State-Signed Collapse The Serbian government is accused of systematically undermining the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Belgrade through legal challenges and pressure tactics. This has led to the removal of the dean, dismissals of professors, and a climate of fear, raising concerns about the faculty’s operational independence and its ability to function without essential teaching bases.

• The Serbian Ministry of Education is working on new laws to increase state control over universities, particularly impacting the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade.
• Dr. Marko Lens was appointed to key positions, allegedly to facilitate the removal of Dean Tatjana Simić, who had supported student protests and opposed government decrees.
• The Ethics Committee of Serbia (EOS), under Lens’s influence, issued an opinion against Professor Simić, despite the University’s Ethics Committee having jurisdiction.
• Several professors, including Olivera Kontić Vučinić and Oliver Stojković, face baseless investigations and accusations orchestrated through the EOS, with Lens’s digital signature appearing on related documents.
• There are concerns that the University Clinical Center and other teaching hospitals might terminate contracts with the Faculty of Medicine, which could lead to its closure.
• The faculty’s ability to function is dependent on its ‘teaching base’ – affiliated hospitals – and a potential new private medical school could replace it.