Violence against women and teaching at higher education institutions in Serbia

The paper has two aims. It aims to present first steps in introducing the topic of violence against women in higher education institutions in Serbia as well as to present results of exploratory research about the current situation regarding the place that violence against women as a topic has in teaching at the selected higher education institutions in Serbia. In the first part of the paper, the first time inclusion of this topic in one criminology textbook and the syllabi at the Law Faculty (University of Niš) in 1998, and later (2004) at the Faculty for special education and rehabilitation - FASPER (University of Belgrade) is described. The importance of the cooperation of the author of this paper and professor Slobodanka Konstantinović Vilić, persons and circumstances that were beneficial for their ideas to be realized, as well as further development of teaching about violence against women at these faculties is emphasized. In the second part of the paper current state of teaching about violence against women at the Law Faculty (University of Niš) and FASPER is examined within a larger context of the situation at similar faculties in Serbia. The analysis is focused on the visibility of the violence against women topic in the syllabi of the faculties of three state universities: University of Belgrade, University of Niš and University of Novi Sad. Apart from the Niš Law Faculty and FASPER, the analysis included the law faculties of the University of Belgrade and University of Novi Sad, as well as Special education and rehabilitation studies at the Faculty of Medicine in Novi Sad. The analysis is based on the data contained in the syllabi (undergraduate, master and doctoral level) that were available online on the internet sites of the given faculties in October 2018. Qualitative analysis of the syllabi was performed. It included the following data: course title, goals, outcomes, content and reading materials. The results suggest that violence against women topic is included in teaching at the majority of the ...