The Higher Education Fund in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The Higher Education Fond is established under the World Bank-financed Education Development Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The fund's goal is to assist the universities of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) to align themselves to meet the social, economic and academic needs of the country, and to ensure compatibility with higher education systems and institutions in the European Union. The Fund is intended to support the universities' own initiatives and professional co-operation. It is not intended to substitute for funding from any other source. The fund will be administrated by the Higher Education Co-ordination Board (HECB) in co-operation with the Higher Education Co-ordination Units of the Federation of B&H and Republika Srpska (RS), which administer funding under the Education Development Project.

During preparation of the Education Development Project, the World Bank identified priorities for the development of higher education in the B&H. These are based on the need to re-focus the public dialogue about higher education and professional issues such as the quality of teaching and learning, the collation and dissemination of more information to the public about the system, and the effective use of the scare public resources that fund the system.

Other international organizations are actively involved in supporting higher education in B&H, notably the EU though its PHARE and TEMPUS programs, UNESCO and the Council of Europe. Their priorities and the World Bank's broadly coincide. Together, these organizations have supported the establishment of the Higher Education Co-ordination Board (HECB), which provides country-wide professional leadership for higher education development. The technical assistance provided to the HECB by the EC-TEAR program will strengthen the professional role of the HECB in administering, overseeing and evaluating the Higher Education Fund.

The structure of the Higher Education Fund

Grants will be awarded FROM THE Higher Education Fund to universities for projects put forward by the universities. The main stages by which grants will be made are as follows:
- the university prepares an Interim Planning Statement and submits it to the HECB. If the HECB considers this statement to be satisfactory:
- the university may submit proposals for one or more Strategic Planning Grants which will assist it to prepare its Institutional Development Plan (IDP)
- the university submits its IDP to the HECB. If the HECB considers this IDP to be satisfactory:
- the university may submit proposals for IDP Implementation Grants.

Tuzla University has already applied with the "Strategic planning and development of the Institutional Development Plan" project to the Higher Education Fund. The mentioned project is accepted and approved by the Higher Education Co-ordination Board and its realization is currently going-on.