Structure and duration of the study programme
Applicants who completed Basic Academic Studies of Theology lasting four years with 240 ECTS credits can enrol in the Master Academic Studies within the number of students approved for enrolment. The studies last for one year – two semesters. List of core and elective courses with contents of each course is given in the Study programme. The number of credits of each course is also given in the Study programme and it amounts to 60 ECTS credits in total. Final thesis amounts to 20 ECTS credits. Upon completion of the studies students are awarded an academic title – Master of Arts in Theology – 300 ECTS.
Furthermore, the teaching process includes: writing term papers based on the students’ consultations with the teachers, passing preliminary exams, individual consultations and passing the final oral examination.
Student workload, represented in number of classes and ECTS credits, includes teaching classes, consultations and students’ individual work. All forms of students’ participation in the performance of the study programme and their obligations are determined by the Curriculum.
Courses are awarded credits based on the student workload. The workload depends on the students’ working hours (lectures and exercises), other exam prerequisites and the time needed to fulfill them and to prepare for the final examination. Classes are held according to the schedule which is determined at the beginning of every semester. Classes include lectures and exercises and the teachers’ consultations with the students. Classes in both semesters last for 15 weeks.
Study programme of Master Academic Studies of Theology is structured on the basis of three courses of study (Biblical-Systematic, Theological-Historical, Liturgical-Catechetic) which consist of twelve core courses and the offer of elective courses and taking exams in one elective course in one semester and one in the other semester. The study programme also includes writing research paper – master, as well as obligatory final thesis.
The purpose of the study programme
Master Academic Studies should enable students for individual scientific research in Theology and its distinct disciplines based on the knowledge of totalitarity of theology and ability of independent judgement of theological questions, good knowledge of theological literature and of fundamental tendencies in traditional and modern theology. Acquired knowledge and abilities enable students of theology to do theoretical research, to perform educational activity in secondary schools, secondary schools of theology, colleges, more complex pastoral work in all its aspects: liturgical, missionary, social, catechetic and others, to work in cultural institutions and media, to work in church structures, non-governmental and other organisations. Master Academic Studies enable students for further education at doctoral studies of Theology, as well as education in other scientific areas.
The goals of the study programme
Master Academic Studies represent extended studies, which are an addition to Basic Academic Studies. The primary goal of the studies is synthetic and specialised education in Theology and its complementary disciplines according to higher and more thorough demands of knowledge about domains of theology, related and complementary disciplines. Master Academic Studies should provide not only competent orientation concerning global and individual issues and questions of theology and development of independent theoretical and critical thinking, but also in-depth synthetic insights into the totality of theology, into special disciplined areas of theology, their permeation with other scientific areas, as well as into special theological and interdisciplinary issues.
Graduate students’ competences
Upon completion of Master Academic Studies of Theology, students possess general as well as subject-specific abilities, i.e. they possess in-depth requirements to deal with theological material and complementary disciplines; they know key postulates of all relevant theological disciplines; they are able to do analysis, synthesis and and to predict consequences and find solutions for relevant theological questions; they can deal with methods, procedures, processes in scientific research; have critical and self-critical approaches, opinions and in-depth synthetic insights into the totality of theology and its interaction with other disciplines; they put knowledge into practice; they own abilities and skills for communication; they cooperate with smaller social and international circle; they possess highly developed professional ethics; they master informational and communicational technologies; they possess more complex competences for doing educational, pastoral, educational-scientific, cultural, administrative and media activities.
A person with the title of Master of Arts in Theology is able to perform religious education in elementary and secondary schools, to teach subjects in secondary schools of theology-seminaries, to work as an expert associate at theological studies in university and as a junior scientific researcher in scientific institutions, to work on organisation and creativity in church structures, cultural institutions and mass media.
Curriculum
Master Academic Studies of Theology comprise three courses of study: Biblical-Systematic, Theological-Historical, Liturgical-Catechetic. Each of them includes total number of four core courses and an offer of elective courses within the framework of the three positions. Total number of courses is divided into following groups of courses that aproximately meet percentages (academic course of general education, theoretical-methodological, scientific-professional).
Total number of ECTS credits of master studies is 60, and the final thesis amounts to 20 credits.
Quality, modernity and international compliance of the study programme
The concept of Master Academic Studies of Theology at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology ”St Basil of Ostrog” is largely based on contemporary and quality modes and criteria of a higher education organisation and content of theological studies. The concept is fully compliant with the corresponding study programmes of Master Studies of Theology at universities in the member states of European Union and the countries in process of joining the Union, where Bologna Declaration has already been applied.
Compatibility of the Curriculum and Syllabus of Master Studies at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology ”St Basil of Ostrog” is provided in collaboration with:
– Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Belgrade
– Kyiv Theological Academy
– Faculty of Orthodox Theology ”St Andrei Saguna”, Sibiu, Romania
Enrolment of students
The conditions of enrolment have been determined by the Article 6-16 of the Rules for studying at the second cycle academic studies at the Faculty.
Enrolment of students in the Master Academic Studies of Theology is carried out according to the planned enrolment quota. The quota is suggested by the Teaching-Scientific Council of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology and is approved by the Ministry of Education and Culture at the suggestion of the University of East Sarajevo Senate. Students who completed Basic Academic Studies carrying 240 ECTS credits can enrol in the Master Studies.
Entrance examination is compulsory and ranking is done on the basis of the points obtained in the entrance examination and credits obtained upon completon of the basic studies. Students who have not completed basic academic studies of theology are required to take differential exams.
If a candidate completed a study programme of the second cycle academic studies from another field as compared to the study programme they want to enrol in, or if the studies they completed are not in accordance with Bologna Curriculum and Syllabus, it it necessary to perform a procedure for equivalence, that is to determine equivalent number of ECTS credits according to the Article 12 of Rules for studying at the second cycle academic studies.
Assessment and students’ progress
Students’ assessment is done by continually monitoring students’ work and on the basis of the points obtained by fulfilling exam prerequisites and by passing exams.
Students complete the study programme by passing exams and by obtaining certain number of ECTS credits in accordance with the study programme.
Each course in the programme has certain number of ECTS credits which students earn when they pass the exam successfully. The number of ECTS credits is determined on the basis of the student workload which consists of completing a certain course and applying unique methodology for every study programme delivered at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology.
Students’ success in mastering each course is continually achieved during classes and it is represented in credits. Maximum number of credits students can obtain is 100.
Students obtain credits by attending classes regularly and by being active in classes, by fulfilling exam prerequisites and passing exams. Minimum number of credits students can obtain by fulfilling the exam prerequisites is 30 and maximum number is 70.
The way of earning credits for each course of the study programme of Master Academic Studies is published and clear. The way of obtaining credits during classes includes number of credits students obtain based on every individual activity they do in classes or fulfilling exam prerequisites and passing the exam.
The overall success in completing a course is expressed in grades from 5 (fail) to 10 (exceptional). A student grade is based on the total number of credits students obtained by fulfilling exam prerequisites and passing the exam and it is correspondent to the quality of acquired competences.
Exam prerequisites are arranged in the following manner:
Lectures attendance 0-10 credits
Exercises attendance 0-5 credits
Completing term papers 0-20 credits
Preliminary exam 0-15 credits
The total number of credits a student earns is converted into a final grade in the following manner:
0-50 credits – fail – grade 5 (five)
51-60 credits – satisfactory – grade 6 (six)
61-70 credits – good – grade 7 (seven)
71-80 credits – very good – grade 8 (eight)
81-90 credits – excellent – grade 9 (nine)
91-100 credits – exceptional – grade 10 (ten)
Final thesis consists of writing about a topic that a student gained knowledge about. The purpose of the final thesis is to show students’ ability to use competent literature, determine the subject of research by themselves, set methodological framework, define and prove hypotheses, in one word – critical thinking.
Teaching staff
There are 12 teachers employed at the Master Academic Studies of Theology at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology ”St Basil of Ostrog” in Foča. Number of teachers corresponds to the needs of the study programme and to the number of courses and classes on those courses. Total number of teachers (12) is sufficient for the number of classes on the study programme. Most of the teachers are full-time teachers (9 teachers) and there are teachers from the faculties of Belgrade University who are hired to perform part of the classes.
Scientific and professional qualifications of the teaching staff correspond to the level of their responsibilities. Data on teachers are public.
Organisational and material resources
The study programme is provided with the teaching staff, spatial, technical, technological, library and other resources appropriate for the character of the study programme and the foreseen number of students. Classes at the Faculty are held in amphitheatres and auditoriums. Computer centre is at the students’ disposal. The library has a spacious, comfortable and bright reading room and a rich inventory of publications in Serbian and foreign languages from the field of theology and other sciences studied within the framework of the study programme, as well as a collection of encyclopedias, lexicons and dictionaries.
The library has a computer system that allows electronic search of the faculty’s and other libraries in Serbia as well as access to the foreign electronic service for searching professional and scientific magazines. The library has thousands of library units relevant for the performance of the study programme. In the library of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology there is a sufficient amount of adequate literature, textbooks, reference books and other academic literature for each course in the Curriculum of the study programme.
Necessary information technology is provided for the performance of the study programme. Thus, all the conditions necessary for quality work at the study programme are fulfilled.
Quality control:
It is planned to conduct quality control of the study programme of Master Studies of Theology with three courses of study (Biblical-Systematic, Theological-Historical and Liturgical-Catechetic) regularly and systematically by self-assessment and external quality control. The control includes regular and systematic monitoring of quality of the teaching process, as well as taking actions to improve the quality of the following elements: Curriculum, classes, teachers and expert associates, students’ assessment, textbooks and literature. The control is conducted in the predetermined time periods (within 3 years for the internal and 5 years for the external control) and students are also included in this process by their own assessment of the quality of programme. The process of quality control began by forming suitable commission at the Faculty. Self-assessment will be carried out three years from the beginning of the delivery of the study programme, as predicted by the Standard 11.
|
Biblical-Systematic |
Theological-Historical |
Liturgical-Catechetic |
| Semester 1 | Semester 1 | Semester 1 |
| Holy Scriptures of the New Testament | The Church of Christ and the ancient world (first three centuries) |
Sacramental Theology |
| Theology of the Old Testament Prophets | Christianity and Islam | Liturgical Catechesis |
| Patristic and Contemporary Ecclesiology | Patriarchate of Peć under Turkish rule from renovation to abolition in 1776 | Ministry in a multidisciplinary context |
| Gnosticism | Hagiology | Nomocanon of Saint Sava |
| Semester 2 | Semester 2 | Semester 2 |
| Foreign Language | Foreign Language | Foreign Language |
| Final paper – master’s thesis | Final paper – master’s thesis | Final paper – master’s thesis |
| Elective Courses | Elective Courses | Elective Courses |