Competitiveness of art faculties in the higher education market from students' and professors' points of view

Abstract

Since the 1990s, when the private sector entered the sphere of education in Serbia, competition in the higher education market has intensified. Considering that two and a half decades have passed since the founding of the first private art faculties in the country and that there is a noticeable lack of works on this topic, a qualitative study of students and professors at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad (a public faculty) and at the Academy of Arts in Belgrade (a private faculty) has now been done. The main aim of this research is to determine the opinion of students and professors at these two faculties about the competitiveness of art faculties in the higher education market. The agenda for the interviews included two key topics - identification of the key criteria on the basis of which the target group of these faculties ( i.e., the customers) decides whether to enroll in a public or private art faculty and their evaluation of art studies (i.e., the product) as covering four research questions: assessment of study conditions, assessment of the quality of teaching at art faculties, assessment of criteria at those faculties, as well as the evaluation of obtainable diplomas.