Nis Philosophy Faculty Unpaid Since July 20, Rally Thursday

Staff at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Nis will gather on Thursday, October 1, at 11 a.m., just before the new generation of students receives their student record books. They were last paid on July 20, which makes 72 days without a salary as of today. The Ministry of Education has also stopped paying the health insurance contributions of the faculty’s employees.

The employees called the gathering symbolic and said:

“With this symbolic gathering we want to show that, despite everything, the Faculty of Philosophy exists and works. We have been working for more than 70 days without pay, but not a single day without students. Despite months of repression, we remain committed to our basic mission.”

They added that they will keep fighting for respect for the law, the preservation of university autonomy and academic integrity.

Why does the Nis Faculty of Philosophy have no appropriations?

Dean Vladimir Jovanovic told N1 last week that the faculty has been operating for 64 days without appropriations, meaning without approved funds to spend budget money, and that for this reason, among other things, salaries have not been paid since July 20. He explained how it came to this:

“At the end of June we noticed that, as the only faculty of the University of Nis, the Faculty of Philosophy had not been granted appropriations for the next six months so that it could function normally, in terms of material costs but also the salaries of employees for all the work that was duly carried out.”

Jovanovic said the faculty sent letters to the ministry every three to four days, asking for written instructions on how to remove the reasons why the funds were not approved. According to him, there was no reply until August 20, when an email arrived from an unsigned official of the Sector for Higher Education and Finance. The dean says it states that there are reasons why the appropriations were not approved, and that the Faculty of Philosophy and the University of Nis must act in line with the Serbian Government’s decision of November 6, 2025. On July 17, before the summer break, the dean had warned employees that this could last the whole summer.

Jovanovic assesses the link between that decision and the money for salaries this way:

“So two incompatible things have been tied together: the payment of salaries, the approval of appropriations for work that has been done, and something that is a formal matter, something that concerns the organization of the statute of the University of Nis and the Faculty of Philosophy.”

What did the court order, and what did the faculty file?

According to the dean, the faculty filed a lawsuit against the Ministry of Education over a decision that, without proper justification, withholds part of the coefficients for 39 employees. Alongside it, a criminal complaint against Education Minister Dejan Vuk Stankovic for exceeding official authority was filed with the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office in Belgrade.

Jovanovic also mentioned an interim measure that the Administrative Court ordered on the decision on the operating license of the Faculty of Serbian Studies and on the amendment of the Faculty of Philosophy’s license. N1 reports that this refers to the government’s decision to split the departments of history, Serbian studies and Russian language off from the Nis Faculty of Philosophy and to establish a Faculty of Serbian Studies. The Administrative Court ordered an interim measure that halts that decision, not a final ruling.

The faculty, the dean says, has met with understanding from colleagues and the wider public, who offered solidarity assistance of a financial nature to the most vulnerable employees. A letter was also sent to the National Bank of Serbia, asking it to use its influence or suggestions to help commercial banks ease the situation for employees with loan installments they cannot repay.

What did the minister say about the salaries?

Education Minister in a caretaker mandate Dejan Vuk Stankovic recently said that the employees are not receiving pay because they did not obey the Serbian Government, and he threatened them with the “thicker end” and with inspections. As far as the editorial office knows, the Ministry of Education has not published a reaction to the dean’s claims about the August 20 email and the lawsuit.

The gathering is set for Thursday at 11 a.m., before the new generation of students receives their record books.