Surviving and Thriving in Times of Change: A View from Serbia

During The Asian Conference on Education 2018 (ACE2018), held in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday, October 14, 2018, Professor Ljiljana Markovic, Dean of the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade was interviewed by prominent Serbian journalist, Svetlana Grubor, of Pinkova TV.

The interview followed Professor Markovic’s appearance on a panel on leadership and innovation in education at this the 10th Asian Conference on Education. Professor Markovic has been one of the most prominent exponents of internationalization at the University of Belgrade; an essential part of the nation’s redevelopment after the troubles in the former Yugoslavia at the turn of the century.

A widening gap between students and teachers

In the interview, Professor Markovic advances the need for changes to teaching paradigms in order to maintain high levels of education. She points out that in times of rapid technological progress, current educational systems are revealing a widening gap between students and teachers. The recognition of students as autonomous participants in the educational process necessitates a re-thinking of existing educational and research models.

In these times of rapid change and technological advance, it is not easy to follow the steps of progress, but without investing efforts in following technological progress, we will not be able to continue researching in the way we would like to.

And as for our function ... it is to help our students, digital natives, to select the most important and consequential literature and to use the digital world to the utmost.


Professor Markovic introduces the IAFOR Research Centre based at Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Osaka University, and describes how it promotes cooperation between researchers from all over the world.

She goes on to explain how, as an active member of IAFOR, the University of Belgrade in Serbia heads the way and has already produced a publication used at over 50 universities worldwide. The textbook for learning Kanji, authored by Prof. Marković and her associates, is a great example of what can happen when change is embraced as an incentive for advancement.

In English

In Serbian

Intervju sa prof. dr Ljiljanom Marković, dekanom Filološkog fakulteta Univerziteta u Beogradu

U doba brzog tehnološkog napretka, sadašnji sistemi obrazovanja otkrivaju sve veći jaz između studenata i nastavnika. Prof. Ljiljana Marković, dekan Filološkog fakulteta Univerziteta u Beogradu, u ovom intervjuu zagovara potrebu da se pedagoške paradigme menjaju kako bi se održao visok nivo obrazovanja. Prepoznavanje činjenice da su studenti autonomni učesnici u obrazovnom procesu povlači za sobom potrebu da se analiziraju postojeći obrazovni i istraživački modeli. IAFOR, sa istraživačkim sedištem u Univerzitetu Osaka u Japanu, promoviše saradnju između naučnika i nastavnika svuda u svetu i nalazi se na čelu ovih novih tendencija. Kao aktivni član IAFORa, Univerzitet u Beogradu predstavlja uzor koji treba slediti, a to potvrđuje činjenica da je pod pokroviteljstvom UB već izdata publikacija koja se koristi na oko 50 univerziteta u svetu. Udžbenik za učenje kanđija, koji je napisala prof. Marković sa saradnicima, izvanredan je primer onoga što može da se desi kada se promene prihvate kao podstrek za napredak.


About ACE

The Asian Conference on Education is one of the largest international interdisciplinary academic conferences in Asia, and includes The Asian Undergraduate Research Symposium (AURS). All the student presenters at AURS2018 had the chance to attend other academic sessions at ACE2018 as an observer on Saturday the 13th and Monday the 15th of October.

The online version of the Conference Programme is now available to view below via the Issuu viewing platform. The Conference Programme can also be viewed on the Issuu website (requires a web browser). An Issuu app is available for Android users. Alternatively, download a PDF version.

Posted by IAFOR