24.02.2014.

Marking the Day of the University of Defence

In the Ceremonial Hall of the Central Military Club, a ceremony on the occasion of the Day of the University of Defence and three years since the founding of our youngest military higher education institution has been held today.

The gathering was attended by Tomislav Nikolic, the President of the Republic of Serbia, Nebojsa Rodic, Defence Minister, ministers in the Government, General Ljubisa Dikovic, Chief of the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff, representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the Serbian Armed Forces, as well as representatives of civil and military universities from the country and abroad, representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church teachers and cadets , friends and colleagues of the University of Defence.

The attendees were addressed by Defence Minister Nebojsa Rodic, Rector of the University of Defence Lieutenant General Prof. Dr. Miodrag Jevtic, president of the Conference of Universities of Serbia and the Belgrade University Rector Academician Prof. Dr. Vladimir Bumbasirević and General Rudolf Urban from the University of Defence in Brno.

Minister Rodic reminded of the infinity of the human desire for knowledge, which is the driving force on the path to knowledge and truth.

- Education and truth are axioms of prosperity and, together with the upbringing, are the only possible way that leads to progress. On this path it is possible to make a mistake, but who is not ready to accept his own mistakes, will never make anything original. The University of Defence has a solid foundation and tradition in the source of military education, and it was only recently that the defence system, and the military, recognized that it can base its strategic future on education and upbringing which is in its general national interest, the Minister of Defence said and added that the knowledge and skills that are acquired nowadays are particular and specific, which places high demands on Defence University, both in the development of the scientific research work and the personnel, and the versatile use of the available resources.

Privilege to cooperate with the University of Defence belongs to those who are ready to interact, exchange students and the experience gained, Minister Rodic said.

- Celebrating this day, being at ease with the quality and competitiveness at the education market that we reached, we are thinking and projecting our steps ahead, to make the University more attractive, not only for those who will spend their working life, in whole or in part, as members of the Serbian Armed Forces, but also as highly educated experts in the economy of the homeland. We are aware of obstacles that we are going to face on this path, the most serious among them being those that require a change in ourselves. In all of this, nothing will be easy or simple, but we are determined to succeed in it because we will still be young only if we are ready to start something new. Our intention is that the University of Defence becomes more stimulating and more promising, particularly in the defence system, confirming also open integration but also the appreciation of military education with rich traditions and a very important role in the future of the Serbian Armed Forces, Minister Rodic said, adding that we should join efforts to maintain and further improve education, not bringing it to the standardization but to individual recognition.

Addressing the gathering, Rector of the University said that education is the key to success, which opens the door to the future. He added that the members of the University of Defence accepted with full dedication their task and mission, but also intensive work on finding and preparing legislative solutions that would allow the academic work and results to be properly evaluated.

- Thanks to the military aspect of the organization and the existing educational resources, the University of Defence is now a reliable partner in the academic community of our country. We have fully completed the constitutive phase and entered the development phase of the University. During the last year, our 19 members defended their doctoral dissertations, 30 new professors were elected and the work on 40 research projects and many educational publications is getting to an end. Also, all other modern preconditions have been created and the highest academic standards have been provided, starting from distance learning to IT and electronic support in teaching and management, providing a more rational use of working time, teaching potentials and material resources, Rector of the University of Defence pointed out.

General Jevtic said that the University is very active on the project for improvement of military education in the Partnership for Peace, that it has more than 100 students from other countries in the various forms of education and that there are 15 rectors and leading people of the universities from eight countries of the region and Europe with us today.

In the accompanying program of the ceremony, performers were the choir of cadets of the Military Academy, "Stanislav Binički" Art Ensemble and vocalist Alex Vasic. the Actors from the TV series "Military Academy" Ivan Mihajlovic and Bojan Peric uttered monologues of General Frantisek Zach and General Academician Prof. Dr. Isidor Papo, eminent personalities and founders of a decades-long educational process of our armed forces, while members of Cultural Artistic Group "Lazar Hrebeljanović" performed a combination of dances from Serbia.

The Belgrade University of Defence was founded by the Government of the Republic of Serbia on 24 February 2011.