The College of Sports and Health (hereinafter: the College) is the only educational institution in Serbia that primarily focuses on „the dissemination of knowledge and skills of students and society in general“, all in compliance with the Law on Higher Education of the Republic of Serbia (Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, No. 88 / 17, Article 95), which clearly defines that the College organizes and performs studies in the Serbian language. The College, therefore, has a serious responsibility to promote the preservation and the development of the Serbian language, and to ensure it is used in all academic fields of its operation. At the same time, the College, as a member of the academic community, actively participates in many international scientific-technical and technical-business activities, such as conferences, congresses and other international events, with which it strives to improve its international visibility.
The basic principle of the College Language Policy is to support the Serbian language as the written and spoken language used for the teaching process, research or administration, and as the institution’s official language. The Serbian language is the fundamental language used in all processes carried out in the College, unless special circumstances require otherwise, which is also in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia („Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia” no.83/06, Art. 10), in which it is clearly defined that the official language is Serbian and the Cyrillic script, while the official use of other languages and letters is regulated by law, in line with the Constitution.
Policy of the use of the Serbian language
- The standard of the written and spoken Serbian language used in the College shall be suitable for students and staff. The teaching staff and students shall be able to receive advice regarding the language or other specialized guidelines concerning the presentation of materials in the Serbian language. This kind of advice, for example, can be provided by the College professors who teach language-related subjects.
- The Serbian language is fully represented in the College, and international students shall be able to take exams in Serbian in accordance with their abilities, however, without changing the program of the course, but rather with the help of the teaching staff in mastering the material in the Serbian language.
- Serbian is the official language of basic and specialist studies for all study programs in the College.
- Special support in mastering the Serbian language shall be available to exchange students. The College shall also define the minimum requirements for the knowledge of the English language for exchange students.
- Teaching staff shall be encouraged to transfer their knowledge to students and the public in Serbian, using their books, articles, teaching materials, etc. Academic books and articles in journals, as well as research papers in Serbia are subject to the Rulebook for Evaluating Published Scientific Results, accepted in Serbia.
- The teaching staff is encouraged to help create Serbian terminology in their academic field, and to transfer this terminology to students and the public. Some subjects and disciplines should involve a systematic creation of the terminology and vocabulary in their respective domains. However, in accordance with the internationalization policy, it is planned to encourage the teaching staff to translate their teaching material into English.
- All meetings and other activities within the College are conducted in the Serbian language. The College Management shall ensure that these activities, directed towards teachers and other staff, are in accordance with the language policy of the College.
- Written documents within the College administration, such as the official information issued by the College or its services (meeting notes, meeting records, lecture invitations, event information, etc.), are in Serbian. When necessary, at a personal request of a student and a teacher, documents of personal importance can be translated into English.
Policy of the use of other languages
In accordance with its mission, vision and fundamental goals, the College directs its activities to continuously generate, implement and share knowledge with other members of the academic community, both in the national and international environment, despite potential language barriers. In order to promote multilingualism for the general social, intellectual and cultural development, as well as to eliminate language barriers, all the languages and dialects of the Balkan region are recognized in the communication during the educational and research process. This indicates embracing of the attitude that, due to the understandability and similarity of regional languages, Croatian, Bosnian, Montenegrin and Macedonian are accepted as communication languages, including all local dialects.
On the other hand, English language, too, holds great importance for the work of the College. The importance of English for the teaching staff of the School in the exchange of knowledge and research activities, the presence of students from the region and potential international students, the participation of the College in various forms of international cooperation, is a critical factor in its active role in international research projects, knowledge exchange and the strategy of its internationalization.
In order to ensure and develop internationalization, the College dedicates special attention to the curriculum and research development program in English, which means promoting the use of English in academic and vocational domains in which Serbian is currently dominant. English is present in the curricula for all study programs. In addition to English, students are also able to choose Spanish as an elective course.
All students, teachers and employees who are willing to participate in certain mobility programs need to prove their language knowledge and skills. In this respect, one of the key objectives is that, in the process of staff selection, the College selects teaching and non-teaching staff that possesses the appropriate level of knowledge and skills of the English language, but also to continually encourage the improvement of their ability to communicate in English. The College also encourages the students and its teaching staff to use foreign languages other than English when using scientific literature and in their work in general, whenever possible.
Due to all of the above, and in order to ensure international visibility, the College shall provide all relevant information about its activities in Serbian and English on its webpage (skola@vss.edu.rs).
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