Training
The 2011 census showed that close to 98% of everyone who
was 15 years and older could read and write. However, the
quality of education has not improved in recent decades to
the same extent as in most Other Countries in Europe. The
brutal war years during the 1990s brought frightened
children with disturbed schooling. The years thereafter
there was a lack of resources to expand the education, and
international comparisons have shown that the quality
continued to deteriorate into the 00s. However, the school
has slowly changed on different levels. During the latter
part of the 1990s, a number of reforms came and the
education system has thus become more similar to what is in
the EU. Rules for educational evaluation and planning are
being established. Outdated methodology should be replaced
by modern methods of active learning to strengthen students'
understanding and improve the quality of learning. However,
it is a process that takes a long time; Teacher attitudes,
as well as ethnic tensions and stereotypes, live long. See TOPSCHOOLSINTHEUSA for TOEFL, ACT, SAT testing locations and high school codes in Serbia.
The children start the eight-year, compulsory, free
elementary school at the age of seven. For the first four
years, they are taught by class teachers, then by subject
teachers. For graduation from compulsory school, approved
exams are required. A first foreign language is already read
from the first school year and a second language from the
fifth year. Foreign languages can be English, Russian,
German, French, Italian or Spanish; which is given in a
school is determined locally. Nearly 95% of children
graduate from primary school. The exceptions are mainly
children in minority families, mainly Roma.
Nowadays, an elementary school preparatory school is also
compulsory, at least for six months. The preschools are
state and free. In 2009, 92% of all six-year-olds attended
preschool, and more and more are attending preschool even at
lower ages. Lack of above all premises means that such
activities do not exist for many of the children who would
most need it, ie. disabled, children in marginalized ethnic
groups and children in remote rural areas. The new school
legislation also covers adult education, which is an
important complement to the compulsory school.
Continuing education is of various kinds. It starts with
entrance exams and ends with exams. The theoretical,
college-preparatory education, corresponding to our
colleges, is four years old, and there is also technical
vocational education and artistic education. There are also
two- and three-year vocational training courses. In 2008,
83% of all young people underwent some kind of free
continuing education.
In Serbia, in 2013 there were eight state and nine
private universities. The oldest and largest is Belgrade
University, which after 2010 began to appear on lists of the
world's 500 leading universities. Furthermore, there are
about 65 colleges for applied higher studies or with
academic theoretical undergraduate education.
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