Word by the Rector
The University of Belgrade celebrates September 13th as its anniversary, in remembrance of the day when, lectures started at the College in Belgrade in 1808.
The College (Visoka skola) was founded by Dositej Obradovic (1739-1811), during a short period of calm after fierce battles with the Turks in those days, and with the aim of legally educating future civil servants.
Dositej Obradovic later founded Theological Seminary (Bogoslovija) in 1810. After the Turks had burned down the magnificent Library of the School in Belgrade (1813), a retreat to Kragujevac ensued. It is there where the Lyceum (Licej) was founded in 1838. In 1841 the Lyceum was transferred to Belgrade, and in 1863 it was transformed into the Higher School (Velika skola). With three faculties within the Higher School, namely the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Philosophy and the Technical Faculty, the Higher School was moved to the edifice that one of the most prominent Serbs of the day, Captain Misa Anastasijevic, had endowed to his fatherland.
In 1905 the first University Law was passed, thus transforming the Higher School into the University of Belgrade. The Law of 1905 guaranteed the University its autonomy, claiming that “teachers have freedom of expression”. It was in this way that the University of Belgrade had grown from the College with only a core of 20 students, into a higher education institution, with three faculties, 34 teachers and 788 students it had in 1905. Ever since then, the University has been constantly developing, thus turning into the biggest and oldest higher education institution in the region, consisting of 31 faculties, 11 scientific research institutes, a University Library and six University Centers, with almost 90 000 students and 7 000 professors, researchers and teaching associates, who comprise the major part of the educational and scientific potential of Serbia.
After the World War II, the University of Belgrade became alma mater of almost all Universities in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia.
During the two centuries of its existence the University of Belgrade has served its people, and its former students and teachers have greatly contributed towards the development of cultural, scientific, educational, political and economical life of our country.
The University of Belgrade is prepared to maintain and improve its position as the leading higher education institution both in the country and in the region, by preserving what is worthy in its tradition and what makes it recognizable as a national brand, and also by adapting to the challenges of the present day.
