OSCE Mission presents findings of feasibility study for academic police studies in Montenegro
An OSCE-supported feasibility study for academic police studies according to the Bologna Standards of Academic Education, which evaluates the potential for the success and sustainability of the current Montenegrin police education system, was presented at a workshop hosted by the OSCE Mission and the Police Academy of Montenegro on 14 December 2017 in Podgorica.
The study was conducted with a view to aligning police education at the Police Academy with the Bologna academic standards. The aim is to develop a plan to revise the police education system identified as a crucial area of the reform within the ongoing restructuring of the police service in the 2018-2019 Police Development Strategy Action Plan. The expert, Ljubiša Pejović, presented three different models for re-organizing the Academy to participants from the Interior Ministry, the Education Ministry, the Police Academy and the Police Directorate.
The State Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior, Dragan Pejanović, stressed the importance of effective human resources management: “The system must be based on modern criteria for admission, selection, education and career advancement, to enable competitiveness among police personnel based on competences and work results, leading to a high level of professionalism, responsibility and loyalty to the services and the state.”
“Given the importance of security issues and the education of police officers, we realized that consideration should be given to the establishment of a higher education institution in the field of police education in the foreseeable future,” said the Director of the Police Academy, Boban Šaranović.
Christel Monod, Programme Co-ordinator in the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, said that while significant progress has been made, further steps must be taken to align the competencies and legal and normative frameworks of the relevant ministries, the Police Directorate and the Academy.
“The Police Academy has a leading role to play in providing police education, which should be recognized in the region and by international partners as an accredited police educational institution. The Mission will work to ensure that the enhancement of police training, education and academic studies is done in accordance with the Bologna standards of academic education,” Monod said.
The feasibility study was developed under the OSCE project “Development of the educational system, training and skills of the Police Academy and security sector agencies”.