Gathered in four consortia selected at a public competition implemented by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development according to the idea of the “Digital Serbia” Initiative, 13 state faculties from Belgrade, Kragujevac and Nis embarked on the process of accreditation of these programmes, upon whose completion the enrolment of 140 students is envisaged.
Prime Minister Ana Brnabic stressed at a press conference that “Master 4.0” is the result of choosing the best content of existing programmes that meets the needs of the IT services market and providing the conditions for further growth of the IT sector.
For the first time, our faculties do not act as competitors but as partner institutions, and most of them are practitioners who will transfer knowledge to students and familiarise them with the use of state-of-the-art technologies and methods applied in the economy, Brnabic explained.
The Prime Minister said that she expects these programmes to provide high-quality staff who will be able to create a competitive advantage for IT companies operating in Serbia, which will ensure further growth of the IT industry.
These four study programmes were created through the collaboration of state faculties that bring a decades-long tradition in technology, economics and management with more than 75 successful IT and companies from other sectors, who will participate in teaching and provide compulsory internships for students.
“Master 4.0” programmes were jointly created by Belgrade's Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Faculty of Organisational Sciences, followed by the University of Kragujevac, the University of Nis, and there is also a programme developed jointly by the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics in Belgrade.
State Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development Viktor Nedovic said that these programmes were created through the dialogue between universities and the economy.
First of all, we listened to the needs of the economy, and the idea was to help the development of IT professionals that Serbia lacks. However, these are not just information technology programmes, but also programmes that need to enhance both business and knowledge in the fields of economics, finance, and law, Nedovic said.
“Master 4.0” programmes will cover areas such as data analytics, bioinformatics, Internet of Things, machine learning, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, as well as business subjects such as management, finance and accounting, marketing, entrepreneurship.
Some of the IT companies that are participating in the programme implementation are Microsoft, Comtrade, Infostud, Symphony, Siemens, Endava, Levi9, SAP, Saga, while some of the companies involved in other sectors are Telecom Serbia, Coca-Cola Hellenic, Metalac, EY, Raiffeisen bank and NIS.