The University Of 
| Background of the project |
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Following the practice of the majority of transitional countries in South-East Europe, the national government of Serbia transferred a lot of responsibilities in the area of environmental management to local authorities. It was a part of a wider process of decentralization and convergence to EU accessing demands and to acquis communautaire. Governments of local communities in Serbia are now responsible for water supply and waste water treatment, solid waste management, air pollution control, district heating, etc. Transfer of responsibilities implied the necessity for engagement of all available institutions from local community, adoption of new skills and new practice according to EU rules. But, new circumstances influenced that local communities are faced with following real problems:
In this alarming situation, Serbian universities could give significant contribution to the reform and development of institutional structures and could perform a key role in the process of strengthening of local community capacities in the environmental protection area. The universities could be essential integrative factor of all relevant structures, offering to community educational specialists that treat environmental problems through different scientific branches. With the participation of environmental non-academic experts, a competent team that integrates desired theoretical and practical knowledge could be created. Nevertheless, a lack of contemporary and up-to-date practical techno-economical solutions in the area of environmental management is evident at Serbian universities. Based on European experience and with the help of EU institutions, Serbian university-expert consortium could design and deliver a number of vocational courses for building of human resources responsible for sustainable environmental management. Those courses should be aimed for the education/training of: In order to raise public environmental awareness, university-expert consortium should build necessary infrastructure for monitoring of environmental state in a pilot local community using Internet. This should be the base for the future regional/national environmental information system which is essential for local, regional and national environmental decision making, as well as for environmental experts, scientists, journalists, environmental NGOs and the public concerned. University of Kragujevac is the main educational center in Central Serbia (area consisting of over 40 local communities and more than 2.5 milions inhabitants). Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Faculty of Natural Science have already educated students through different technical and technological ecological courses on undergraduate and graduate levels. Teachers from those faculties in cooperation with Serbian non-academic experts and EU partners will design vocational courses and implement training for target groups from the teritory of Central Serbia. Kragujevac, as the capital of this region, would be choosen as the first local community for public monitoring of environmental state. The organization of such courses corresponds with the institutional development plans of the University of Kragujevac. The proposed courses correspond with the chapter of the plans concerning enhancement of commercial educational services provided by the University. Organization of permanent courses for public services will give the possibility to increase the economic sustainability of the University. Project realization could provide university teachers with modern educational materials, tools, and technologies. On the other hand, the opportunity to be retrained in EU experience should result in education of various groups of professionals with updated environmental knowledge, strengthening their position in the challenges of developing market. |
During the last decade, there have been many political, economic and social changes in Serbia, and consequently, environmental problems have been treated as less important. The national environmental departments and ministries have undergone rapid, sometimes unexpected, changes that have influenced on enormous and uncontrolled air and water pollution, and generation of hazardous waste by industry. Due to inefficiently energy consumption, utilization of resources has been intensified.