On the occasion of the announced strike of the University of Sarajevo Union, a press conference was held yesterday in the UNSA Rectorate. The Rector Muharem Avdispahić, and the President of the Administrative Body of the UNSA Mevludim Mekić talked about the current situation, about the relations with the Government of the Sarajevo Canton and with the UNSA Union, and about many other unresolved topics.
Rector Avdispahić stressed that it is important to preserve the unity of the University and the coordination between the Union and all of the University bodies during the process of University’s integration.
He also stated that it was important to respect the institutional autonomy and create conditions in which the University of Sarajevo, the leading academic institution, can fulfill its role in the society.
He emphasized that there were basic problems which should be solved regarding the UNSA and the higher education.
“Can they be solved this way, with the departing government and the departing cantonal assembly? I think they cannot. Do I, as the rector, consider justified the suspension of the academic processes until the new Collective Agreement is signed? I do not, because there is no proposal for the collective agreement!
It cannot be some plan for the year 2008 taken out of a drawer. This is 2014. The law on higher education has changed three times since then,” Rector Avdispahić pointed out.
Avdispahić stressed that the Sarajevo Canton Government should have started negotiations with the Union in July, when it received the letter. He said that the Union and the Senate should not be in conflict.
The President of the Steering Committee of the University of Sarajevo (UO UNSA), Mevludin Mekić, called all employees of UNSA and students to continue with their usual activities and appear for work and for exams on Monday.
When asked whether the order to the deans to control their faculty unions was illegal, and whether he encroached the structure of the union activities, Mekić answered that all faculties are legal entities.
(Source: Fena)
