BELGRADE: A large group of several hundred students gathered on Friday in central Belgrade to protest high tuition fees. They started the walk at one of the main city squares, Slavija, and moved down along Nemanjina street to the building of the Ministry of Education. Carrying signs “We study, you profit,” students demanded that the state cover tuition for all those who have more than 48 credits, cancellation of GPA-based ranking system for enrolling in classes next year and limiting maximum tuition fee for studying to three average monthly salaries in Serbia. The group, comprised mostly of philology, social sciences, economy and architecture students occupied the area in front of the Ministry of Education for a short time where their representatives were met by the deputy Minister of Education Slobodan Jaukovic. The students' representatives expressed their frustration with the dismissive attitude the Deputy Minister Jaukovic took towards their demands. Members of the Student Parliament denied that any of student demands were met adding that the students will organize another protest in a couple of weeks if the government officials do not come with a solution for their grievances. After they had talked to the deputy Minister of Education, the students continued the walk to the building of the Government located half a kilometer down the street where they finished the protest. This was not the first time in last couple of months that the students have met to put forward their grievances pointing at the high price of studying and the low demand for fresh graduates in the labor market. Just a couple of days ago over 300 students from the Nis University organized the protest in that city in eastern Serbia voicing similar demands. Students from other universities have also been preparing protests and demonstrations with Facebook being used as the single most important means to share the information. BM
