Centre for Civic Education (CCE) warns that the University of Montenegro (UoM) has for years allocated and disbursed significant funds to the Student Parliament of the University of Montenegro (SPUoM), without a clearly established system for monitoring how those funds are spent.
According to data provided by UoM to CCE in accordance with the Law on Free Access to Information, more than EUR 1.35 million was allocated for the financing of SPUoM between 2020 and November 2025 — EUR 190,400 in both 2020 and 2021, EUR 230,000 in 2022, EUR 255,000 in 2023, EUR 261,500 in 2024, and EUR 227,971.90 in 2025, in addition to a further EUR 75,000 allocated for material expenses. However, there is no evidence that UoM monitors how SPUoM spends these funds after they are disbursed, nor whether they are used for their intended purposes.
CCE additionally requested from UoM, alongside data on the allocated amounts, documentation that would clarify how exactly these funds were spent, including periodic and final reports on the work of SPUoM. Instead of providing answers, UoM and SPUoM shifted responsibility back and forth, in a manner resembling institutional ping-pong that leaves the public without key information.
Namely, the Rector of UoM, Prof. Vladimir Božović, rejected this part of the request, stating that UoM was not in possession of the requested information, while referring to the autonomy of the Student Parliament. UoM subsequently forwarded the request to SPUoM for further action. However, the President of SPUoM, Jakov Vukčević, stated in a letter to CCE that SPUoM’s financial reports form an integral part of UoM’s consolidated financial report adopted by the UoM Board of Directors, additionally noting that “the University is in possession of these data”. Thus, instead of receiving documentation on the specific expenditure of more than EUR 1.35 million, CCE received mutual referrals between UoM and SPUoM. This also raises the question of whether this is a coordinated approach by Božović and Vukčević aimed at concealing information.
CCE subsequently addressed both UoM and SPUoM again, requesting documentation that would provide insight into the legal basis for these payments, individual decisions and contracts, as well as financial reports with clearly presented items relating to allocated and spent funds. The fact that UoM forwarded the request to SPUoM does not exempt SPUoM from its legal obligation to act upon it, particularly given that the requested documentation concerns the management of public funds by this organisation.
It is particularly problematic that the submitted documentation contains no information indicating that UoM, as the institution that has for years allocated and disbursed these funds, systematically verifies their expenditure before approving new payments. Basic principles of financial accountability and public fund management require that each budget item be accompanied by clear and verifiable information on how the money was spent and whether it was used for the purposes for which it was allocated.
It is additionally concerning that students and the broader public have no means of determining whether the funds allocated to SPUoM over the years were genuinely used for the needs and interests of the student community, or primarily for a narrow circle of student structures and individuals, nor whether any oversight mechanism exists at all.
CCE recalls that the autonomy of the Student Parliament, prescribed under Article 120 of the Law on Higher Education, does not imply exemption from accountability in the management of public funds. Student bodies are autonomous in their work, but the public funds they manage are not exempt from oversight and transparency obligations. Students, in whose name this money is spent, are the first who have the right to know how it is being used.
CCE calls on UoM and SPUoM to, without further shifting of responsibility, urgently submit the requested documentation and publicly disclose all relevant financial reports and acts based on which these funds are allocated and spent. Transparency in the management of public funds must be the foundation of responsible conduct by every public institution, and UoM must teach such standards younger generations.
Jovana Radulović, Programme Assistant