Serbia

The Ministry of Education has primary administrative responsibility for Serbia's basic education system and for the secondary and tertiary levels of instruction as well. At the federal level, the Rectors' Conference of Yugoslavia seated in Belgrade also formulates and administers education policy and practices. In 1998 public expenditures on education and training in Serbia amounted to US$621 million or about 3.8 percent of the known GDP. About 40.4 percent of government expenditures covered net salaries while about 2.2 percent went to investments, 11.2 percent covered school equipment, 29.5 percent paid for social allowances, and 16.7 percent covered other education-related expenses. Of all funds spent on education, 46.5 percent were allocated for basic education, 25.3 percent for secondary education, and 28.2 percent for education at the tertiary level. The government ministry responsible for social and family care and for welfare provided the state contribution to preprimary education: one year of preschool for all six year olds (three hours per day) and preschool education for children without parents, children with emotional or behavioral problems, and children hospitalized for long periods. Municipal authorities and parents covered daycare costs for preprimary children.

Despite the international sanctions imposed on the former Yugoslavia beginning in 1991 in response to "ethnic cleansing" in the Balkans, certain international donors provided substantial educational support to Serbia by the late 1990s. This preceded the more sizable promise of international development funds at the June 2001 international donors conference for the former Yugoslavia held in Brussels. For example, UNICEF alone gave US$1.4 million in 1998, $2.4 million in 1999, and about $4.0 million in 2000 to make emergency repairs on school buildings and heating facilities and to provide books for school libraries, clothing and shoes for children, preprimary equipment and toys, and in-service teacher training in Serbia.

The Ministry of Education of the Interim Government of Kosova and the Department of Education and Science of the UN Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK) handle educational administration. The Department of Education and Science pays salaries financed mainly by international donors, based on criteria established for the "consolidated budget" for Kosovo. Some educational institutions are directly funded by agencies and nongovernmental organizations or generate their own revenue (e.g., by renting out their facilities), while others receive modest funds from the consolidated budget to cover basic operating expenses. Public spending on education in February 2000 amounted to about 28 percent of all public spending in Kosovo. Regarding the division of funds across the various education levels, about 5 percent of the public funds used for education went to preschool programming, 65 percent covered primary education, 19 percent covered secondary education, and 11 percent went to higher education. In the year 2000, major grants from international donors to finance school reconstruction amounted to US$36.6 million with the Japanese government and UNICEF together providing US$8 million, the International Development Bank and Danida (the Danish government agency for international development assistance) each providing US$6 million, and ECHO providing $7 million. Other contributors giving between US$1 million and $2.5 million in 2000 included SDC, CIDA, the British Red Cross, UNDP, and DRA in collaboration with OxFam.