December 22^nd

Nis City Council Member for Sports and Youth met today with the students of the Nis Faculty of Economics who won the second place at the international marketing competition held in the Portuguese City of Porto and congratulated them on excellent placement in Porto and expressed the readiness of the city to recognize the work of young and talented people and help in accordance with the possibilities. The Delegation of the Nis students was also assisted by the Nis City Youth Office as well as some of the city’s public companies. In the competition of 37 teams, young team from Nis won the second place, and their work presented a good practice of using marketing tools on the example of a successful company from Nis.

December 9^th

Up to 20 children from Nis schools will take part in the competition Serbia in the Rhythm of Europe that will be organized next year. The meeting was held with the school directors at the City Hall in order to get acquainted with the competition rules and audition for the selection of the most talented children to represent Nis. According to the organizers, the auditions will be organized early next year, and immediately thereafter free training for the selected children. Nis City Council Member for Education Bojan Krstic said that our city had many talented children, that the selection of the best would not be an easy job, and expressed the hope that those children representing the Nis would master the tasks. “Given that Nis was selected to represent Turkey, I am sure this will be an easy task, because in our language there are many Turkish words. Also, we owe the Turkish ambassador’s gratitude for recommending our city to the organizers. Relations between Nis and Turkey’s representatives in Serbia have always been excellent and this is an ideal opportunity to connect culturally”, said Krstic.

December 9^th

In the presence of Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic and a large number of guests Special School Bubanj celebrated its day at the Nis City Hall. After screening a shorter film about the history of this school, the students had the opportunity to present some of the activities that were being realized in this school, such as a fashion magazine of t-shirts, made in the school, as well as the musical program that they prepared together with their teachers. Mayor Bulatovic, on this occasion, thanked the teachers in this school for everything they were doing for their students: “I am convinced that the teaching staff and all the employees of the Special School Bubanj are investing great love and understanding, unlimited patience, professional initiative, skill and talent, so that children could gain confidence in their abilities, built themselves as personalities, master knowledge and skills and satisfy the basic human need for self-realization.” He added that the local self-government is proud of what the Bubanj Special School was doing. “I am sure that each of us, whether he was different or not, should enjoy full and quality living in conditions that ensure dignity, promote self-confidence and facilitate active participation in the community. Our goal is to provide conditions for this, and I believe that, despite the difficulties, we will show that we are a society in which the equality of all citizens is guaranteed, “the Mayor said.

December 1^st

The European Delegation in Serbia presented a valuable gift to the University Library “Nikola Tesla” of 50 books of professional literature dealing with legal and scientific developments related to the functioning of the European Union. The donation was handed over to the Director of the Library, Zoran Zivkovic, by Michael Devenport, the Head of the European delegation in Serbia. This library, based on its literary and scientific material, is an important place for science and education in Nis and throughout southeastern Serbia. Nis City Deputy Mayor Prof.dr Milos Bandjur, also attended the ceremony, and on this occasion he emphasized the importance of this kind of literature, which would easily find its way to professors and students interested in studying the policy of the European Union, but also to all those of our fellow citizens who wanted to be informed about the European Union. It is very important that the academic community in Nis continues to cooperate with the Delegation of the European Union in Serbia in order to realize the foreign policy priority of our country, which implies future membership in the European Union.

November 18^th

Two students from each primary school from Nis that meet the criteria of the Promens Center, after the workshops that will be organized in schools, will be given the opportunity to attend the eight-month Suan Pan Program to strengthen the potential of children in the developmental period. According to Milica Vukotić Jildirim, the director of Promens Center, this center will donate two tuition fees for each school. According to her, the data show that, after 8 months of this school, the attention and memory of children increase for 86%. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic, who presented the vouchers for this program to the directors of the primary school, thanked Promens Center for this donation, but also the respective city administration for education which recognized the importance of this program for the development of children and contributed to the realization of this donation.

October 14^th

RS Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Zorana Mihajlovic, Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development Mladen Sarcevic and Minister of Youth and Sports Vanja Udovicic visited today the new building of the primary school “Ivo Andrić” in Nis. The director of this school, Milica Petkovic, introduced a high delegation of the Government of Serbia to the functioning of this school, which recently got a new facility with its modern teaching and well-equipped gym space. Minister Sarcevic announced that the weekly curricula would additionally be enriched with sports activities. Nis City Council Members Branislav Kacar and Bojan Krstic were also part of the delegation. This visit was the occasion for the ministers to hand over the sports requisites and balls that would be used in the regular classes.

October 14^th

RS Minister of Education, Science and Technological Development Mladen Sarcevic spoke today at the City Hall with the Nis City Deputy Mayor Prof. Dr. Milos Bandjur and his associates on the realization of projects of the highest importance for the city, university and school. One of the ministries’ priorities is the construction of the annex building at the Faculty of Electronic Engineering in Nis, where laboratories and scientific research centers for young scientists would be located. At the same time Minister Sarcevic announced an increase in student enrollment quotas for studies in the IT sector. The Minister also promised that the team of lawyers of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development would be determined. The minister announced new meetings with city officials to concretize co-operation in several fields.

October 3^rd

Nis City Deputy Mayor Milos Bandjur visited the students of the first year of the Nis Faculty of Law on the first day of the new school year. “You have chosen a faculty that is rather demanding, but it has a long tradition, and from these school benches bore successful lawyers, judges, professors and lawyers. A new stage in your life is before you, different from what you have before. Of course, student days bring many nice moments and hanging out with colleagues, new friendships are born that I believe will last for whole life. Standing here in front of you, I sincerely believe in fron of the future prominent members of this community, I have to remember the famous words saying, “Every man has two beginnings: the day when he was born, and the day he discovered why he was born. I am convinced that you now know very well why you were born and how you should shape your life in the future”, said Nis City Deputy Mayor on the occasion of the new school year beginning for Nis University students.

September 19^th

The certificates for successfully completed U-NI 2016 professional practice were awarded at Nis City Hall. U-NI Practice in 2016 is a project implemented by the City of Nis and the University of Nis, and was carried out by the City of Nis Youth Office. The project aimed to provide young people with the opportunity to acquire professional practice, to receive a certificate of practice that is recognized by the University of Nis as extracurricular activity and 3 additional ESP points, and recommendations by mentors that could serve for better positioning in the labor market.

The introductory speech was given by Stevan Zivkovic, the Head of the Youth Office of the City of Nis, who said that the practice was initiated for the second time with the help of the Youth Office and the City of Nis. The practice lasted for a month in the public sector, and in the future it was expected that more institutions would participate. This year there were 116 positions for interns, 53 applications and 48 selected candidates. Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatovic said that all this wasachieved due to the joint initiative and work of the institutions in Nis.

The Evaluation of the U-NI Practice Project in 2016 showed that students were extremely satisfied with this year’s practice, and public sector mentors had the expertise and goodwill to get into the work with their young colleagues. There is an idea that the following year, the duration of the practice will be extended, increasing the number of offered positions for practitioners, and potentially providing the practice in the private sector.

September 1^st

On the occasion of the beginning of new school year Nis City Mayor Darko Bulatović, together with Nis City Council Member for Education Mr. Bojan Krstic, visited the elementary schools in Nis – Ivo Andric, Njegos, Ucitelj Tasa as well as Primary School Lela Popovic in the village of Paligrace which is under construction. This year around 2,900 pupils was enrolled into first grade of the primary scool. The City of Nis provided presents for the new pupils. Mayor Bulatovic said that the beginning of new school year was an opportunity to discuss current problems with directors, teachers and parents in schools.