Faculty of Agriculture

The establishment of the Faculty of Agriculture in Banja Luka was preceded by the development of a number of scientific and educational institutions in this area. In 1947, the Agricultural Department was established in Banja Luka by the Decision of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which underwent several transformations in development, and in 1996 grew into the Agricultural Institute of the Republic of Srpska. The School of Agriculture in Banja Luka was established by a special law in 1960 (Official Gazette of the People’s Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, No 28/1960), and began operating in 1961. Even though it had good employees and all the prerequisities to develop into a high-ranking institution, it stopped operating in the academic year 1972-73. The building in which the School of Agriculture operated was a gift from the SAO Vojvodina to Banja Luka after the devastating earthquake. Currently, the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the Faculty of Technology are located in the building. The initiative to establish the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Banja Luka was finally approved by the Academic Council of the University at the beginning of 1991 and officially launched by the constitution of the Organising Committee. At the session of the Academic Council of the University of Banja Luka held on 27 February 1992, the Study on the Establishment of the Faculty of Agriculture was adopted and, together with the Decision on Proposal of the Feasibility Study of the Establishment of the Faculty of Agriculture in Banja Luka, forwarded to the SRBH Assembly. The decision was made at the session on 1 August 1992.

The Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Banja Luka started operating on 10 October 1992, and that day is marked as the Day of the Faculty. The Faculty started operating in the building of the former School of Agriculture, and moved in 2005 to a new location, to the University Campus (the area of the former barracks “Rajko Balać”), where it is still located. The Faculty of Agriculture has one building with the surface of 3 560 m2 and one prefabricated building of 650 m2, where the laboratories are. In 2016, the Faculty got from the Government of the Republic of Srpska, under a concession agreement, 50 ha of agricultural land for use in the municipality of Laktaši, where the Experimental- Educational Centre of the Faculty of Agriculture was established. Classes at the Faculty of Agriculture, which at that time had only the General Study, began in the academic year 1992- 93, when the first generation of students was admitted. In addition to relying on its own teaching staff, which the Faculty provided in the war and the first postwar years, under the leadership of the first dean, prof. Petar Durman, PhD, the teaching process was carried out thanks to the engagement of visiting professors who worked in other institutions, primarily at the Agricultural Institute in Banja Luka and the Faculty of Agriculture in Novi Sad.

Classes at the postgraduate studies started in the academic year 1999-2000. Since the academic year 2000-01, three first-cycle studies were established: Farming, Fruit and Vine Growing, and Cattle Breeding. In the academic year 2006-07, the teaching process was reorganised and another three study programmes were established at the first and second cycle of studies along with a certain number of courses. The third cycle of studies was established in the academic year 2012-13. In 2003, the first institutes were established at the Faculty of Agriculture: Institute of Fruit Growing, Viticulture and Horticulture, Institute of Agroecology and Soil, Institute of Animal Husbandry, Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops and Institute of Agricultural Economics, as a basis for more efficient scientific research. Some institutes later merged and separated, and nowadays the academic staff is employed at the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Banja Luka, at six research and development institutes: Institute of Field Crops, Institute of Agroecology and Soil, Institute of Horticulture, Institute of Animal Husbandry, Institute of Domestic Animals Reproduction and Institute of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.

By the decision of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska of 5 June 2006, three study programmes were launched at the Faculty: Plant Production, Animal Production and Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, so as of the academic year 2006-2007, the Faculty of Agriculture has been organised in accordance with the principles of the Bologna Declaration, with three study programmes and six courses. The second cycle of studies at the Faculty was organised in the academic year 2007-08, by launching master studies in the Agricultural Economics and Rural Development Study Programme, with the course of Agribusiness. The second cycle of studies were organised as regular studies with new academic programmes, i.e., as regular master’s studies based on scientific research. The third cycle of studies at the Faculty was licensed in September 2012, by the decision of the Government of the Republic of Srpska.

The plans of the Faculty of Agriculture, among other things, is to become more internationalised, although its students, professors and teaching assisants are already significantly involved in international exchanges and the implementation of projects with partners from abroad. Moreover, activities on the accreditation of the first English language courses to enable greater mobility of incoming students are ongoing, ultimately aiming at having the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Banja Luka become the choice of foreign students for their complete education. In 2019, the Faculty of Agriculture got international accreditation of the master programme in Agromanagement, which will be carried out in cooperation with the University of Applied Studies in Trizdorf (Germany) and in accordance with its curriculum.

Scientists at the Faculty have so far participated in the implementation of around 150 research and development projects funded from domestic and around fifty projects funded from international sources and have achieved enviable research results, which have been published in prominent scientific journals. This is exactly where the Faculty of Agriculture has a notable role at the University of Banja Luka. One of the most significant achievements of the Faculty of Agriculture is the development of its own teaching staff, because in less than thirty years, the Faculty of only five professors, as many as it had at the time of its establishment, reached the stage that almost all needs in the teaching process are met by professors and teaching assistants employed at this faculty.

The mission of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Banja Luka is to set the highest standards and ensure that students gain the knowledge and skills needed in the society and projected social development, i.e., to offer a curriculum and apply contemporary scientific research related methods in educating young and highly qualified professionals in agricultural sciences. 
The vision of the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Banja Luka is to establish a modern higher education system, compatible with the relevant universities in the region and EU member states, in which the research approach is essential for gaining new knowledge.

Phone	+387 51 312 390
Fax	+387 51 312 580
Website	www.agro.unibl.org
E-mail	info@agro.unibl.org
Address	University City, 1A Vojvode Petra Bojovića Blvd. Banja Luka, 78 000
Dean	Dr. Zlatan Kovačević, Full Professor
Vice-Dean for Teaching	Dr. Vesna Mrdalj, Associate Professor
Vice-Dean for Science, Research and International Cooperation	Dr. Branimir Nježić, Associate Professor