Motivated by the lack of information about higher education, especially in the area of economics of higher education, the team of the Centre for Education Policy launched in late 2007 a study on financing of higher education in a number of countries in the region of South Eastern Europe. Lack of readily available data, unclear objectives of higher education coupled with almost no focus on evaluation of outputs of higher education and generally poor situation with regards to education economics are all characteristic for countries under study - concludes the editor Ms. Martina Vukasovic.

The publication, especially in the theoretical chapter, tries to offer to the reader a multidisciplinary view of higher education in general and financing in particular. The key intention was to provide material for widening and deepening the ongoing discussions on financing of higher education in the region and to offer a solid overview of the current situation, for “domestic” and international audience alike.

The publication has three key parts. The first (chapter 2) is dedicated to theoretical considerations about financing of higher education and draws extensively on literature from various disciplines (economics, political science, sociology etc.). The main goal is to offer to international and domestic audiences alike, a comprehensive “guide” through the issues surrounding financing of higher education, from system, institutional and student perspective, as well as to point out to characteristic models and their (possible) effects on higher education. Chapter 3 is dedicated to comparative analysis of financing of higher education in Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia and to a lesser extent (due to lack of information) in Albania and Montenegro. The chapter also follows the basic structure of the theoretical chapter, dealing firstly with systems of financing higher education, then analysing financing from the institutional perspective and finally from the student perspective. Chapter 4, the institutional case study provides an insight into the financial operations of three different faculties belonging to a university in Serbia. The key intention of this chapter is to explore the differences between the three different faculties in approaching the issue of financing of higher education, as well as development of their own institution in specific conditions characterised by a disintegrated university and outdated system of allocation of public funds to higher education. This chapter also provides a detailed description of the regulation on funding of higher education in Serbia. The concluding chapter offers a summary of findings, but also includes a discussion on how to develop the appropriate model of financing of higher education. The latter could be useful for governments, institutions and other stakeholders in guiding the process of development of new mechanisms for funding and financing of higher education.

The team which produced this publication consisted of: Mihajlo Babin (Serbia), Vanja Ivošević (Croatia), Predrag Lažetić (Serbia), Klemen Miklavič (Slovenia) and Martina Vukasović (Serbia, editor). The work was extensively supported in various ways by associates of the Centre for Education Policy and informants in Albania and Montenegro. The publication includes two reviews: from a domestic expert Srbijanka Turajlić (Serbia) and from an international expert, David Robinson (Canada). The project was financed by the Fund for an Open Society, Serbia. Version of publication in Serbian (Latin alphabet) will soon be available as well.+

Download of the study: http://www.cep.edu.rs/eng/files/FinancingHE.pdf