NS Initiative Milestones

There are three major phases in the evolution of Novi Sad Initiative.

Preliminary phase (2005 - 2010) has included:

• organisation of two European expert events (Novi Sad Seminar in 2005 and Dubrovnik Forum in 2010),
• organisation of two biannual international conferences (Dubrovnik Conference 2007 and Sarajevo Conference 2009),
• building strategic partnership with Regional Cooperation Council,
• successful application to EC funding (STREW Tempus project),
• first steps in the course of the establishment of an international board of governance for NS Initiative (2011/2012).

Mature phase (2011 - 2013) has been devoted to the professionalisation of public management and governance in higher education, supporting closely the main ideas behind STREW Tempus project. This phase includes:

• establishment of national expert groups for structural reform in higher education,
• collating personal perceptions of the national higher education stakeholders from WBC and introspective reports from higher education institutions and authorities,
• creating report on state-of-the-art of the higher education structural reform and policy in WB region, and the process of consultation on these issues within the region,
• organisation of a series of seminars and training courses for the current and future staff of institutions with responsibility in higher education,
• creating Regional Roadmap in higher education structural reform ( Dublin meeting) and its implementation plan ( Stockholm meeting),
• establishment of national task force groups ,
• identification of institutions able to deliver regional policy objectives (within the respective higher education systems), and recommendation of changes required in the system that will support achievement of these jointly foreseen objectives.

Closing phase (2014 - 2015) will include:

• organisation of third expert event under the scheme of NS Initiative, to take place in London in 2015, to provide inputs for further tuning of Bologna Process,
• organisation of NS Initiative closing event to take place in Novi Sad in 2015, ten years after the beginning of Novi Sad Initiative, to summarise the outcomes of Novi Sad Initiative,
• establishment of monitoring expert group to provide a continuous evaluation of the reform process in the region after the end of NS Initiative 2015.