Belgrade Open School celebrated eighteenth birthday
Belgrade Open School celebrated its 18th birthday with its lecturers, students and associates at a reception at Dom Vojske Srbije on 10th November 2011. Since its foundation in 1993, Belgrade Open School has actively contributed to the overall development of the society through additional education and training of the agents of social changes, as well as the professional support to institutions and research and development of public policies, with the aim of creating a modern society based on democratic values.
''Today, the School has come of age on which eighteen generations of carefully chosen students have worked,'' said professor Čedomir Čupić, the director of the BOS Board, in the speech he delivered to the audience, adding that each generation endowed the School with part of itself and made a solid foundation for the generations to come. ''Use the knowledge and skills you posses to improve and advance yourself, as well as the society you live in,'' professor Čupić pointed out.
On this ocassion, the audience was greeted by Mrs Vesna Đukić, the general director of Belgrade Open School. She pointed out that, in the past eighteen years, Belgrade Open School has educated itself as well as others, created a spiritual and knowledgeable elite, agents of social changes. ''We have learned and educated others on how to acquire knowledge and skills, and helped individuals and institutions to strenghten their capacities and change themselves as well as others. We have adopted and shared European standards and values, advanced public policies, established partnerships. We have researched the role of religion, learned about others and their diversity has enriched us. We have prompted and promoted the usage of information technologies, youth activism, and we created and developed career guidance and counselling. We have advocated and contributed to the advancement of the education system, professional training and employability. We have helped the best students to continue their education in the country, as well as abroad'' Mrs Đukić highlighted. She added that, at the onset of adulthood, Belgrade Open School would dedicate itself to tackling the issues of the future that avaited us, identifying the problems and challenges our society would have to face and the ways to solve them. ''In the following period, we will direct the majority of our activities to the attempt to find the answers to these, and many other questions related to the issues Belgrade Open School is tackling, or to act timely and adequately,'' Vesna Djukić concluded.
A special part of the ceremony was organised to award diplomas to the students of the XVIII generation and to officially welcome the XIX generation of students from the Department for the Advanced Undergraduate Studies of Belgrade Open School.
Celebration of the adulthood of Belgrade Open School included five discussions within the programme called Facing the future in the first half of 2011, inttroduction of a new programme called The Studies of the Future, and the presentation of BOS new official website (www.bos.rs).