About us

Academy of Applied Preschool Teaching and Health Studies is a public educational institution, established and financed by the Government of the Republic of Serbia.

PIC: 897588919; VAT: RS111540278; Erasmus code: RS KRUSEVA02; Legal Address: Balkanska 18, 3700, Krusevac

Academy was founded on July 5, 2019 by merging three Departments: Visoka škola strukovnih studija za vaspitače Kruševac (Preschool Teacher Trainer Department in Kruševac)- Ćirila i Metodija 22–24, Kruševac; Visoka medicinska škola strukovnih studija Ćuprija (Department of Applied Health Sciences Cuprija )- Lole Ribara 1/2 and Visoka škola za vaspitače strukovnih studija Aleksinac- Pivarska b.b. Aleksinac. As of Year 2023. Visoka škola tehničko-tehnoloških strukovnih studija (Department of Applied Chemical Technology Studies) also became a part of the Academy.

Prof. Zorica Dukovic, PhD is the legal representative of the new institution Akademija vaspitačko-medicinskih strukovnih studija.

Krusevac – Department of Applied Preschool Teaching Studies

The School was founded in 1948 in Kursumlija (as a Teacher Training School); it was moved to Krusevac in 1950, and since 1973 it has been training preschool teachers.

Since the academic year 2007/08, according to the decision of the Ministry of Education No 612-00-1209/2006-04, our school adopted the curricula in line with the Bologna Declaration and transformed itself into the Preschool Teacher Training Department in Krusevac.

Preschool Teacher Training Department Kruševac is located in central Serbia, in the town of Kruševac, some two-hundred kilometers from the country capital Belgrade. Although the Department has 70-year old tradition in educating school and preschool teachers, the education reform in the first decade of the 21st century introduced various challenges ahead of our institution. Thus, immediately upon the introduction of the Bologna Declaration the Department became focused on building the capacities which would create the foundation for the improvement of the quality of the teaching process and, consequently, learning outcomes. Having managed to build sufficient capacities and respond to the requirements of the aforementioned reform, our goal for the upcoming period is to place emphasis on internationalization. Namely, internationalization constitutes a crucial precondition for increasing the quality of teaching by means of improving the knowledge, skills, competences and experience of both students and teachers alike. Likewise, internationalization is the most authentic manner of modernizing and establishing innovations in the process of education, introducing and maintaining the European dimension of higher vocational education and spreading the idea of a unique educational space intertwined with national, cultural and language differences which are seen as an advantage in cultivating tolerance, understanding and multiculturalism. Hence, the aims of the Department internationalization strategy would be as follows: to improve teaching/learning processes at the Department by means of staff/student mobility, to establish, maintain and improve the co-operation between the Department and related higher educational institutions abroad, thus increasing international visibility of the Department and its activities, to further improve the capacities of the Department necessary for increasing the overall quality and becoming more competitive among the ever growing number of related higher education institutions.

In accordance with the Department education field and tradition, it is the proposal of this strategy that the Department should place its focus in terms of mobility on the countries in the EU Programme Countries, both EU and non-EU ones, from the region of Eastern Europe and ex-Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, etc.), Partner Countries from Region 1 and Region 14. With respect to other types of Erasmus projects (strategic partnerships, knowledge alliances, capacity building), the Department places its focus on the Programme Countries in the region of Western Europe.

Regarding its target groups, the Department internationalization strategy encompasses all Department employees and students. Therefore, the Department wishes to focus on staff/student mobility for the purposes of increasing international dimension of the Department, improving staff/students´ foreign language competences, intercultural skills, professional knowledge, sharing experiences and disseminating the European dimension of education.

As one of our main goals is to modernize our institution and raise the quality of our practice it is essential that we have closer insight into practices of those whose results at an international level cannot be disputed. The Department is committed to the following priorities of the modernization agenda:

• improving the curricula in terms of responding to the necessities of the labour market thus increasing students´ employability; by enriching the curricula with the examples of good practice provided through mobility and other co-operation projects we have a better chances of devising curricula which would enable further co-operation, lifelong learning, learning transference, better chances of connecting with and informing the labour market.
• improving the relevance and quality of higher vocational education – it is essential that the Department initiates and gradually increases the number of outgoing students who would attend studies abroad and thus improve their overall skills and knowledge, as well as to widen linguistic and cultural horizons
• linking higher vocational education and respective work fields with the aim of contributing to social and regional development
• improving the management and Department services which play a significant role in realizing the Department goals, being the basic structures of organization and functioning.

We focus on providing quality education to our students and continuous improvement of our staff. It is our aim as well as our desire to improve our study programmes, create new ones and improve our practice by looking up to the best practice in our common European space. One of the manners of accomplishing the aforementioned is through participation in various Erasmus + projects.

The activities of higher education are realized through vocational studies based on accredited study programs for acquiring higher education.

Our study programs

Vocational studies are carried out by a vocational study program, which enables students to apply and develop the professional knowledge and skills necessary for inclusion in the work process.

Study programs are realized within the framework of educational-scientific fields: Social-humanistic sciences;

The school year is divided into two semesters, each of which has 15 teaching weeks.

The school implements the following study programs:

ISCED-F 2013-Codes (International Standard Classification of Education)

• TYPE OF STUDIES: Basic vocational studies last three years and carry a total of 180 ECTS. ISCED-F 0112
• PRESCHOOL TEACHER (accreditation 2007-2012, re-accreditation 2012-2017, 2017-2024 and 2024- present) ISCED-F 0112 Training for pre-school teachers
• TODDLER TEACHER (accreditation 2012-2017, re-accreditation 2017-2024) ISCED-F 0112 Training for pre-school teachers
• CHILDREN’S HOMES AND HALLS OF RESIDENCE TEACHER (accreditation 2012-2017, re-accreditation 2017-2024) ISCED-F0112

TYPE OF STUDIES: Master professional studies last two years and carry a total of 120 ECTS.

• PRESCHOOL TEACHER ISCED-F 0112 Training for preschool teachers

The School building covers the ground floor of 2.552 square meters, with classrooms and offices, a lecture hall and a library. So far in this school, over five thousand experts in the field of education (teachers and educators) have graduated.

In addition to the wide range of theoretical knowledge acquired by students during three-year studies, Department has a particularly high level of cooperation with the Nata Veljković, preschool institution from Krusevac, which includes 11 kindergartens where students regularly practice and do methodological exercises. In practice, students apply the learned methods and techniques of work and thus, in addition to the wide range of theoretical knowledge acquired by students during their three-year studies, they regularly conduct practice and methodological exercises within those kindergartens, which are included in working field of preschools. Given the fact that this way they adopt a whole range of skills and competencies, they gain a comparative advantage in hiring, since immediately after the end of their Department education, they are qualified for educational work in preschools.

Krusevac – Department of Applied Chemical Technology Studies

The Chemical Technology Studies Department in Krusevac was founded in 1961, on the initiative that came from the industry, that is, the consortium of then giants of Krusevac chemical industry: “Miloje Zakić” (the present “Trajal” corporation), “Župa”, “Merima” (current “Henkel”), FAM (now “Valvoline”), prominent companies in former Yugoslavia, Europe and the world. For decades, the newly established Department trained students – future workers in chemical and technological professions, for the needs of aforementioned factories, but also in mechanical, metal and woodworking professions, in order to provide staff for then successful Kruševac factories in various fields of industry. Continuing this natural mission of its existence through 21st century – to follow the current needs of the economy of Kruševac, and the Rasina district, the Department tries to offer its students knowledge for useful, attractive and lucrative occupations in the field of food and pharmaceutical technology, as well as environmental protection, occupational safety, informatics and computing.

Graduated students of the Department (whose number is close to 2000) are currently employed both in large systems in the country and abroad, as well as as entrepreneurs who start their own

business, with examples of founding joint entrepreneurial companies or continuing the family business. They are engaged in lucrative professions in the field of informatics and computing: creating websites and applications with databases, programming mobile devices or controllers for managing “smart houses”, digital farms or industrial machines, administering computer networks or processing multimedia (images, sound, movies and computer animations). In the field of technology, they work in the bakery, dairy, confectionery, fruit and vegetable processing industry, non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages, oil and oil products industry, or in pharmaceutical factories, in galenic laboratories, in the production of various salves, extracts, fatty and essential oils, teas, preparations for face, body and hair care, hypoallergenic soaps and other auxiliary pharmaceutical products. In addition to companies, occupational safety supervision experts also work in inspection services or independent agencies for education and implementation of occupational safety. The job of an analyst is an example of a successful career in the field of environmental protection. In 2019, by decision of the Government of the Republic of Serbia, all higher education institutions are state-owned are organized into academies of professional studies. The teaching staff of the Kruševac Department, as a good combination of youth and experience, is dedicated to the advancement of each student, taking into account their different prior knowledge and affinities. In addition, it continues to actively improve and engage in professional work in the aforementioned areas, with an effort to monitor future trends in the development of the economy in terms of implementation of ecologically clean technologies, recycling, waste processing and digitization of business, by connecting knowledge from these professional areas, with possible use in public administration services.

Fields of Study/Study programs in this Department:

1. Technology
2. Informatics and Computing
3. Environment and Labor Protection – this program has two integrated modules: Environment Protection and Labor Safety

The studies are organized as Bachelor studies, in duration of 3 study years/6 semesters, totaling 180 ECTS (60 per year).

The department participated in one TEMPUS project 517200-TEMPUS-1-2011-1-BETEMPUS-SMGR

Department of Applied Health Studies, Cuprija

Department of Applied Health Sciences is a Department engaged in international collaborative projects and partnerships Europe wide.  We tend to constantly improve and develop research and professional practice of our professors, lecturers and students as well as to integrate the results of research in the teaching process.

The international cooperation is reflected in student exchange programs, education of our students at Higher education Institutions of Norway, and in projects which are implemented directly into our educational process and in the accreditation of new core and specialization courses.

In cooperation with Sor-Trondelag University Department in Trondheim Norway, we have implemented the project “Specialization in Gerontology and Care of the Elderly” with 60 ECTS credits according to their curriculum and program adapted to our conditions.

Department of Applied Health Sciences Cuprija also develops its research, professional and educational activity as a member of European Nursing Module Network (ENM). Our teachers and associates exchange their experience in the area of professional and research practice, teaching and student exchange. The exchange of students is reflected in the conduct of professional practice of our students in health institutions of Europe as well as of foreign students in our health institution.

International standard classification of education ISCED 2013-f

TYPE OF STUDIES: Basic vocational studies last three years and carry a total of 180 ECTS.

• Professional Nurse
• Professional Physiotherapist
• Professional Medical Radiologist
• Professional Nurse Midwife
• Professional Pharmacist

TYPE OF STUDIES: Master professional studies last two years and carry a total of 120 ECTS.

• Professional Nurse

Department of Applied Preschool Teaching Studies, Aleksinac

Department of Applied Preschool Teaching Studies in Aleksinac continues the tradition which began with the First Teachers School founded in 1871, transferred from Belgrade to Aleksinac in 1896, Royal Serbian Teachers School (1896 – 1903), and Male Teachers School (1919 – 1935). Apart from the teachers department, a one-year course for the education of nursery teachers was introduced in 1940, and lasted until 15 June 1941. In 1972 the Department became Teachers Academy, and in 1993 its name was changed to Preschool Teachers School, introducing a new reformed curriculum.

In 2007, the name of the Department was finally changed to Preschool Teachers Training Department, following the introduction of a new curriculum based on the Bologna Declaration. In the same year, the Department obtained accreditation and license from the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Serbia. The license and accreditation were successfully renewed in 2017, including a one-year specialist programme: Preschool Teacher – Specialist for Introductory Preschool Programme.

Theoretical and practical courses are taught by skilled professors using contemporary teaching methods. The Department is equipped with modern facilities and comfortable classrooms. It also has a reading room, free Wi-Fi internet access, an interactive website and a library holding more than 36,000 titles. In addition, the Department building hosts a kindergarten, which is, apart from being a preschool institution, also a place for the practical education of students.

In order to continuously improve the curriculum and the quality of studies, the Department traditionally organizes seminars and professional conferences. It also publishes student textbooks, proceedings and other sorts of professional publications. Of particular importance is cooperation with other institutions of similar kind, both in Serbia and abroad, which improves the quality of studying and provides a better working atmosphere for both students and professors.

TYPE OF STUDIES: Basic vocational studies last three years and carry a total of 180 ECTS.

• PRESCHOOL TEACHER (accreditation 2007-2012, re-accreditation 2012-2017, 2017-2024)

TYPE OF STUDIES: Master professional studies last two years and carry a total of 120 ECTS.

• PRESCHOOL TEACHER