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The Megatrend University (Serbian: Мегатренд универзитет / Megatrend univerzitet) is a private university located in Belgrade, Serbia. Megatrend Business school, later became megatrend university, was founded in 1989.

History and profile

The very first institute of the university was Belgrade's Megatrend Business School which was established 1989, and later on was the founder of all other institutes which comprise the present Megatrend University.

During 1991, Megatrend Business School, together with the Technical Faculty of Bor carried out the project of management graduate studies introduction. This project which was the first one of this type in South-East Europe, was financially supported by the European Union TEMPUS Fund which was specifically intended for the development of business education. This success has caused further expanding of Megatrend educational network.

In the previous educational system, institutes were missing that could provide the similar kind of knowledge. Most notable is the Faculty of Geo-economy the first institute of this kind in this part of the world.

In June 2000 the Serbian Ministry of Higher Education approved the formation of the Megatrend University of Applied Sciences in Belgrade. Similar agreements were stipulated with "Seconda Università degli Studi di Napoli" from Italy, with Berlin University of Applied Sciences from Germany, then, with Yanbian University of Science and Technology from China, Bournemouth University from United Kingdom, Academy Eliteâ from Moscow, European School of Business, Rome, Italy and Faculty of Economics, Donetsk National University, Ukraine.

Megatrend University is a member of the Euro-Asia Management Studies Association (EAMSA), which runs yearly conferences in Europe and Asia to discuss economic and management issues as well as promoting research and publishing.

Organization

These are the 19 institutions in 7 cities:

Notable alumni

• Jelena Janković, Tennis player
• Marija Šerifović, popular singer, winner of the Eurovision
• Nebojša Stefanović, politician, President of the National Assembly of Serbia

Controversy

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The university has a relatively low reputation in the eyes of the Serbian public due to its allegedly dubious programs and low standards, as well as due to its perceived mutually beneficial connections with politicians and government officials who were awarded Megatrend diplomas. Those connections have supposedly ensured its accreditation, which helped the University to somewhat silence its critics who have been accusing it of being a diploma mill. According to Megatrend's representatives, such criticism can not apply to a "University where the prime minister of Serbia had given four lectures in one year, and two ministers of education are employed at it".

Megatrend University has awarded an honorary doctorate to Muammar Gaddafi, the former leader of Libya. When asked to comment on this subject, the deputy Minister of education, prof. Srbijanka Turajlić just said that "this is not a deed on which any University should be proud of, but taking into account the quality of the university, it is not surprising that the doctorate was awarded to the dictator".

On June 1, 2014, a group of Serbian academics based in the UK published an article claiming that parts of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia Nebojša Stefanović's doctoral dissertation were plagiarized. The controversy escalated even further when other academics raised serious doubts that Megatrend's rector and Stefanović's mentor Mića Jovanović was never awarded a doctorate himself. Jovanović's alleged mentor Stephen Wood of the University of Leicester denounced him claiming that he never supervised him as a PhD candidate.

On June 12, 2014, Serbian Ministry of Education confirmed Megatrend's rector has forged his PhD at LSE. In the wake of these findings, ministry of education called on rector Jovanović to resign, which he did the following day,but a week later he publicly on RTV Pink on television show he showed his original PhD document taken from the archive of University of Leicester,where he proved that he really has his PhD from this UK University.

See also

• List of universities in Serbia
• Belgrade

References

1. http://www.megatrend-edu.net/o_univerzitetu.php?bs=o_nama
2. Radikic, Vasilije (2010). "A New Page in the History of Higher Education in Serbia" (PDF). Megatrend Review. 7 (2): 345–350.
3. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/16/world/europe/a-testing-time-for-private-schools-in-eastern-europe.html?_r=0
4. http://www.politika.rs/rubrike/Drustvo/Megatrenduse-sa-crvenog-univerziteta.lt.html
5. http://www.blic.rs/Vesti/Drustvo/427969/Njujork-tajms-Megatrenduse-su-nastale-po-uzoru-na-namiguse
6. http://balkanist.net/getting-a-phd-in-serbia-has-never-been-easier-the-case-of-minister-of-internal-affairs-nebojsa-stefanovic/
7. http://balkanist.net/rector-mica-baron-von-munchhausen-ministers-supervisor-misplaced-doctorate/
8. http://balkanist.net/rector-jovanovic-still-london-doctorate/
9. http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics.php?yyyy=2014&mm=06&dd=12&nav_id=90654

External links

• Megatrend University Website

Template:Belgrade

• Universities in Serbia
• Education in Belgrade
• Universities in Belgrade
• Educational institutions established in 1989