EXPERIENCES WITH INTRODUCTION OF APPLIED MASTER DEGREE IN THE SCHOOL OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING OF APPLIED STUDIES IN BELGRADE

Rapid development of electrical and computer engineering field has posed requirements for improving and broadening educational offer in this filed. While higher level of educational degrees such as academic master and doctoral studies are well established in the Republic of Serbia, master of applied (professional) studies has been introduced by the Law on Higher Education for the first time in September 2014. The School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Applied Studies in Belgrade (VISER) has been among the first higher educational institutions in Serbia that has accredited applied master study programmes and started their implementation in 2017. VISER has over forty years of experience and tradition in teaching in the field of electrical engineering. It has continuously evolved over time and it has grown in the well-established institution in The Republic of Serbia offering specializations in fields of power engineering, electronics, control systems, signal processing and telecommunications, computer engineering and audio and video technologies. The general characteristics of schools of applied studies is that most students are finding jobs after bachelor degree. That is, the schools of applied studies are educating students for professional practice. However as the complexity of engineering tasks rises the need for improving knowledge as well as degrees emerges, which is recognized by both students and industry. Industry trends and labor market needs were important aspects that were considered when designing applied master studies programmes in VISER. This paper describes motives for introducing the applied master degree in VISER, the aims of the applied master studies programmes, general principles and model of the programmes and present experiences with the implementation of these studies. We also briefly present and analyze student survey results regarding their background and motivations for enrolling new applied master degrees as well as on their evaluation of programme.