The Third Accreditation of the University of Banja Luka in the Final Phase

On 27 February 2024, the Commission of Domestic and International Experts for Quality Assessment and Audit and giving Recommendations on Accreditation completed the external evaluation of the University of Banja Luka and the Chemistry Study Programme at Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics of our higher education institution, and gave general recommendations for improvement of work in the forthcoming period.

The Commission of Experts that visited the University of Banja Luka had the opportunity to see the commitment to the growth and development of the University. What is important to emphasize is that the Commission will prepare a report in the upcoming period, and so the result of the external evaluation of the University, as well as the Chemistry Study Programme, will be known. It was through these activities that the re-accreditation process of the University led by the Agency for Higher Education of the Republic of Srpska entered the final stage, followed by the issuance of a recommendation on accreditation and the entry of our higher education institution into the register of accredited higher education institutions.

The external evaluation commission, composed of international experts, representatives of the academic community, business sector and students, began its work at the University of Banja Luka on 26 February with a meeting with the Rector's Team. Thereafter, they spoke with representatives of the Quality Assurance and Improvement Committee, the Support Centre for Students with Special Needs, as well as with the senior public relations associate. The first day was an opportunity for the Commission to talk with representatives of the Office of the Vice-Rector for International and Interuniversity Cooperation, the Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer Centre, as well as with representatives of the Secretariat and the Material and Financial Affairs Department of the University of Banja Luka. 

Later in the day, the Commission also visited the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, i.e., Chemistry Study Programme, which is in the process of cluster accreditation of study programmes. The process of cluster accreditation, in addition to the first and second cycle of chemistry studies, includes the study programmes of the first and second cycle at the Faculty of Technology: Textile Engineering, Graphic Engineering, and Food Technologies and Industrial Biotechnology, which the Commission will have the opportunity to visit in the forthcoming period.

The visit to the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics was an opportunity for the Commission to talk with the management and relevant unit of the Faculty, as well as chemistry professors, teaching assistants, students and alumni, as well as representatives of the business sector, but also to familiarize themselves with all the assets at this faculty.

The second day of the visit, 27 February, was reserved for a visit to the National and University Library of the Republic of Srpska, so as to see the University's assets. Thus, on the second day, the Commission visited the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Law, the Dental Clinic, the Faculty of Political Science, the Faculty of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy, the Faculty of Forestry, the botanical garden at the location in the University Campus where the Science and Technology Park of the Republic of Srpska is to be constructed, and the Faculty of Philosophy.

What is accreditation?

The process of accreditation of higher education institutions in the Republic of Srpska began more than a decade ago, in accordance with the legal solutions that regulate the field of higher education in the Republic of Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Institutions that have met the conditions and criteria are issued accreditation decisions for a period of five years, and this is the third institutional accreditation of the University of Banja Luka.

Accreditation of higher education institutions and study programmes constitute part of the overall activities in the reform of higher education in accordance with the Bologna principles, with the ultimate goal of recognizing the higher education of the Republic of Srpska in the European  area. Higher education institutions and their study programmes, including the higher education institution management procedures, the processes of implementing study programmes, the internal quality system within the higher education institution, as well as the capacities, assets and potentials, and the capacities for improving the work of the higher education institution are all subjects to accreditation.