed that pressures and attempts at influence do exist.
“Attempts of pressure and threats arrive all the time. I received a message from the owner of this university, the Academy of Economy, after I started investigating the topic, inviting me for a coffee. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to tell him to stop with that, and to all other people who contact me in similar ways, that I do not respond to such calls and that nobody will silence me,” he said.
Borenović Announces Continuation of the Hearing
At the end of the hearing, Borenović thanked the journalists and announced the continuation of the public hearing after the session of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, when key representatives of the following institutions are expected to be heard: the Agency for the Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Ministry of Civil Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Agency for Personal Data Protection in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He also announced that the Commission will request information from the High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina regarding previous cases related to fake degrees and irregularities in higher education.
“If the situation is as you described in some of the examples, then I can only imagine what it is like for the entire society,” Borenović said.
The continuation of the hearing, according to the Commission’s announcement, is expected to open direct questions to institutions that granted accreditations, interpreted legal competences, and so far have – or have not – monitored the work of disputed higher education institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, N1 writes.
