О ПРОБЛЕМИМА ДРЖАВНОГ СТИПЕНДИРАЊА У СРБИЈИ ДРУГЕ ПОЛОВИНЕ XIX ВЕКА: СТУДИЈА СЛУЧАЈА СИМЕ ЛОЗАНИЋА И МИЛОША ЂУРИЋА
ON THE PROBLEMS OF STATE SCHOLARSHIPS IN SERBIA IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY: A CASE STUDY OF SIMA LOZANIĆ AND MILOŠ ĐURIĆ

Summary/Abstract: Beginning in 1839, the Serbian state administration awarded scholarships to candidates for study abroad, with the aim of training professionals for government administration and public services. However, shortcomings in the scholarship system, made the process inefficient. Scholarship holders often transferred to different universities and chose subjects of study that were not specified in their scholarship terms, often not even in the same scientific field for which they were supposed to be educated. As a result, state priorities, presumably assessed as urgent when the scholarships were granted, were not adequately met. The conditions for obtaining scholarships were gradually specified, and by 1868 at the latest, measures were introduced against the arbitrary actions of scholarship holders in choosing their study fields. The cases of Sima Lozanić and Miloš Đurić – both of whom received scholarships to study pedagogy but primarily studied the natural sciences between 1868 and 1872 – demonstrate that earlier issues had not been resolved. Scholarship holders still had an autonomy in choosing their study programs, often without facing consequencesThere were other significant problems in the scholarship policy. The Ministry of Education, responsible for overseeing Lozanić’s and Đurić’s studies, was not adequately informed about the faculties to which it was sending its students. Lozanić and Đurić were sent to Küsnacht in Switzerland at a time when this institution offered no courses in pedagogy and related disciplines. The mistake was corrected in an unexpected way: with the Ministry’s subsequent approval, they transferred to Zurich, where they began studying natural sciences. This was considered a temporary solution until the appropriate courses in Küsnacht began. Despite warnings and the risk of losing their scholarships, both continued to focus primarily on the natural sciences. To conceal their divergence from official plans, they delayed submitting reports or did not send them at all. This was made possible by the fact that the Ministry did not regularly request reports, although monitoring the use of scholarships was based on them. From the Ministry’s perspective, administrative failures did not jeopardize the broader goal of the scholarships. Since there was a shortage of staff in almost all fields, scholarship holders who arbitrarily chose study programs were still filling urgent personnel gaps – in the case of Lozanić and Đurić, in education. Upon completing his studies, Đurić was appointed as a teaching assistant at the newly opened Teachers’ College. He taught natural sciences, not pedagogy and related disciplines which was the original purpose of his scholarshp. Having published a paper in a German scientific journal, Lozanić was granted permission to extend his studies and reorient towards chemistry. Despite the shortage of staff, after the scholarship holder had returned to Serbia, the Ministry did not reassign him in a timely manner, which can be seen as another failure of the Ministry. Upon returning to Serbia, Lozanić was unemployed for three months, despite the fact that the Teachers’ College needed instructors with his qualifications. As the financier of his education, the Ministry neither insisted nor, perhaps, even offered him a position at the institution. He was eventually appointed professor of chemistry at the Advanced School.

• Details
• Contents