What does our Memorandum of Understanding exactly define?

No. When choosing a teacher, according to the Ministry’s rules, a clear priority is always given to teachers with a degree in English. In case there are no such applicants for the position, the Memorandum says that persons with adequate higher pedagogical education and an internationally recognised certificate of English can teach in the first four grades of primary school.

This Code of the Ministry of Education (available in Serbian only) gives an explanation of the needed level and type of pedagogical education, and the Memorandum itself defines the internationally recognised certificates that can be used as a confirmation of the level of English.

Unfortunately, the fact is that in some parts of the country there are not enough teachers with a University English language degree. By applying the Memorandum, an additional opportunity is given for students in these areas to still have English classes in first four grades of primary school.

Over two million people worldwide took our internationally recognised exams in our centres that are located in over 90 countries across the globe. The exams that we organise are the result of our co-operation with world’s top experts in the area of English language that come from institutions such as the University of Cambridge. Over 9,000 Universities and other educational institutions, employers and governments in the world recognise IELTS, one of our exams, as a reliable proof of English language proficiency.

We organised the first internationally recognised exam in Serbia in co-operation with the University of Cambridge back in 1940 when we opened our office in Belgrade.

We are proud to say that we, as a UK’s international organisation for cultural relations, have been working closely with thousands of English language teachers in Serbia for decades – helping them get better at what they do. On a regular basis we organise seminars, workshops and conferences where we bring the most renowned UK experts in English language and teaching methodology.

In the last few years we have created one of the biggest internet communities of English teachers – our TeachingEnglish website gathers more than 4,000 teachers from Serbia and offers free teaching materials.

We are very proud of our long-term partnership with the English Language Teaching Association (ELTA) and the Association of Language Schools of Serbia YALS.