site.btaUniversity Professors in Serbia to Stage Protest on June 9

University professors in Serbia will stage a protest in front of the Serbian government building in Belgrade on June 9, according to an announcement posted on Instagram.

"We are at a crossroads. Which path should we take? Should we choose our students or our jobs, a zero academic year or lowered standards, blockades or false catch-up measures, faculty bankruptcy or moral bankruptcy? That is why we are taking to the streets," reads the message shared by the organizers of the upcoming demonstration.

The protest is organized by members of the academic community united under the Rebel University initiative and is scheduled to begin at 11:52 a.m. local time, which is the exact hour of the 2024 tragedy in Novi Sad, where 16 people died in the collapse of the recently renovated train station’s canopy.

According to the programme of the protest, professors will first honour the victims with a 16-minute silence. Speeches from the protest stage are planned to follow at 6:00 p.m. local time.

The organizers are demanding a broad public debate on the Higher Education Act, the dissolution of the government-appointed working group tasked with revising this law, and the determination of state-funded university admissions quotas no later than the end of June.