Serbia is a multi-party parliamentary democracy.
According to the 2006 Constitution of the Republic of Serbia, ”Republic of Serbia is a state of Serbian people and all citizens who live in it, based on the rule of law and social justice, principles of civil democracy, human and minority rights and freedoms, and commitment to European principles and values” (Article 1).
Legislative power (Articles 98-110)
The National Assembly is the supreme representative body and holder of constitutional and legislative power in the Republic of Serbia. It consists of 250 deputies, who are elected proportionally on direct elections by secret ballot, on 4 years term. By means of majority votes of all deputies, the National Assembly elects the President who presides over the sessions and one or more Vice Presidents of the National Assembly.
All decisions are made by majority vote of deputies at the session at which majority of deputies are present, except for amending the Constitution, when two thirds majority is needed.
A right to propose laws, as well as other regulations and general acts have every deputy, the Government, assemblies of provinces or at least 30,000 voters. (Article 107)
“Upon the request of the majority of all deputies or at least 100,000 voters, the National Assembly calls the referendum on issues falling within its competence.” (Article 108)
Executive power (Article 122-135)
The Government is the holder of executive power in the Republic of Serbia. The Government consists of the Prime Minister, one or more Vice Presidents and ministers. The Prime Minister is the head of government. Ministers accounts for their work and situation within the competence of their ministries to the Prime Minister, Government and National Assembly.
The Government accounts to the National Assembly for the policy of the Republic of Serbia, for enforcement of laws and other general acts of the National Assembly, as well as for the work of the public administration bodies.
The President (Article 111-121)
In accordance with the Constitution, the President of the Republic shall express state unity of the Republic of Serbia.
The President of the Republic is elected on direct elections, by secret ballot, to a 5 year term and is limited by the Constitution to a maximum of two terms.
Territorial organisation
Local self-government units have the status of legal entities. They autonomously regulate the organisation and competences of its bodies and public services.
Local self-government units are municipalities (150 municipalities), towns (23 towns) and the City of Belgrade. The basic level of self-government is municipality.
City territories have more than 100,000 inhabitants. They are similar to municipalities - each has an assembly, a mayor and a budget of its own. They are usually divided into "city municipalities".
Education in Serbia is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of Republic of Serbia.
Pursuant to Article 14 of the Law on Ministries (2014), “the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development performs activities of the state administration relating to: research, planning and development of the preschool, primary, secondary and higher education as well as student standard; supplementary education for children of Serbian nationals abroad; administrative supervision in pre-school, primary, secondary and higher education and student standard; participation in the construction, equipping and maintenance of facilities for preschool, elementary, secondary and higher education and student standard of the interest for the Republic of Serbia; expert-pedagogic supervision in pre-school, primary and secondary education and student standard; organisation, evaluation of work and supervision of the training of employees in education; validation and equivalence of public documents obtained abroad; improvement of social care for gifted students; improvement of social care for students with special needs, creating the conditions for access to and implementation of projects within the competence of the Ministry funded by the EU IPA funds, donations and other forms of development assistance, as well as other duties specified by law.”
The Ministry is structured in the following manner and it organises the work through sectors that are responsible for certain levels and aspects of education:
- Department for Preschool and Primary Education;
- Department for Secondary Education and Adult Education;
- Department for International Cooperation and European Integrations;
- Department for Education Development and Higher Education;
- Department for Students’ Standards and Investments;
- Department for Legal Issues;
- Department for Finances;
- Department for Inspection Issues;
- Department for Science;
- Department for Technological Development, Transfer of Technologies and Innovation System.
For regulation of the education, the following laws are relevant:
- Law on Amendments to the Law on Higher Education
- Law on Higher Education
- Law on Secondary School
- Law on the Education System Foundations
- Law on Students' Standard
- Law on Adult Education
- Law on Secondary Education
- Law on Primary Education
- Law on Textbooks
- Law on Pre-School Education
- Law on Educational Inspection
- Law on the National Qualification Framework of the Republic of Serbia (NQF)
The Institute for Education Quality and Evaluationis a body established by the Government with the aim of evaluation of education and providing recommendations for the provision of the system of quality education. Key activities of the Institute are defining standards in education, evaluation of education, and training participants in the education system.
The Commission for Accreditation and Quality Assurance is in charge of ensuring the quality of higher education. Its aim is to contribute to maintaining and improvement of the quality of higher education as well as the compliance of the education system with internationally recognised standards.