National Minorities in Serbian Academia: The Role of Gender and Language Barriers 3031023668, 9783031023668

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National Minorities in Serbian Academia The Role of Gender and Language Barriers Karolina Lendák-Kabók

National Minorities in Serbian Academia “In her new book, Karolina Lendák-Kabók explores the complex intersection of language, nationality and gender at the example of female academics from three linguistic minority groups (Hungarian, Slovak and Romanian) in the Vojvodina province of Serbia. The author presents carefully researched data to support her arguments regarding the marginalization of female academics in a ‘nationalizing’ state (Brubaker) that is today’s Serbia in which despite officially established policies of minority rights, discrimination manifests at various levels of the educational system and academia. She further concludes that academics from minority groups in Serbia struggle to juggle a career and split identity between their non-EU country of origin (Serbia) and an EU-member kin-state (Hungary, Slovakia and Romania), which often results in brain drain to the latter. Lendák-Kabók situates the relevance of her findings in the context of gender and minority research in Central and Eastern European higher education systems. I see the importance of this brilliant study beyond this geographic region as the issues pinpointed by the author resonate more broadly and readers from many countries are likely to find its content compelling and thought-provoking.” —Agatha Schwartz, University of Ottawa, Canada

Karolina Lendák-Kabók

National Minorities in Serbian Academia The Role of Gender and Language Barriers

Karolina Lendák-Kabók University of Novi Sad Novi Sad, Serbia

ISBN 978-3-031-02366-8 ISBN 978-3-031-02367-5 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02367-5

(eBook)

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

I am dedicating this book to my children Petra Loretta, Franciska Lilla and Imre Károly. I am also dedicating this book to all mothers who are writing their dissertations and books while having young children.

Acknowledgements

Since this book is partially based on my PhD research (it is a shorter version presenting a few topics I was dealing with in my dissertation) first and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisor Professor Andrea Pet˝o for guiding me through my PhD research project and for being a very demanding and fair PhD supervisor. I am truly grateful to Professor Pet˝o for providing me the opportunity to widen my knowledge and to prepare my literature review at the Central European University’s excellent library in Budapest and thanks to her I was able to enroll in CEU’s one year Doctoral Support Program at the Gender Studies Department. Professor Pet˝o encouraged me to go beyond my own boundaries, to do my best and to believe in myself. I am very thankful to Professor Emerita Svenka Savi´c, who was the Coordinator of the Center of Gender Studies at the University of Novi Sad, when I enrolled my PhD Studies and who introduced me to Professor Andrea Pet˝o. I am also grateful to Professor Vladislava Gordi´c Petkovi´c, who supported me in the final phase of my PhD, through her recommendation letters she supported me in my research expeditions abroad.

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Acknowledgements

My deepest gratitude goes to my dear colleague Petra Bakos, who kindly read through my book and suggested corrections to advance the readability and quality of the manuscript. Finally, I am very blessed for having a wonderful family. My husband Imre Lendák, whose academic experience guided me through my PhD and research. Imre was more than supportive, his patience and constant encouragement helped me greatly. My parents, Ida Kabók and József Kabók, were the ones who persuaded me to enroll PhD studies in the first place and they were supporting me from the first day on. I am so grateful to them for taking care of our children when I was doing my research work. In the end, I am so happy to have three wonderful children: Petra Loretta (2011), Franciska Lilla (2015) and Imre Károly (2016) who are the most adorable persons in the world. I apologize to them for being absent when I had to travel to attend conferences and research missions, as well as for not being with them while I was writing my PhD thesis and academic papers. I hope that one day they will appreciate my effort and they will be proud of their mother’s achievement.

Contents

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Introduction: Intersectionality as a Lived Experience 1.1 Vojvodina as a Multi-Ethnic Region 1.2 Women as the Invisible Others 1.3 Ethnic Minorities in Vojvodina—An Intersectional Approach 1.4 A Trailguide to This Book 1.5 Author Positionality and Stance References Education in the Lives of Eastern European National Minority Women 2.1 Gender in Higher Education 2.2 Nationality in Higher Education 2.3 Minority Language Education and the Language Barrier 2.4 Continuing Education and the Educational Migration of National Minority Students 2.5 Gender in Continuing Education and Educational Migration

1 4 8 10 15 17 18 23 25 28 29 32 34

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2.6 Women’s Careers and Leadership Positions in Academia References 3

Limited Options: National Minority Education in Serbia 3.1 Educational Possibilities of National Minority Students 3.1.1 Hungarian Language Education in Serbia, Secondary and Tertiary Level 3.1.2 Slovak Language Education in Serbia, Secondary and Tertiary Level 3.1.3 Romanian Language Education in Serbia, Secondary and Tertiary Level 3.2 National Minority Students at the University of Novi Sad 3.2.1 Ethnic Hungarian Students at the University of Novi Sad 3.2.2 Ethnic Slovak Students at the University of Novi Sad 3.2.3 Ethnic Romanian Students at the University of Novi Sad 3.2.4 Female Students’ Proportions at the University of Novi Sad 3.3 National Councils as Institutional Support 3.3.1 The Hungarian National Council 3.3.2 The Slovak National Council 3.3.3 The Romanian National Council 3.4 NGOs Supporting National Minority Education 3.4.1 Hungarian NGOs 3.4.2 Slovak NGOs 3.4.3 Romanian NGOs Appendix References

36 37 47 48 48 50 51 51 53 54 55 57 60 62 67 67 68 68 70 70 70 80

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Lost in Translation: The Language Barrier’s Effect on National Minority High School Graduates 4.1 Sample, Procedure, Instruments, and Ethics 4.2 To Study, or Not to Study? 4.2.1 Where to Study? 4.3 Language Barriers Appendix References

5 The Language Barrier as the Ethnic “Glass Ceiling”: Ethnic Micro-Universes Within Serbian Universities 5.1 Hungarian Female Students 5.1.1 Stories About Strong Language Barrier 5.1.2 Stories About Medium Language Barrier 5.1.3 Stories About No Language Barrier 5.2 Hungarian Female Professors 5.3 Slovak and Romanian Female Professors 5.4 Making Sense of the “Other” Through Language: Serbian Women 5.4.1 Teaching Hungarian Students 5.4.2 Help to Hungarian Students with Language Difficulties 5.5 Language Cannot Be a Limitation: Men on Language 5.6 Conclusion: Language Barrier as the Ethnic “Glass Ceiling” Appendix References 6 The Costs of Academic Career for a National Minority Woman 6.1 The Position of National Minority Women in Serbian Academia 6.2 Academic Women in Decision-Making Positions 6.2.1 Female Professors from National Minority Background

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83 84 86 89 92 97 98 101 102 104 107 107 108 112 115 116 118 119 126 129 136 137 140 144 144

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6.2.2 Female Professors from Ethnic Majority Background 6.3 Another Glance: The Possibilities of National Minority Women as Seen by Ethnic Majority Professors 6.3.1 Female Professors from Majority Background 6.3.2 Ethnic Majority Men in Decision-Making Positions 6.3.3 Men in Serbian Academia 6.4 Career Building in the Serbian Academic Arena: Narrative Strategies References 7

Conclusions

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References

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Index

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List of Tables

Table 3.1 Table 3.2

Table 3.3

Table 3.4

Table 3.5

Table Table Table Table

4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4

The high schools where ethnic minority students have the possibility to study in their mother tongue The number of Hungarian students and their gender structure at the faculties of the University of Novi Sad, from the 2009/2010 to 2012/2013 academic year The number of Slovak students and their gender structure at the faculties of the University of Novi Sad, from the 2009/2010 to 2012/2013 academic year The number of Romanian students and their gender structure at the faculties of the University of Novi Sad, from the 2009/2010 to 2012/2013 academic year The comparative overview of the percentage share of female students in the total number of Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian nationality at the University of Novi Sad, from 2009/2010 to 2012/2013 academic year Reasons for discontinued studies Gender and the destination country of education Reasons for studying in Serbia Weekly frequency of Serbian language use

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79 88 90 91 93

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List of Tables

Table 4.5 Table 4.6 Table 4.7

Table 4.8 Table 5.1 Table 5.2 Table 5.3 Table 5.4 Table 5.5 Table 5.6 Table Table Table Table Table

5.7 5.8 5.9 5.10 5.11

Table 6.1 Table 6.2 Table 6.3 Table 6.4 Table 6.5 Table 6.6

Self-assessed Serbian language skills (high school) Regression model, shown in a table The effect of the level of Serbian language skills and the parents’ education on further education and its place Reasons for choosing higher education in Hungary, Slovakia, or Romania Vojvodina municipalities’ percentage of national minority populations Possible causes of language difficulty (Hungarian female students) Possible causes of language difficulty (Hungarian female professors) Possible causes of language difficulty (Slovakian and Romanian students) Attitudes towards Hungarian students and/or colleagues Possible causes of language difficulty (male professors and students) Hungarian female professors Hungarian female students Slovak and Romanian female professors Serbian female professors and a student Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian, and Serbian male professors and students Minority women in academia (female national minority professors) Motivation of national minority female professors Motivation of ethnic majority female professors National minority women in academia (by Serbian female professors) Motivation of male professors (all STEM) Minority women in academia (by male professors)

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1 Introduction: Intersectionality as a Lived Experience

The following pages have been witnessing a long journey of mine both as an author and, as from recently, when I became an Assistant Professor at the study program of Social Work, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, someone who shares characteristics with the people among whom she does her research. I was always drawn to the path of becoming an academic as that career was honoured in my family. However, when I finished my studies at the Faculty of Law, I turned to another distinguished career path, the judiciary one. When I realized that my dream of becoming a judge would only remain a dream, I enrolled in a Ph.D. program of Gender Studies with a vision of becoming a storyteller through science. This was a bold decision, as I knew that it would take a lot of time and effort and that it will mean a career turn for me. It wasn’t an easy decision, as by that time I already did my internship at the Higher and Elementary Court of Novi Sad and passed my bar exam, which meant that I put some serious efforts in my judiciary career. However, I felt this urge of becoming a storyteller because by that time I accumulated so many gender-based and nationality-based inequality experiences (some I felt on my own skin, some I just observed), weighing © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 K. Lendák-Kabók, National Minorities in Serbian Academia, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02367-5_1

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on mind and urging me to tell them to the world. Moreover, while working at the court and doing my Ph.D. studies, I worked part-time as a high school teacher, teaching in Hungarian in two vocational high schools in Temerin1 and in Novi Sad, where I understood the struggles national minority high school pupils have when it comes to choosing a post-secondary education in Serbia after finishing their elementary and high school in national minority language. Thus, I chose a topic, which was more or less a natural one for me, as I was interested in it from my early childhood—how to become an academic if one is a national minority female. As I was born and raised as a female child within the Hungarian national minority community in Serbia, this choice came naturally. Later, as I got more and more familiar with the theory of intersectionality, I realized that, besides providing answers to my own personal questions, this is also a rich and underresearched terrain of scholarship. I decided that I ought to share my findings with people interested in diversity and otherness within my own community and beyond. Intersectionality, just like this book, focuses primarily on rendering the invisible visible, i.e. making the world aware about the lives of people who politically, socially, and/or legally struggle with the effects of being oppressed or discriminated against based on their race and class and gender and other factors (Hancock, 2011: 39). Socially privileged individuals often pretend or do not even take into account that race, gender, class, and sexual orientation exists when individuals, groups, and institutions interact with each other. Intersectionality emphasizes that not only do such identity categories have material effect, but their material effects also interact with each other, which may teach us how to spot invisible norms which lead to complex disadvantages (Hancock, 2011: 35). Although intersectionality has always provoked fierce disputes among feminist researchers both in the global North and South, today it is almost inconceivable for any women’s study program, project, or research to focus exclusively on women, ignoring the emphasis on 1

A smaller town near Novi Sad, with almost half of the population being Hungarian.

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differences and diversity among them. Studies that do not pay due attention to differences are purposeless, at best politically irrelevant, or simply absurd (Sebestyén, 2016). Intersectionality encourages feminist theorists to apply reflexive and critical feminist examination to their scholarship (Davis, 2008). It also addresses one of the most central theoretical and normative concerns within feminist scholarship: the acknowledgement of differences among women (Davis, 2008: 70). In this book I chose to focus on three ethnic minorities in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (hereinafter Vojvodina) located in the Northern part of the Republic of Serbia out of the 25 ethnic minorities that still live there today. The reason behind choosing the Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian ethnic minorities was quite pragmatic, but also purposeful. The first reason of turning to these particular minorities was their population size, i.e. the Hungarian minority is the largest national minority in Vojvodina, the Slovak is the second, and the Romanian is the fifth. All three minorities have the constitutional right for education in the vernacular from kindergarten until high school. All three languages, i.e. Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian are quite different from the Serbian language. The Hungarian language is a Uralic one, and the Romanian language is a Balkan Romance language, and although the Slovak language is also a Slavic language, like Serbian, it still differs in a large extent, i.e. Slovakian speakers cannot become “inaudible” in a Serbian environment, like, ethnic Croatians or Montenegrins can. Thus, all three minorities are linguistically quite different from the majority speaker Serbian nation, and my hypothesis was that this linguistic difference is the reason why members of these minorities face more challenges in prevailing and building a successful life in the country they were born and raised. In order to contextualize the background of this hypothesis in the followings I will give an overview of the cultural and geopolitical region of Vojvodina, its historical background, and an overview of the Hungarian, Romanian, and Slovakian national minorities trajectory.

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1.1

Vojvodina as a Multi-Ethnic Region

Vojvodina, the northern autonomous province of Serbia, is known for its stormy past and ever-changing historic borders. Vojvodina has no territorial autonomy on ethnic grounds; it is a multi-ethnic region with a growing Serbian majority (Székely & Horváth, 2014: 434). Vojvodina was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1920, up to the Treaty of Trianon, but beforehand had a turbulent past marked by several great migrations. Serbs fleeing from Ottoman occupation arrived from the south between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries. Eventually the territory of today’s Vojvodina was also devastated by the Ottoman army in the sixteenth century and after the end of the Ottoman rule in the seventeenth century, various ethnic groups like Germans, Hungarians, Serbians, Slovaks, Romanians, migrated to the region, mainly under the reign of Maria Theresa (1740–1780) in order to restore the region’s economy and to guide the borders of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1918 Vojvodina became part of the newly formed country Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes. The period between World War I and Word War II was an important one from the perspective of the ethnic composition of the territory of Vojvodina, namely people from the southern parts of the country migrated to Vojvodina. After World War II, the fleeing German population was replaced mainly by ethnically Serbian population from Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Montenegro. After the second Yugoslavia was formed on January 31, 1941, the constitution of the federative state was declared and the country was divided into six republics (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Macedonia). Furthermore, two autonomous units (Kosovo and Metohija Autonomous Province and Vojvodina Autonomous Province) were formed within Serbia. However, the ruling communists made it clear, that the locals of Vojvodina should understand the right to self-determination in a proper way, namely, they should avoid any form of separatism (Žarkov, 2015: 203). Later the Yugoslav constitutionality shifted towards decentralization and as an outcome of such development, the basic federal laws were integrated into the provinces’ consitutions, and from 1974 on, the so-called

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confederate federalism prevailed (Polonyi & A. Sajti, 2000: 298). Consequently, Vojvodina enjoyed a quasi legal status of a republic (Ördögh, 2017). The most ethnically diverse constitutive region of the former socialist Yugoslavia and the most economically developed part of the Serbian-Montenegrin federation, Vojvodina was the arena of the first violation of the constitutional autonomy of Serbia’s provinces (Kosovo being the second) by Slobodan Milosevic’s faction of the Serbian League of Communists in 1988. Since the first multiparty elections in 1990, the Province of Vojvodina has differed from the rest of ex-Yugoslav regions in staging its resistance to the Belgrade-based regime in the form of simultaneously seeking the restoration of its institutional support for linguistic and cultural diversity, and its political and economic self-rule. This programmatic stance is characteristic, with some variations in priorities, for both multi-ethnic and mono-national minority political parties in Vojvodina: most local political actors have identified the goals of democratization and stability with some form of autonomy of the Province within Serbia (Devic, 2002). The latest turbulent period of the region was the Yugoslav civil war in the 1990s, after which further groups of ethnic Serbians from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were settled in Vojvodina. As an after effect of the many different migrations that took place in the region, it is today home to 25 different ethnicities (Ördögh, 2017). In this book I will focus on three specific ethnic minorities, namely the Hungarian national minority (13% of the total population of Vojvodina, ca. 250,000), the largest national minority of Serbia, the Slovak national minority (2.6%, ca. 50,000), which is the second by size, and the Romanian national minority (1.3%, ca. 25,000), the fifth in size after the Croatian and Roma population.2 Fenton defines nationality as a communal and individual identity expressed as an idea of “our people our origins” (Fenton, 2003: 114), and argues that in the last decade or two there is a remarkable rise of research interest in questions of “national identity,” it is now difficult to 2

The third national group is Croatian and the fourth is Roma; however, this research did not cover those national groups because the Croatian language is very similar to Serbian. The Roma minority was not included because the Roma sub-state minority group does not even have primary and secondary education in Serbia.

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think of sociology of nationality without a key focus on nation, nationalism, and national identity (Fenton, 2011: 12). Nationality is a complex and fluid phenomenon, which involves the self-identification processes of individuals, collective internal discourses of ethnic groups, and external discourses on nationality in the mainstream population (Rights, 2011: 15). Nationality is the social system that gives meaning to ethnic differences between people—to those differences that can be made based on people’s origin, appearance, history, culture, language, and religion (Franken, 2009: 74). Verloo argues that “nationality” is associated with culture and geographical roots and inequality based on nationality is seen to derive from the way we organize citizenship, i.e. who belongs to “us”? Who is the outsider? (Verloo, 2006). Just like gender or race, nationality structure our personal experiences and give rise to inequalities in society. These dimensions’ structure meanings for people at the personal and symbolical levels; one only must think of the differential consequences of applying for a position when one’s last name is “Jansen” or “Al Husseini” (Franken, 2009: 74). According to Yuval-Davis, nationality relates to the politics of collectivity, boundaries, dividing the world into “us” and “them” around, myths of common origin and/or common destiny, and engaging in constant process of struggle and negotiation (Yuval-Davis, 1997: 194). When it comes to defining national structure, following Kymlicka’s (2007) classification of three general types of minorities in Western democracies (indigenous, sub-state, and immigrants), I consider that the Hungarian, Romanian, and Slovakian ethnic minorities discussed in this book are sub-state “national groups.” These national groups or national minorities are caught between two mutually antagonistic nationalisms: those of the nationalizing states in which they live, and those of the external national homelands to which they belong by ethno-national affinity (Brubaker, 1996: 5). In this “triadic nexus” (Brubaker, 1996), members of these Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian ethnic minorities are in a challenging position: the main bodies of their nations live in nation states inside the European Union (EU), while they are “locked out” in Serbia, a non-EU state.

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The educational system of Serbia allows the young members of these ethnic minorities—unlike the also numerous, but racially stigmatized Roma national minority—to finish their primary and secondary education in their mother tongues. After high school, most of them need to decide between continuing their studies in the predominantly Serbian language higher education system in Serbia, or leaving Serbia and continuing their studies in their vernacular in neighbouring/nearby EU states. If they choose to study in Serbian, they need to master the Serbian language, as without proficiency in Serbian they may end up facing a language barrier that makes their participation in classes and examination difficult (Lendák-Kabók & Lendák, 2017). In a recent study that was conducted with the aim of improving multilingual education in Vojvodina, it was shown that ethnic minorities consider knowledge of their mother tongue to be most important, subsequently followed by knowledge of the majority language (Popov & Radovi´c, 2015). Most informants assessed their knowledge of their vernacular to be more developed than their knowledge of the majority Serbian language (ibid.). In their struggle for better employment opportunities, a higher salary, and improved social status, about one-third of high school students from the studied minority communities decide to leave Serbia and study abroad, predominantly in Hungary, Romania, and ˇ 2009; Takács, 2013). Slovakia (Puja-Badesku, 2009; Šimonji-Cernak, In relation to the Hungarian national minority in Vojvodina, their continuous educational migration represents a brain drain that has been ongoing for several decades (Gábrity-Molnár, 2009). This mostly remains an often-unacknowledged benefit for Hungary, but it represents a loss for the Vojvodina Hungarian communities (Váradi, 2013: 97). Research has identified that the overarching Hungarian national policy which focuses on the preservation of the Hungarian ethnic identity with its associated instruments is unable to fulfil its most important purpose, which is to safeguard the existence of the intellectual elite within the Hungarian minority communities outside of Hungary, and help them sustain an adequate livelihood in their country of birth (Er˝oss et al., 2011: 4). The situation is similar for the Romanian and Slovak national minority in Serbia as well, who also engage in significant outward

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educational and other migration (Puja-Badesku, 2009, Zlatanovi´c & Marušiak, 2018). In Brubaker’s definition Serbia is a nationalizing state, i.e. a state which is conceived by its dominant élites as a nation state, as the state of and for particular nation, yet it is an incomplete’ or “unrealized” nation state, which is insufficiently “national” in a variety of senses to be explored below (Brubaker, 1996: 412). In such a nationalizing state ethnic minorities may feel that the state they are living in is structured and governed in favour of the majority, and that their ethnic identity is under threat (Kemp, 2006: 111). Research on the Romanian minority community in Vojvodina has shown that members of this community, despite their nominal equality with the majority and their freedom to use their language in schools, in media, as well as in public life, still feel a sense of inferiority that is based on the idea of belonging to another nation (Maran, 2013: 232). In this sense, members of the minority community feel the need to turn to their kin-state (Kemp, 2006). The act of educational migration to external national homelands or kin-states causes the gradual disappearance of ethnic minorities from their homelands. In this sense ethnic minorities are underrepresented in the Serbian higher education system—for example, 13% of Vojvodina’s population is Hungarian, but only 6.7% of the student population in Vojvodina is of Hungarian nationality (Lendák-Kabók, 2015). Members of ethnic minorities also face challenges when it comes to opportunities for obtaining decision-making positions. For instance, out of the 18 rectors that the University of Novi Sad (Serbia) had in the last almost 70 years not one rector was from a national minority background (and only three were women) (Savi´c, 2015).

1.2

Women as the Invisible Others

Women members of national minority groups play an important but often invisible and somewhat burdensome role in maintaining ethnic communities. Yuval-Davis (1996: 17) argues that women reproduce symbolically their ethnic and national collectives, as well as their workforce, families, and the citizenry of their states. In other words, their

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gendered role involves the gatekeeping of national identity (Kora´c, 1996). Before engaging with this aspect further, I shall discuss the way gender was conceived throughout my research and during the writing of this book. Defining gender should begin with the very famous sentence written by Simone de Beauvoir. “One is not born, but rather becomes, woman. No biological, psychic, or economic destiny defines the figure that the human female takes on in society; it is civilization that elaborates this intermediary product between the male and the eunuch that is called feminine” (Beauvoir et al., 2010: 330). More than half a century later Judith Butler picked up Beauvoir’s argument and furthered it, claiming that indeed gender is culturally constructed and it was “originally intended to dispute the biology-is-destiny formulation” (Butler, 1990: 6). Kadri Aavik, a feminist scholar from Estonia reflects on gender as a category which is “not historical or fixed, but rather flexible and open to contestation, as the social, cultural and material context in which meanings to gender are produced is continuously changing” (Aavik, 2015: 20). Serbian philosopher Adriana Zaharijevi´c begins her Butlerian definition of gender with an explanation of “who” is a woman, therefore she argues that a “woman” is (like a “man,” after all) a set of attributed, socially imposed, acquired characteristics, a “gender framework” which each individual fit, successfully. Furthermore, she holds that gender is a category used to describe the effect of patriarchate on every woman (Zaharijevi´c, 2008). McNay defines gender slightly differently, arguing that the conception of gender is a “lived set of embodied potentialities, rather than an externally imposed set of constraining norms” (McNay, 2000: 25). When analysing “women” as a “category” of analysis, Mohanty argues that in “western feminist discourse on women in the third world to construct ‘third world women’ as a homogeneous ‘powerless’ group often located as implicit victims of particular cultural socio-economic system” (Mohanty, 1994: 200). Mohanty furthermore argues that “women” are characterized as a singular group based on their shared oppression and what binds women together is a sociological notion of the “sameness” of their oppression (Mohanty, 1994).

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Speaking further about the burden that national minority women shoulder, Acker and Armenti (2004) argue that women who belong to a minority group feel they face additional pressure. This is the phenomenon that in the academic context Tierney and Bensimon (1996) call cultural taxation. The term implies that, in addition to achieving success in academia, academics from minority communities are confronted with additional expectations in relation to mentoring and supporting students from minority communities. In addition, as members of minority communities they may struggle with a minority complex that is connected to a feeling of inferiority related to belonging to a group that is different than the majority (Maran, 2013). In Serbia today a minority person’s struggle with a sense of otherness (Spivak, 1988) is perceived differently than in the times of state socialism, when “otherness” could become a source of benefits (Jensen, 2011) due to the existence of a quota system (Miladinovi´c, 2003), which made it easier for members of ethnic minorities, and thus national minority women, to build their careers and reach decision-making positions in academia. The socialist era is gone, and today in the Serbian higher education there are neither quota systems nor any sort of affirmative action in place. So my hypothesis was that presently it is exceptionally hard for members of ethnic minorities in general, and for national minority women specifically, to build careers in academia and to reach decision-making positions. In order to analyse national minority women’s positionality and possibilities I needed a sharp yet flexible analytical tool—intersectionality.

1.3

Ethnic Minorities in Vojvodina—An Intersectional Approach

Intersectionality is a theoretical and methodological mechanism, which allows us to study and analyse the interaction and intersection between gender, nationality, race, class, sexuality, age/generation, disability, nationality, mother tongue etc. (Lykke, 2010). The interaction of these

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concepts can produce social inequality and unjust social ties. Brah and Phoenix regard intersectionality as a signifier of the complex, irreducible, varied, and variable effects, which ensue when multiple axes of differentiation—economic, political, cultural, psychic, subjective, and experiential—intersect in historically specific contexts (2004). In the context of this book, it is of great importance to shed light on national minority women in a culturally and politically specific situation. Their position was assessed and focused on after the democratic changes have been made in Serbia at the beginning of the twenty-first century and when the rights of ethnic minorities were restored after the turbulent time of the 1990s Yugoslav wars. Although the theory of intersectionality was introduced by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, if properly contextualized it promises an almost universal applicability, useful for understanding and analysing any social practice, any individual or group experience, any structural arrangement, and any cultural configuration (Davis, 2008). Crenshaw introduces intersectionality through discussing those experiences of Black women that cannot be reduced to neither those of “black people” nor those of “women.” In Crenshaw’s analysis Black women observe that the discrimination they experience does not fit neatly into either “racism” or “sexism” but is rather a combination of the two. Intersectional theory was also a critique of racism inherent in the predominantly White American feminist movement, which essentialized “women” without acknowledging their different positionalities (Crenshaw, 1994). The aim of intersectional analysis is precisely to identify the meanings given to various identity categories and the interrelations between these categories in the social context they are studied, not to assume that this content or relationship between them is identical everywhere (Aavik, 2015). Crenshaw’s critique is still valid today: feminist research journals need to engage in more detailed reflections on unequal relations between nations, regions, religions, vernaculars, and so on (Lykke, 2004), and to analyse the ways in which they generate often invisible disadvantages to certain social groups (Lykke, 2010: 72). Intersectionality theory emphasizes that different dimensions of social life cannot be separated out into discrete and pure strands. The idea of “multiple disadvantages” has advanced from the crude idea of “adding

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up” disadvantages to a more sophisticated level, in which disadvantages are not just cumulative but interactional, i.e. they amplify each other as their number rises (Franken, 2009: 50). In other words, intersectionality provides simultaneity—instead of simply adding up various types of oppression, it captures how they are experienced at the same time (Carastathis, 2014). Carastathis differentiates the following distinctive characteristics of intersectionality: 1. complexity: it moves away from the monistic “genderism” (the fixation on the sex-gender dichotomy in feminist theorizing and analysis); 2. inclusiveness: intersectional approach includes the experiences and needs of different groups which are often left out by conventional approaches; and 3. irreducibility: it does not reduce different axes of oppression to one foundational explanatory category (e.g. class in Marxism). Or, as Kóczé and Popa put it, intersectionality recognizes race/nationality, gender, and class as interacting categories, i.e. it does not treat these categories as if they were isolated from each other (Kóczé & Popa, 2009). From the point of view of my research, this is especially significant, because I was focusing on the intersection of nationality and gender, which leverages national minority women and sheds light on their marginalized position in the society they are living in. Gender studies scholars have developed intersectionality both as a theory of identity and as a method for analysing processes and relations of power and inequality (Davis & Žarkov, 2017: 316). Nonetheless, it is still debated whether intersectionality has been discussed and applied in the right way in the (Western) European setting concerning the fact that Crenshaw (1989) originally developed it to women of colour in the US. In this regard, European scholars such as Davis and Žarkov (2017) argue that the specifically European contribution to intersectionality studies was the intersectional perspective on Muslim women, i.e. the introduction of religion as an intersectional category. It should also be noted that, in Europe, intersectional feminist scholarship on Roma women has made great advancements (Kóczé & Popa, 2009; Vincze, 2014), but scant

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attention and scholarly debate has addressed the gender-based differences among other sub-state minorities (Kymlicka, 2007) who live in the postsocialist countries in Europe. One piece of research about ethnic Russian women was undertaken in Estonia by Kadri Aavik (2015), who investigated their position on the labour market in Estonia. Aavik found that the Russian-speaking women’s awareness of ethnic belonging is much stronger than their gender awareness. What was also prominent from the research done by Aavik is that her respondents occupied the lowest paid positions on the Estonian labour market. Narrowing down the discussion to the cultural context covered by this research—Vojvodina, the northern province of Serbia—creates fruitful soil for intersectional research on national minority women living in this multicultural and multi-ethnic region. As Kathy Davis suggests, intersectionality was, “among other things, developed in order to complicate gender as the theoretical mainstay of feminist research” (2014: 23), however thus far feminist researchers missed in the Western part of the word the perspective of national minority women living in post-socialist countries of Eastern Europe. Examining the context of Vojvodina, allows us to observe the national minority experience through a gendered lens and fill the above-mentioned hiatus (Lendák-Kabók, 2016). For my analysis of the situation of sub-state national minority women in Serbian academia I will use Winker and Degele’s definition. According to this, intersectionality consists of three social constructions that interact: namely, a “system of interactions between inequality-creating social structures (i.e. of power relations), symbolic representations and identity constructions that are context-specific, topic-orientated and inextricably linked to social praxis” (2011: 58). In the following chapters I will thus examine how, in the context-specific social setting of the Serbian higher education system, the representations and identity constructions of a specific category of women—national minority academic staff members—evolve. Their position is a privileged one due to their socio-economic background (Fiket, 2018) (compared to women who work in less prestigious professions), yet they are also marginalized because they belong to a minority (Aavik, 2015), which leads to specific difficulties in relation to building an academic career, or obtaining access

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to powerful positions. The intersectional analysis will reveal the invisible biases which national minority women face during their career building, as well as when they have reached decision-making positions. The biases stem from gender, otherness and lack of belonging, and are also connected to the language barrier, and subsequently, to their “foreign accents” (Russo et al., 2017), all of which factors they need to overcome in the majority of cases. To achieve its full potential, intersectionality needs a definition and a methodology, which would eliminate any confusion among researchers concerning how, where, and when it should be applied (Davis, 2008: 78). While intersectionality was understood and employed in different ways, Leslie McCall managed to group these various applications into three types: anti-categorical, inter-categorical, and intra-categorical, the last one being the middle-ground between the two former ones. Anticategorical approach was born out of (feminist) postmodernist and poststructuralist critiques addressing the use of analytical categories. The anticategorical approach suggests that social categories are simplifying social fictions that produce inequalities in the process of producing differences and therefore aims to deconstruct them. Inter-categorical approach requires temporarily adopting existing analytical categories to document relationships of inequality along multiple and conflicting dimensions, while intra-categorical approach acknowledges the stable and even durable relationships that social categories represent at any given point in time, although it also maintains a critical stance towards categories. McCall suggests that it can be used for dealing with social groups at neglected points of intersection so that it could reveal the complexity of lived experience within such groups (2005: 1773). Academics being inspired by poststructuralism mostly fall into the first category, statistical research on different types of inequalities most often uses the second, and researchers focusing on marginalized groups usually employ the third approach (McCall, 2005: 1774). One must keep in mind that as McCall suggests, not all research dealing with intersectionality can be classified into one of these approaches. In this book intersectionality as a theoretical and methodological tool was used for analysing the interaction of gender and nationality that produces social inequalities and power positions (Lykke, 2010). As this

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strategy primarily focuses on rendering the invisible visible, intersectionality was deemed the perfect tool for the analysis of the position of national minority women following their educational progress from the end of high school through the higher education system of Serbia with regard to their individual-level focus on constituting their identities through a process of differentiation from others, while at the same time creating a sense of belonging (Winker & Degele, 2011), or positioning themselves as others (Spivak, 1985). Thus, when it comes to the context of Vojvodina, I argue that if we add national minority experience to gender differences, we are getting a new “matrix” of inequality, the axes of which cannot be observed separately. (Lendák-Kabók, 2016) In this book, intersectionality theory was adopted and used for the first time in the Vojvodinian context, paving the path for the researchers who will be picking up, or continuing to research the sub-state ethnic minorities in Central and Eastern Europe from an intersectional perspective.

1.4

A Trailguide to This Book

After the introductory part in Chapter 2 presents education from the perspective of ethnic minorities, first giving an overview on how education in a national minority language effects the national minority communities, continuing with the education possibilities of the three ethnic minorities this book focuses on (Hungarian, Slovak and Romanian). Furthermore, Chapter 2 also discusses the institutional support of cultural autonomy of ethnic minorities through National Councils in Serbia, along with the respective NGOs which are supporting, mostly from kin-state funds (i.e. Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania) national minority education, filling the gap of the lack of official, state-funded higher education in national minority languages. Chapter 3 discusses and present an overview of the gendered perspective on higher education, giving the readers an opportunity to engage with the question of being a woman in an “old boys’ club,” which is still full of biases towards women and minorities. In Chapter 4, through questionnairebased and interview-based data I investigate the ways in which language,

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as an ethnic component, shapes the career paths of high school graduates becoming a determinative factor of their future education. In Chapter 5, I present and discuss questionnaire-based and interview-based data on national minority women (and men) through their experiences as students in the higher education system of Serbia, until their position as academics in the Serbian higher education system. It should be noted, that this book is not covering any longitudinal research, all the actors in the book were approached almost the same time. The questionnairebased and interview-based data in Chapters 4 and 5 were used to analyse two very important aspects of the status of ethnic minorities (special focus on women) in the Serbian higher education system. First, through the self-assessment of the national minority high school graduates’ majority langauge skills, through the analysis of the qualitative data regarding the languge skills of the national minority students arguing on how the lack of/scarce/ poor Serbian language skills can become an element of inequality between the majority and the (ethnic) minority population. In the end (national minority and majority) men’s narratives are presented from the perspective of the language barrier and its performativity. Chapter 6 discusses the status of both national minority women and men (Hungarian, Slovak and Romanian) and majority (Serbian) women and men and their motivation for reaching decision-making positions. The analysis will show that most of the respondents’ narratives reveal their demotivation to reach decision-making positions. In the analysis, I introduced and explained the strategies the respondents were using to talk about their motivation/lack of motivation and their possibilities to build a career in the Serbian academia. These strategies are important for them to explain the perceived reasons behind their actions and their lack of motivation. It might be that their lack of motivation is a strategy for not wanting to take a stand against the system, which is rigid towards women, especially if they are from a national minority group. When it comes to majority women, the analysis shows how they are narrating about minority women’s chance to build a career in the academia and to reach decision-making positions within it. Men in

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their narratives reveal how women have an unfavourable position within academia, but also how they blame the society and gender stereotypes for women’s position, instead of actively doing something against it. The analysis of the interviews shows that the strategies differ between genders and that there is a nationality-based difference as well. In Chapter 6 I will also explore how national minority and majority women narrate whether, by adopting masculine behaviours, they can prove their ability to be “good engineers,” and whether this behaviour is diminishing the significance of their gender (Powell & Sang, 2015: 930).

1.5

Author Positionality and Stance

In the beginning of this book, I feel the need to present myself too. I am an “in-group” member of the Hungarian national minority community in Vojvodina, However, when the research was ongoing, it was not part of the Serbian higher education system. I was a Ph.D. student with no official teaching engagement at any of the Serbian universities, meaning that I was not employed, rather I was someone who was coming from “outside” the system, doing a self-financed Ph.D. at the Centre for Gender Studies, a standalone institution within the University of Novi Sad. Not being employed as a teaching assistant or researcher at the time when I was doing my Ph.D. was a setback—mainly because it meant that when I will have defended my Ph.D., I would not have a traditional path of an academic in Serbia. At the same time, though I was an “outsider” with no stakes, I was still fairly familiar with the “inside system” as my husband was working at the Faculty of Technical Sciences as an Assistant Professor. This position was an opportunity for me, as I got to ask questions more openly and more precisely from my respondents. Beside my direct and indirect experiences, the personal testimonies of my respondents were the most valuable assets of my research, as no previous research on the position of national minority women in the Serbian academia was conducted beforehand.

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References Aavik, K. (2015). Intersectional disadvantage and privilege in the Estionian labour market: An analysis of work narrative of Russian-speaking women and men. Dissertation on Social Sciences, Tallin University. Acker, S., & Armenti, C. (2004). Sleepless in academia. Gender and Education, 16 (1), 3–24. Beauvoir, S., Borde, C., & Malovany-Chevallier, S. (2010). The second sex. Alfred A. Knopf. Brah, A., & Phoenix, A. (2004). Ain’t i a woman? Revisiting intersectionality. Journal of International Women’s Studies, 5 (3), 75–86. Brubaker, R. (1996) Nationalism reframed: Nationhood and the national question in the new Europe. Cambridge University Press. Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge. Carastathis, A. (2014). The concept of intersectionality in feminist theory. Philosophy Compass, 9 (5), 304–314. Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of race and sex: A Black feminist critique of antidiscrimination doctrine, feminist theory and antiracist politics. University of Chicago Legal Forum, 140, 139–167. Crenshaw, K. W. (1994). Foreword: Toward a race-conscious pedagogy in legal education. Southern California Review of Law and Women’s Studies, 4, 33. Davis, K. (2008). Intersectionality as buzzword: A sociology of science perspective on what makes a feminist theory successful. Feminist Theory, 9 (1), 67–85. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464700108086364 Davis, K. (2014). Intersectionality as a critical methodology. In N. Lykke (Ed.), Writing academic texts differently: Intersectional feminist methodologies and the playful art of writing (pp. 17–29). New York: Routledge. Davis, K., & Žarkov, D. (2017). EJWS retrospective on intersectionality. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 24 (4), 313–320. Devic, A. (2002). Prospects of multicultural regionalism as a democratic barrier against ethnonationalism: The case of Vojvodina, Serbia’s ‘multiethnic haven’ . https://agris.fao.org/agris-search/search.do?recordID=US2016213078 Er˝oss, Á., Filep, B., Tátrai, P., Rácz, K., Váradi, M. M., & Wastl-Walter, D. (2011). Tanulmányi célú migráció, migráns élethelyzetek: Vajdasági diákok Magyarországon. Tér És Társadalom, 25 (4), 3–19. https://doi.org/10.17649/ tet.25.4.1936 Fenton, S. (2003). Ethnicity. Cambridge: Polity Press.

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Sebestyén, Zs. (2016). Az interszekcionalitás elméleti megközelítései. METSZETEK 2016/2, 108–126. ˇ Šimonji-Cernak, R. (2009). Psihološka analiza i efekti porgrama obrazovanja slovaˇcke jeziˇcke manjine u Srbiji, Mad-arskoj i Rumuniji [Doctoral dissertation]. Univerzitet u Novom Sadu. Spivak G. C. (1985). The Rani of Sirmur: An essay in reading the archives. History and Theory, 24 (3), 247–272. Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the subaltern speak? In C. Nelson & L. Grossberg (Eds.), Marxism and the interpretation of culture (pp. 66–109). University of Illinois Press. Székely, G. I., & Horváth, I. (2014). Diversity recognition and minority representation in Central and Southeast Europe: A comparative analysis. Nationalities Papers: The Journal of Nationalism and Nationality, 42(3), 426–448. https://doi.org/10.1080/00905992.2014.916660 Takács, Z. (2013). Fels˝ooktatási határ/helyzetek. Magyarságkutató Tudományos Társaság. Tierney, W. G., & Bensimon, E. M. (1996). Promotion and tenure: Community and socialization in academe. State University of New York Press. Váradi, M. M. (2013). Migrációstörténetek, döntések ésnarratívidentitás: A tanulmányi célú migrációról–másként. Tér és Társadalom, 27 (2), 96–117. https://doi.org/10.17649/tet.27.2.2520 Verloo, M. (2006). Multiple inequalities, intersectionality and the European Union. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 13(3), 211–228. Vincze, E. (2014). The racialization of Roma in the ‘new’ Europe and the political potential of Romani women. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 21(4), 435–442. Winker, G., & Degele, N. (2011). Intersectionality as multi-level analysis: Dealing with social inequality. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 18(1), 51–66. Yuval-Davis, N. (1996). Women and the biological reproduction of “The nation”. Women’s Studies International Forum, 19 (1/2), 17–24. Yuval-Davis, N. (1997). Nationality, gender relations and multiculturalism. In P. Werbner & T. Modood (Eds.), Debating cultural hybridity (pp. 193–208). Zed Books. Zaharijevi´c, A. (2008). Kratka istorija sporova: šta je feminizam. In A. Zaharijevi´c (Ed.), Neko je rekao feminizam? Kako je feminizam uticao na žene XXI veka (pp. 384–415). Heinrich Böll Stiftung.

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2 Education in the Lives of Eastern European National Minority Women

During the twentieth century, besides the two world wars, Eastern European countries underwent three further dramatic macro social and political changes: the liberation from influence of other empires and the creation of independent nation states (trajectories from pre-modern to modern social form included); the communist takeover; and the rebuilding of democratic political systems combined with the transition to market economies. Eastern Europe’s acceptance of Western models was overall far smoother, more voluntary, more rife with self-colonizing tendencies, and more urgently executed than in other postcolonial locales, because of Eastern Europe’s geographic, political, and cultural proximity to Western Europe (Kovaˇcevi´c, 2008). Blagojevi´c refers to former state socialist countries as transitional countries at the semiperiphery of Europe, which are in different stages in the process of transformation, and, although in many ways diverse, are also very deeply embedded in their semi-peripheral position of the global market and global knowledge production (2004).

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 K. Lendák-Kabók, National Minorities in Serbian Academia, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02367-5_2

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Because of these circumstances, many Eastern European women are living in an area still affected by the economic transition. Female academics in ECE think that a “woman has to work twice as hard” to get accepted and fulfil academic requirements (Blagojevi´c, 1991; Blagojevi´c Hjuson, 2015). Blagojevi´c argued that scientists from the Balkans are still not properly included in the international professional community, and neither is their work significantly visible outside their (usually very small) local scientific communities (2009: 111). The problem is largely exacerbated by the lack of possibility to publish and by language barriers, i.e. lack of professional English language skills (Blagojevi´c, 2009: 111; Curry & Lillis, 2014). Small local scientific communities, which by the dissolution of former Yugoslavia became even smaller, do not have the critical mass necessary for the development of science and creation of local epistemic communities (Blagojevi´c, 2009: 111). Former state socialist countries, at the semi-periphery1 of Europe, which are in different stages of the enlargement process, although in many ways different between themselves, are deeply embedded in their semi-peripheral position of the global market and global knowledge production (Blagojevi´c, 2004). Formal structures of state socialism acted to foster neo-traditionalism and traditional gender roles (Watson, 1993). Women scientists in Eastern Europe are often not sufficiently aware of the latest efforts in the gender equality domain, therefore they are making sense of their situation through speaking about generally bad conditions in which scientific institutions are, and they often lack a gender-sensitive understanding of their own marginalization and exclusion (Blagojevi´c, 2009: 110). Even though the conditions in the higher education institutions are still poor, the number of women working therein is rising. However, the predominant cause for the rise in numbers of female academics could be the fact that men are striving for better paid jobs in the industry and leave academia or do not even enter it in the first place (CEDAW Serbia, 2006). This comes as no surprise according to Eurostat

1 “Semi-periphery” is a theoretical concept that denotes the structural “interspace” at the European level, but also of regions on a global level, which is a dynamic result of the existence of a “center” and a “periphery” (Hughson, 2015: 22).

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that suggests that most ECE countries spend on science and development less than 1% of their GDP (Europe 2020 indicators, 2020). During state socialism, the labour market was segregated into better paid male and less paid female areas and although this phenomenon was noticed in Western countries as well, there was an important difference: in former state socialist countries up to now there is a persistent lack of gender awareness among women themselves, including women in science, which has become a major breaking factor to women’s career advancement: career limits were accepted as a natural consequence of their dual role which implies balancing between career and family obligations and very low sensitivity to unequal treatment.

2.1

Gender in Higher Education

Higher education plays a significant role in the creation and reproduction of the gendered privileges for men, as well as the subordinate status of women (Cotterill & Letherby, 2005). Statistics show that although more women qualify for professorship, significantly more women are eliminated while climbing the steps to the top of the career ladder (Niegel, 2014), which fact can be attributed to gender-based discrimination (Mercer, 2013). The “feminized work” that is associated with the academic profession (such as teaching, advising, and service provision) is not typically associated with great professional prestige (MartinezAleman, 2014; Thomas & Davies, 2002). Scientific excellence appears as one of the key factors in success, and suggests a purely meritocratic system. Meritocracy emerges as a paradigm for making sense of the ´ way academia is organized (Sliwa & Johansson, 2013: 838), however, scientific excellence is a very debatable category when viewed from the perspective of gender equality, as women start out with a social disadvantage (Pet˝o, 2018). Namely, the problem of balancing an academic career and caring work related to a family inevitably leads to a lower level of scientific production (Acker & Armenti, 2004), with women being most affected (Lendák-Kabók, 2020). Another argument for the former claim is that men may obtain higher h-index scores than women despite being cited less often as authors due to the “sexual dimorphism”

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of self-citation. Since research performance is evaluated through quantitative measures, women are thus left at a disadvantage (Cameron et al., 2016). The experience of academia being organized according to male norms and standards can be seen in the light of research, meaning that academia displays a dominant masculinity, especially in fields like engineering, which historically has been considered a dirty, hard, and tough profession (Määttä & Dahlborg Lyckhage, 2011: 387). This is the case in Serbia as well due to horizontal segregation, which is manifest in the feminization of some scientific fields and the much weaker representation of women in others (for example, computer science) as they are discouraged opting for STEM by gender stereotypes (Lendák-Kabók, 2021b, c). It may be assumed that different sciences are “open” to women to different extents and that if women build careers in those sciences, which are “more open,” they generally encounter fewer obstacles than in STEM areas (Blagojevi´c, 2009: 111). Although many attempts have been made to address the “women in science problem,” there are no detailed recommendations for reducing the present inequalities (Lehr, 2001: 504). In terms of addressing the issue of women’s underrepresentation in STEM studies, Alper argues that it is not biology but society which steers men and women to make different choices because “almost from birth, society sends girls and boys different messages about their abilities and expectations” (Alper, 1993: 410), thus an upbringing that communicates that STEM jobs are not for women (Geerdink et al., 2011) may deter women from opting for STEM. This is especially true of fields like engineering, which historically has been considered a dirty, hard, and tough profession (Määttä & Dahlborg Lyckhage, 2011: 387). Research findings indicate that efforts to reduce discrimination, create positive female role models and establish social support in traditionally male academic settings can have a meaningful impact on women’s willingness to pursue careers and persist in these environments (Smart Richman et al., 2011: 507). Even if women do opt for STEM studies, they may be challenged to stay in their fields of study after obtaining their degrees. Blickenstaff has introduced the “leaky pipeline” as a metaphor, which is “frequently used

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to describe the fact that women are under-represented in STEM careers” (2005: 369). Case and Richley (2013: 344) claim that the leaky pipeline exists due to a definition of scientific success that is linear and male, whereby climbing the career ladder can be done in only one way or not at all, with no opportunity for exit and re-entry. In STEM, women often have to accept the terms of the “patriarchal bargain” (Kandiyoti, 1988)— a situation in which women intentionally choose to accommodate and uphold patriarchal norms and gender roles (instead of trying to dismantle them), while at the same time working laboriously to succeed in a “man’s world.” Women may adhere to gendered expectations and norms within their disciplines to discursively distance themselves from other women they perceive as having deviated from such norms and expectations. The type of distancing in which these respondents engage reflects and supports gendered structures, cultures, and practices that ultimately disadvantage women and obscure gender inequality (Rhoton, 2011). Bourdieu and Wacquant (1992) have argued that gender inequality is reproduced through “symbolic violence,” meaning that it may take the form of people being denied resources, treated as inferior or being limited in terms of realistic aspirations (Powell & Sang, 2015: 921). Women faculty members in STEM also report a collective lack of mentoring and supportive policies (particularly regarding work–life balance), often leading to burnout (Blackburn, 2017). Although many women in STEM do not connect their challenging experiences to gender, they may still internalize and reproduce genderrelated biases which imply that women are not suited to some STEM careers because of the inborn differences between men and women (Powell & Sang, 2015: 927). Women in such environments also tend to differentiate themselves from other women, perhaps suggesting that because they can survive within a masculine environment, they perceive themselves as better than other women who work in other disciplines or do not work at all (Powell & Sang, 2015: 927). They often adopt a strategy of emulating the male career model (Etzkowitz et al., 2000; Powell & Sang, 2015; Rhoton, 2011), along with practices that are more congruent with masculine norms (Miller, 2002; Powell et al., 2008).

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Nationality in Higher Education

Inequalities in societies are still shaped by social categories such as race and/or nationality. The related social barriers may be deconstructed through academic knowledge production, as this represents a perfect arena in which to shape the knowledge of future generations (Davila & Aviles, 2018: 122). However, even in an environment that cherishes equality, such as in Finnish academia, several social categories (such as gender, nationality, age, and class) make a difference in relation to measurable success (Huopalainen & Satama, 2001: 3). Moreover, higher education, albeit ostensibly accessible to everyone, does not offer the same experience to all, nor it is likely to offer everyone the same rewards (Reay et al., 2001: 871). For example, going to university and building a career at a university sometimes represents a breakthrough for members of national minority communities (Ball et al., 2002), especially if it means studying in the non-mother tongue. However, this may be problematic, since education in one’s mother tongue is crucial for the preservation of one’s national identity. Researchers in Serbia point out that learning in primary and secondary level of education only in the minority language might bring a future risk for members of ethnic minorities since in Serbia there are only a few options for continuing higher education studies in minority languages, (Filipovi´c et al., 2007). In Serbia, the teaching of all classes in primary and secondary education in a minority language, with only a few hours of Serbian as a majority language per week, has created generations of unbalanced bilinguals who are characterized by a very low level of proficiency in the Serbian language (Filipovi´c et al., 2007). In addition to insufficient support for majority language teaching, Nad- claims that for example when it comes to the Hungarian national minority, many young Hungarians in Serbia have resisted learning the Serbian language since the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s (2006: 448), when nationality became a tension-filled topic due to political propaganda. Consequently, these individuals face difficulties during their post-secondary education in Serbia, and/or struggle to find satisfactory employment, which by default requires knowledge of Serbian (Filipovi´c et al., 2007). National minority students first need to overcome the language barrier (i.e., to

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learn Serbian) when starting their studies, which requires time, effort, and sacrifice (Lendák-Kabók & Lendák, 2017). Research confirms that speaking the majority language with a foreign accent can have a number of effects on the working environments of those who need to use a non-mother tongue at work in terms of work experience, performance assessment at work, and task assignment, as well as on career outcomes, i.e. career advancement, and satisfaction with one’s career (Russo et al., 2017). It can be concluded that due to language-related challenges today in Serbia very few national minority students are able to build a career in academia. This was not the case in the socialist era in Yugoslavia when the Communist Party believed that, in order to successfully run a country with such a diverse population, it was extremely important to respect ethnic quotas: i.e., the proportion of state officials, military officers, university professors, and judges from minority and majority ethnic groups had to correspond to the national structure of the population (Miladinovi´c, 2003: 39).

2.3

Minority Language Education and the Language Barrier

Although linguistic diversity remains one of the key values of the European project, the EU has relatively limited competence to manage this issue (Kraus & Kazlauskaite-Gürbüz, 2014: 524). In other words, every country autonomously deals with the issue of minority languages. Language may be important to a group at a symbolic level (Jaspal, 2009: 18) and is strongly connected to one’s ethnic identity. “If a language is separated from its cultural context, it will not remain a community language and only functioning as such can its existence be assured” (Dołowy-Rybi´nska, 2015: 260). Language is an important component of maintaining one’s ethnic identity. The cultural-linguistic majority’s attempt to establish a cohesive national identity may be detrimental to a minority groups’ identity, since an important component of self-identity, namely language, is often at stake (De Vos, 1995). The official language is bound to the state and “integration into a single

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‘linguistic community,’ which is a product of the political domination that is endlessly reproduced by institutions capable of imposing universal recognition of the dominant language” (Bourdieu, 1991: 46). When it comes to minority groups, education in one’s mother tongue is crucial for the preservation of one’s national identity. The importance of education in one’s mother tongue is increasingly emphasized in multilingual regions, as teaching and learning in one’s mother tongue improves learning outcomes in primary schools (Seid, 2016). Education in the mother tongue not only helps preserving the mother tongue, but, in addition to the linguistic dimension, it has an ethnic dimension. The “community’s imagined future” also requires the use of the mother tongue (Papp, 2015: 51). National minorities seek some form of institutionalization of the mother tongue education, and use their own language at school as a means of preventing or reducing linguistic assimilation (ibid.). To bring an example from the many different ethnic minorities of Europe, for instance Swedish-speaking Finns have no clear incentive for a “mother country”-type of affiliation to Sweden (Moring & Husband, 2007: 95). The mother tongue education (Mansikka & Holm, 2011) and media (Moring & Husband, 2007) of the former are quite strong in Finland. In Lithuania, the Polish minority has the right for a mother tongue education, however the Law on Language introduced in 2011 does not favour the Polish minority, as since 2013 all high-school students have been required to pass a unified Lithuanian language exam, with which Polish students have typically struggled after having 700 fewer hours of Lithuanian language lessons than their peers from Lithuanian schools (Barwi´nski & Le´sniewska, 2014). In Hungary, the Slovak community has “Slovak national education”; the term refers to a network of schools that educate members of the Slovak community with an aim ˇ 2012). to preserve and develop the Slovak language (Šimonji Cernak, However, this has failed to avert progressive linguistic assimilation in the family environment, weak national awareness, deficiencies in the system of learning the Slovak language at an earlier period, and the dominance of the Hungarian language in the modern school system,

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ˇ but has increased interest in learning foreign languages (Šimonji Cernak, 2012). In Serbia, minority language education might be associated with risks for minority students. Filipovi´c, Vuˇco, and Ðuri´c assess this issue in Serbia, stating that the teaching of all classes in primary and secondary education in a minority language, with only a few hours per week of Serbian as a majority language, has created generations of unbalanced bilinguals, characterized by a very low level of Serbian proficiency (Filipovi´c et al., 2007). In the first and second year of elementary school there are 72 classes of Serbian for minority students, and 180 classes of Serbian for majority students, while in the third and fourth year of elementary school there are 108 Serbian language classes per year for national minority students.2 In addition to the low number of majority language classes in school, young people living in the north of Baˇcka, where the majority of Hungarians live in Serbia, have typically resisted to learn the state language since the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s (Nad-, 2006: 448).3 Consequently, they face difficulties during their post-secondary education in Serbia, and/or struggle to find satisfactory employment, which by default requires knowledge of Serbian (Filipovi´c et al., 2007). These national minority students first need to overcome the language barrier (i.e., to learn Serbian) when starting their studies, which requires time, effort, and sacrifice (Lendák-Kabók & Popov, 2019; LendákKabók, 2021a). As research shows, minority students around Europe may end up in very different situations after finishing secondary school (Khattab, 2018). For instance in Britain members of immigrant national

2

Bylaw on the curriculum for the first, second, third and fourth grade of primary education and Bylaw on the curriculum for the third grade of primary education (Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia, no. 1/2005, 15/2006, 2/2008, 2/2010, 7/2010, 3/2011—other bylaw 7/2011—other bylaw, 1/2013, 11/2014, 11/2016 and 12/2018). 3 With the start of the Yugoslav wars, intolerance arose among refugees and the majority nation towards sub-state national groups that were living in Vojvodina. This was mainly manifested through low-intensity, inter-ethnic conflicts within the younger population, or in the public scolding of members of ethnic minorities who used their language in the streets and on public transport.

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minority communities demonstrate high levels of motivation and enrolment in higher and further education (Lessard-Phillips et al., 2018). The situation is quite different in Italy, where only a fragment of nonItalian secondary school graduates continue their studies at the university level compared to their Italian peers (Mantovani et al., 2018). A study of Turkish and Roma ethnic minorities living in Bulgaria showed that they had lower education levels and lower employment rates than their Bulgarian majority peers (Trentini, 2014).

2.4

Continuing Education and the Educational Migration of National Minority Students

Educational migration can be a form of transmigration that takes place when young people move from their home country to another country for the sake of better educational opportunities (Badikyan, 2011). Such migrants aspire to eventually obtain better career prospects, a higher salary, new professional experiences and contacts, more motivating and interesting jobs, and/or better training facilities (Stukalina et al., 2018). Skill acquisition plays an important role at many stages of an individual’s migration (Dustmann & Glitz, 2011). Some researchers argue that educational migration is unfavourable for the country of origin, as it produces brain drain, which has an economic and social impact (Teferra, 2005; Tremblay, 2005; Váradi, 2013). Others claim the opposite, highlighting the positive effects of a “brain circulation” that creates knowledge networks, enriching all parties that are involved (Walker, 2010; Woolley et al., 2008). Earlier studies have emphasized the role of socio-economic background in graduates’ post-secondary destinations (Foley, 2001). For example, students from lower income families were found to be particularly likely to attend less selective institutions, regardless of their level of academic ability, achievement, and aspirations (Muskens et al., 2019). Educational migration from Serbia to Hungary, with a focus on higher education, has become one of the most typical forms of migration from Serbia, and is determined both by ethnic and economic factors (Takács

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et al., 2013: 78). Research conducted by Takács et al. indicated that this kind of educational migration is not transnational (i.e. involving resettlement, return, move to a third country, circulation), but that, in the majority of cases, migration for education constitutes the first step towards permanently leaving the country of origin (ibid.). About onethird of local national minority Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian high school students from Vojvodina leave to study abroad, predominantly in ˇ 2009; Takács, their motherlands (Puja-Badescu, 2009; Šimonji-Cernak, 2013), causing a severe brain drain from Serbia, which has been ongoing for several decades (Gábrity-Molnár, 2009). Regarding the effect this has on Hungary, for example, Váradi (2013: 97) states that it profits since it benefits from educational migrants who speak the Hungarian language— language proficiency being the most commonly required skill of migrants (Raghuram, 2013: 140). The privilege of having appropriate language skills eases social and cultural integration (ibid.). Accordingly, migration for emigration is considered a form of elite migration, reserved for the most part to the upper and middle classes (Brubaker, 1996: 157). When it comes to the Romanian national minority in Vojvodina, most parents enrol their children into the Serbian school system on the assumption that better social integration and the obtaining of Serbian language skills will make it easier for their children to continue their education (PujaBadescu, 2009). Such decisions surely have advantages, especially with regard to learning Serbian terminology in subjects such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, etc. On the other hand, in such settings the native (Romanian) language is not taught and cultivated further; consequently, the Romanian language skills of national minority Romanians remain at the level of the preschool period (Puja-Badescu, 2009). At the same time, when these ethnic Romanian high school graduates continue their higher education in Romania (which has also been a trend in recent years), their Serbian language elementary and high school education is by no means an advantage (Puja-Badescu, 2009). Vojvodina Slovaks study in Slovakia as foreign students with special benefits (Zlatanovi´c & Marušiak, 2018). Many of them receive scholarships from the Slovak government that cover tuition costs that would potentially not be covered by Serbia. The interviewees who participated in research undertaken by Zlatanovi´c and Marušiak (2018) generally gave pragmatic reasons for their decision to

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study in Slovakia—for example, after graduation they would get a job there, and with a diploma earned in the EU they could continue their education or seek employment in more developed countries. Some of them were attracted to specific study programs that universities in Serbia did not offer (Lendák-Kabók et al., 2020).

2.5

Gender in Continuing Education and Educational Migration

In the past continuing education has been reserved for boys, who usually received more resources from their parents to pursue their education either because parents expected higher economic returns from their sons’ education, or because of traditional gender roles, according to which women do not need, or even should not have, a formal, advanced education (Schneebaum et al., 2016: 240). In Europe today there are considerably more young women studying at both the bachelor‘s and master‘s level than young men (Eurostat, 2016). Recent years have also seen a focus on campaigns that encourage female students to study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses (Dingwall, 2016). Studying in a foreign country might be appealing to young women as they may see it as a way of exercising their freedom and independence, therefore, opportunities for student mobility are especially important for women, although the level of participation of female staff and faculty mobility at university decreases after graduation, usually due to family and care responsibilities (Juhász et al., 2005). The Erasmus student program has significantly enhanced mobility and opened up opportunities for educational migration in Europe. In 2000–2001, 59% of all Erasmus students were female (Juhász et al., 2005: 177). Language skills play an important part in the considerations that precede a decision to go abroad (ibid). Gender differences in educational migration in the Carpathian basin among national minority students have previously received little scholarly attention. The only gendered difference that has been recorded

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among national minority students is that young women have a slightly greater desire to continue their studies than young men (Papp, 2003). With regard to the extent to which national minority women are the subjects of high-profile forms of feminist activism and academic knowledge production, it is clear that middle-class white women (and their interests) continue to dominate (Evans, 2015). However, maintaining a focus on national minority women represents an asset to contemporary feminist activism and academic research, increasing the diversity thereof by centring more on aspects of inclusion compared to second-wave feminism (Evans, 2015). On the one hand, studies on intersectionality and the symbolic representation of national minority women indicate that the latter are more frequently mentioned in relation to both gendered and racial identities than their majority female and minority male peers. This more frequent highlighting of issues connected to race/nationality and gender suggests an awareness of intersectional identities. Other studies imply that national minority women are more aware of their ethnic identity than their gender (Aavik, 2015). Ethnic minorities are underrepresented in academia—and their opportunities for obtaining decision-making positions are challenged as well. For instance, out of the 18 rectors that the University of Novi Sad (Serbia) has had in the last almost 70 years, three were women, but none have been members of a national minority from Vojvodina (Savi´c, 2015). Nonetheless, minority women play an important but invisible and somewhat burdensome role in maintaining ethnic communities. Yuval-Davis (1996: 17) argues that women reproduce symbolically their ethnic and national collectives, as well as their workforce, families, and the citizenry of their states. Speaking further about the burden that minority women must shoulder, Acker and Armenti (2004) argue that women who belong to a minority group feel they face additional pressure. This phenomenon Tierney and Bensimon (1996) call cultural taxation. The term implies that, in addition to achieving success in academia, academics from minority communities are confronted with additional expectations in relation to mentoring and supporting students from minority communities. Their present struggle with a sense of otherness (Spivak, 1988) is now perceived differently than in the communist era, when they could benefit from it (Jensen, 2011) due to the existence of a quota system

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(Miladinovi´c, 2003), which made it easier for members of ethnic minorities, and thus national minority women, to build their careers and reach decision-making positions in academia. The socialist era is gone, and today there are neither quota systems nor affirmative action related to gender or nationality. Therefore, it is much harder for ethnic minorities in general, and specifically for national minority women, to build careers in academia and to reach decision-making positions. In addition, members of minority communities may struggle with a minority complex that is connected to a feeling of inferiority related to belonging to a group that is different from the majority (Maran, 2013).

2.6

Women’s Careers and Leadership Positions in Academia

Women are underrepresented in top scientific and academic positions: only 18% of full professors in Europe are women; 13% of heads of higher education institutions and 22% of board members in research decisionmaking (Structural change in research institutions: Enhancing excellence, gender equality and efficiency in research and innovation, 2012). The same report claims that low numbers of women in decision-making positions throughout the system of science and technology is a waste of talent that European economies cannot afford Benschop and Brouns argue that the continuous poor representation of women in the highest ranks and the numerical dominance of men in the academic professions stand out as warnings that something is the matter with gender and academia (2003: 195). Leadership within the academic community is a key factor for initiating and implementing change (Lendák-Kabók, 2018b). The number of female researchers in the highest-level positions is limited, as women who seek to reach decision-making positions must effectively balance family obligations, have family support, nurture friendships with colleagues, and successfully cooperate with management (Shahtalebi et al., 2011). Even though a masculine culture and practices are not an all-encompassing explanation for the underrepresentation of women, a

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patriarchal value system makes it difficult for women to reach leading positions, or develop the desire to do so (Linková, 2017: 61). On the one hand, some women do not see themselves as leaders because they prefer not to internalize the values that are believed necessary for holding such positions (Miši´c Andri´c & Markov, 2018). Other women strive for leading positions and therefore accept the need to ape the behaviour patterns of individuals in such positions (Madden, 2002), in other words, they enter the “patriarchal bargain” (Kandiyoti, 1988). It also should be noted, as Acker (2012: 423) argues, that even when a woman takes up a leading position, this is an insufficient guarantee of major change in the status quo of masculinist discourse due to layers of history and normative expectations. Although women leaders ought to empower other women (Cox, 2008), a lack of solidarity often exists that may be the result of the neoliberal transformation of academia and the atomization of human and professional relations within the higher education system (Žarkov, 2015), as well as the difficulties some women have engaging with the parameters of success as defined by the neoliberal project (Tsouroufli, 2018: 12). According to recent research, female academic staff members in Serbia, especially in Vojvodina regardless of their nationality, are generally not interested in attaining high positions in the management structures of the university (Lendák-Kabók, 2018a).

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Lehr, J. L. (2001). Athena unbound: The advancement of women in science and technology (book review). BioScience, 51(6), 504–509. Lendák-Kabók, K. (2018a). National minority women in decision-making positions in Serbian Academia—Illusion or reality? In M. Gadpaille, V. Kondriˇc Horvat, & V. Kennedy (Eds.), Engendering difference: Sexism, power and politics (pp. 101–121). Cambridge. Lendák-Kabók, K. (2018b). Visoke akademske pozicije u Srbiji: mogu´cnosti za pripadnice nacionalnih zajednica? Sociologija, 60 (1): 330–346. Lendák-Kabók, K. (2020). Women’s work–life balance strategies in academia. Journal of Family Studies, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/13229400.2020. 1802324 Lendák-Kabók, K. (2021a). A gender perspective on language, ethnicity, and otherness in the Serbian Higher Education System. Journal of Language, Identity and Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2021.1920415. Scholar Publishing. Lendák-Kabók, K. (2021b). Does ethnicity count when contextualizing the low proportion of women in STEM in Serbia? Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 40 (5), 525–541. https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-082020-0236 Lendák-Kabók, K. (2021c). Stavovi profesorki manjinske i ve´cinske nacionalnosti o ženama u STEM oblastima u Srbiji. Sociologija, 63(1), 143–165. Lendák-Kabók, K., & Lendák, I. (2017). Language barrier faced by Hungarian women students and teaching staff in the higher education system in Serbia. In J. Filipovi´c & J. Vuˇco (Eds.), Minority languages in education and language learning: Challenges and new perspectives (pp. 281–294). Belgrade: University of Belgarde. Lendák-Kabók, K., & Popov, S. (2019). Rodne razlike pri izboru studija maturanata mad-arske, slovaˇcke i rumunske nacionalne manjine u Srbiji. Sociologija, 61(1), 75–86. Lendák-Kabók, K., Popov, S., & Lendák, I. (2020). The educational migration of sub-state ethnic minorities on the outskirts of the EU: A case study of Serbia, intersections. East European Journal of Society and Politics, 6 (2), 130– 153. Lessard-Phillips, L., Boliver, V., Pampaka, M., & Swain, D. (2018). Exploring ethnic differences in the post-university destinations of Russell Group graduates. Ethnicities, 18(4), 496–517. https://doi.org/10.1177/146879681877 7543

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3 Limited Options: National Minority Education in Serbia

In order to unfold the status of minority women in the higher education system of Serbia, it is necessary to introduce the educational possibilities for national minority students in Serbia. Firstly, I will list those universities, where minority students can study (partially or entirely) in their mother tongue. I will also list the high schools, where ethnic Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian students can study in their mother tongue. Next comes the analysis of the number of national minority students at the University of Novi Sad between 2009 and 2014. These statistical data are hard to get, I have been lucky enough to receive them from a vice-rector for education at that time, who was of Hungarian origin. What is also important to mention is that according to the Constitution of Serbia (Article 47, 2006) no one is obliged to reveal his/her nationality/national belonging, however the university enrolment form contained a question of ethnic belonging therefore this data was gathered. Further, the respective National Councils will be introduced and the possibilities which they offer in the field of education. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) with activities related to minority © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 K. Lendák-Kabók, National Minorities in Serbian Academia, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02367-5_3

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higher education will be introduced as well. These institutions constitute the framework within which female students and female teaching staff of national minority background obtain the necessary tuition and/or teach in their mother tongues. Although this book focuses on women members of three ethnic communities, the educational possibilities and the support regarding national minority education are the same for both genders.

3.1

Educational Possibilities of National Minority Students

3.1.1 Hungarian Language Education in Serbia, Secondary and Tertiary Level Twelve municipalities in Vojvodina offer a variety of high schools to ˇ Hungarian students in their mother tongue: Ada, Beˇcej, Kanjiža, Coka, Senta, Zrenjanin, Baˇcka Topola, Subotica, Sombor, Novi Keževac, Novi Sad, Temerin. Slovak students have the possibility to study in two municipalities in their mother tongue: Kovaˇcica and Baˇcki Petrovac. Romanian students also have the possibility to study in two municipalities in their mother tongue: Vršac and Alibunar. The high schools are listed in Table 3.1 (Appendix). Gender segregation is perceivable in these high schools. In more “feminine” vocational schools like the Hemijsko-prehrambena ˇ ˇ srednja škola Coka (Chemical-food Industry High School Coka) female high school students are overrepresented, while in technical schools like the Tehniˇcka Škola Ada (Technical School Ada) male students are overrepresented. Female students are overrepresented in most grammar schools (Serbian: gimnazija) as well. One such example is the Kosztolányi Dezs˝o Grammar School in Subotica, which is a language-oriented school. Two Serbian state universities1 offer higher education in the Hungarian language, the University of Novi Sad, which is the second largest university in Serbia, and the University of Belgrade, the largest 1

In this dissertation only the university tracks are discussed, other tertiary educational institutions are not included.

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university in Serbia. There was an initiative that a bilingual or trilingual, Hungarian—Serbian-English university should be founded in Subotica, but this initiative lost political support. Although the Hungarian government founded Hungarian language universities in Hungary’s neighbouring countries where a significant ethnic Hungarian population lives (Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine), this is not the case in Vojvodina (Serbia). On November 19, 2017 the Hungarian Training—Research— Cultural Center in Vojvodina was opened (Vajdasági Magyar Képz˝o— Kutató—Kulturális Központ—VM4K) in Subotica. It has various activities, mostly of cultural nature. It also offers Hungarian language master study programs in technical sciences and pedagogy in joint programs with universities from Hungary. These programs are not yet accredited in Serbia and therefore their degrees are not recognized. Whereas the degrees they are receiving are recognized in Hungary, thus this situation is contributing to the brain drain. The Novi Sad Faculty of Philosophy gives home to the Department of Hungarian Studies. Additional institutions with Hungarian only tuition tracks are the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad (acting classes) and the Teachers Training Faculty in Subotica. Hungarian education is partially available at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and at the Faculty of Economics in Subotica. A 2005 report assessed the quality of Hungarian education at the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, and at the Faculty of Technology (Szalma, 2005). The author expressed his concern about the Faculty of Medicine, where there were more than twenty Hungarian professors; still, there were neither classes nor consultations offered in Hungarian (Szalma, 2005). We should note that as the years pass, not only is the number of Hungarian students decreasing, but the number of Hungarian teaching staff at the UNS is shrinking as well. In this sense, the traditional possibilities for Hungarian students to study in their mother tongue are disappearing. The University of Belgrade, whose origins date back to 1808 and which was founded in 1905, is the largest university in the country. Students may study Hungarian as a foreign language at the Department for Hungarian Language, Literature and Culture at the Faculty of Philology, but their number of students is continuously decreasing.

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Most of the students have no Hungarian ethnic roots, instead they are somehow connected to or interested in the Hungarian culture and language. At the same faculty in Belgrade, there is a Department of Slavonic Languages, Literature and Culture, where students can study Slovak language, literature, and culture, while at the Department for Romance Languages, Literature and Culture, they can study Romanian. These departments have only a few professors and the number of students is small, usually less than twenty.

3.1.2 Slovak Language Education in Serbia, Secondary and Tertiary Level There are three high schools in Vojvodina, which have one class per year in Slovak language. Those are the following: 1. “Mihajlo Pupin” Gymnasium in Kovaˇcica. 2. “Jan Kolar” Gymnasium with a student’s dorm in Baˇcki Petrovac. 3. „April the 7th“ Medical School in Novi Sad—medical nurse—technician. When it comes to higher education in Slovak language, there is only the Department of Slovak Language and Literature at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, where students can study Slovak language as their mother tongue. There is also a possibility to study Slovak as a foreign language at the Faculty of Philology, University of Belgrade. There are a few elective courses, which could be taken in the Slovak language, depending on the availability of the professors, at the Higher Professional School for The Education of Teachers in Novi Sad. There is also a private higher education institution, which is a branch of the College of Health and Social Work of St. Elizabeth from Bratislava. However, it has only a few courses in Slovak language—mainly those, which are thought by professors from Slovakia.

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3.1.3 Romanian Language Education in Serbia, Secondary and Tertiary Level There are only two high schools in Vojvodina, which have one class per year in Romanian language. Those are the following: 1. “Borislav Petrov Braca” Gymnasium in Vršac 2. Economic and Trade School “Dositej Obradovic”—Alibunar At the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, there is a Department of Romanian Studies, where students can study Romanian as a mother tongue. There is a Romanian group at the Preschool Teacher Training College “Mihailo Palov” in Vršac, but they have only a few subjects in Romanian, due to teaching staff shortage, and there have been very few students lately. For instance at the time of my research there was only one student whose mother tongue was Romanian, still, professors kept on lecturing in Romanian regardless of this fact. It should be also added, that when the number of students is so low, the professors are holding to a shorter version of the curriculum, compared to students who are listening the same subject in Serbian. This is again due to the teaching load of the staff members. Of the higher education institutions in Romanian, there is a Romanian language group at the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade, however in Belgrade students can study Romanian language only as a foreign language.

3.2

National Minority Students at the University of Novi Sad

The University of Novi Sad traces back its origins to around 1740, although it was officially founded in 1960. It has now more than 50,000 students and 5000 employees, making it one of the largest educational and research centres in Central Europe. It belongs to the group of comprehensive universities, which are characterized by providing nearly

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all fields of science and higher education (University of Novi Sad—Basic Information, 2017). The University of Novi Sad consists of fourteen faculties: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

Faculty of Philosophy (Faculty of Humanities), Faculty of Agriculture, Faculty of Sciences, Faculty of Law, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Faculty of Technology, Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Academy of Arts, and Faculty of Economics (situated in Subotica and in Novi Sad), Faculty of Civil Engineering (Subotica and Novi Sad), Teachers’ Training Faculty in the Hungarian Language (situated in Subotica), 13. Faculty of Education (in Sombor), 14. Technical Faculty “Mihajlo Pupin” (in Zrenjanin). The Teachers’ Training Faculty in Hungarian in Subotica is the youngest higher education institution of the University of Novi Sad that was founded in January 2006. The Faculty was established when the branch in Subotica, where the teaching was conducted in Hungarian, became independent from the Faculty of Education in Sombor (Uˇciteljski Osnovna, 2017). The Novi Sad Faculty of Philosophy gives home to the Department of Hungarian Studies, Department for Slovak Studies, and Department for Romanian Studies as well. I would like to note here that most of the students in these departments are female, which is also true for the teaching staff. It seems that the minority language departments are educating minority women, who maintain/nurture national culture and language as a very important component. Preece (2008: 57) suggests that the use and maintenance of heritage language has a gender dimension that applies to national minority women, thus apart from bearing the task of symbolizing their nation collectively, women are

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expected to reproduce it culturally (Yuval-Davis, 1997: 196). Women bear the burden of being “mothers of the nation” (Bracewell, 1996), as well as being those who reproduce the boundaries of ethnic/national groups, and those who transmit culture and those who are the privileged signifiers of national difference (Kandiyoti, 1994: 377).

3.2.1 Ethnic Hungarian Students at the University of Novi Sad Table 3.2 in the Appendix contains two important indicators: the total number of ethnic Hungarian students at the faculties of the UNS, as well as the number of female students and their relative share in the total number of Hungarian students. The majority of both male and female students of Hungarian nationality attend the largest faculties of UNS: the Faculty of Economics, the Faculty of Sciences and the Faculty of Technical Sciences; followed by the Hungarian Language Teacher Training Faculty (in Subotica) and the Faculty of Philosophy. Only a small number of ethnic Hungarian students studied at the rest of the faculties. In regard to the relative share of female students in the total number of Hungarian students, the highest structural share of female students is in the traditionally “female occupations,” namely the Teacher Training Faculty and the departments on faculties which train teachers with a share higher than 80%. As explained earlier, at the Hungarian Language Teacher Training Faculty in Subotica ethnic Hungarian students can continue their higher education in their mother tongue, which was a positive fact for female students from the Hungarian national minority community, who traditionally opt for educational occupations. In the same manner, it is concluded that there is a high share of female students, with a structural share higher than 70% at the Faculty of Philosophy and the Faculty of Sciences, where social sciences and future teachers are trained (e.g. maths, physics, chemistry, and biology teachers). There was a high share of female students in the field of medicine and technological sciences with a structural share higher than 70%, as well as in the

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field of economics where the relative share of female students in the total number of students of Hungarian nationality is up to 70%. Based on the statistical data I drew the conclusion that ethnic Hungarian female students were not particularly interested in traditional “male occupations” such as in technical and computer sciences or agriculture, and they showed the least interest in the field of physical education (the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education), where the relative share of female students in the total number of students is around 25%. As it will be shown later in this section, the situation was similar when it comes to female students belonging to the other ethnic minorities living and studying in the AP Vojvodina, as very few of them chose technical and computer sciences, which means that this problem reaches beyond the confines of ethnic communities. The relatively small number and low share of female students of Hungarian origin at the faculties of technical and computer sciences, as well as agriculture may be a result of twofold discrimination. The first issue lies in traditional gender roles, which are taught throughout education and instilled in the families as well, and which make technical and computer sciences “reserved” for the men. The second, but not less important, issue is the fact that they first must overcome the language difficulty by studying at the faculties of the UNS.

3.2.2 Ethnic Slovak Students at the University of Novi Sad Table 3.3 (Appendix) contains the number, gender structure, and the faculty choices of Slovak students starting their studies at the UNS. The two key indicators in Table 3.3 (Appendix) are the total number of Slovak students and the number of female students and their relative share in the total number of Slovak students. I analysed the statistical data and concluded that the highest number of male and female students of Slovak nationality is at the biggest faculties of the UNS: the Faculty of Technical Sciences, the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Agriculture, the Faculty of Philosophy, the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Economics and the Faculty of Law. It should be emphasized that

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the Faculty of Education has a Slovak language department in Baˇcki Petrovac, where a significant number of Slovak students’ study. The share of Slovak female students studying there was the highest at 80%. There was higher than 70% share of female students at the Faculty of Philosophy, which hosts the Department for Slovak language and literature. There was a high share of female students in the field of medicine, with a structural share higher than 70%, as well as in the fields of technology, science, mathematics, and economics, where the relative share of female students in the total number of the students of Slovak nationality was up to 70%. Similarly to other national minority female students, only a small number of Slovak female students showed interest for technical and computer sciences, agriculture, and physical education. Their share at the respective faculties was lower than 30% in some years. What is surprising is that both male and female students of Slovak nationality showed low interest for studying at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, where, during the last three years analysed, there were no Slovak female students. A relatively small number and a low share of female Slovak students at the faculties belonging to the fields of technical and computer sciences, but also of agriculture and physical education, could be due to the traditional gender roles that are present in our society and which contribute to the belief that technical and computer sciences are reserved only for the male population.

3.2.3 Ethnic Romanian Students at the University of Novi Sad In the following section data about Romanian students will be analysed. Table 3.4 (Appendix) contains the number, gender structure, and their faculty choices. Based on that data, I analysed two indicators: the total number of the students of Romanian nationality at the faculties of the UNS, as well as the number of female students and their relative share in the total number of Romanian students. Based on the number of male and female students at different faculties, we concluded that a very small number of male and female Romanian students enrols in the study programs of the faculties of the UNS, which makes the

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structural analysis in this field more complicated. The results of this analysis do display similar tendencies with analysis of the ethnic Hungarian and ethnic Slovak student population. Romanian students studied at the following faculties of the UNS: the Faculty of Philosophy and the Faculty of Sciences, where the social sciences and specialized (e.g. math, physics, biology) teachers are trained. It is important to point out that the Department of Romanian language and literature is part of the Faculty of Philosophy, which explains the significant Romanian presence at that faculty. A significant number of both male and female Romanian students studied at the Faculty of Law and Faculty of Economics, because the students usually associate the occupations (lawyer, economist) they might choose after graduation from those faculties with higher wages. At the rest of the faculties, there was a significantly lower number of Romanian students. Ethnic Romanians were present in very limited numbers (one or two students!) at the following faculties of the UNS: the Faculty of Education, the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, and the Faculty of Civil Engineering. The highest relative share of female students in the total number of Romanian students was studying at the Faculty of Philosophy and the Faculty of Sciences. There was a relatively high 70% share of female students at these faculties. This also supported the claim that national minority female students incline towards social sciences and teaching professions. This was especially true for studies offered in their mother tongue (e.g. at the Faculty of Philosophy). By observing the structural share of female students in the fields of law and economics, I concluded that they constitute most of the total number of the students of Romanian nationality, but these tendencies are similar also in the case of students of Hungarian and Slovak nationality. In comparison to technical and computer sciences, as well as to agriculture, the low share of female students in the total number of students who opted for these sciences was noticed. Since the total number of Romanian students was quite small, it was difficult to carry out definitive analysis. The relatively small number and a low share of female students of Romanian nationality at the faculties belonging to the fields of technical

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and computer sciences, as well as agriculture, may be due to the traditional gender roles that are present in our society, which contribute to the belief that technical and computer sciences are reserved only for the male population.

3.2.4 Female Students’ Proportions at the University of Novi Sad The available statistical data (Table 3.5 in the Appendix) on the gender structure of Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian students studying at the UNS was compared for school years 2009/2010 and 2012/2013. I applied dynamic analysis by expressing the level index and structural analysis to express the relative share of female students in the total number of students. I arrived at the conclusion that the trends are similar when it comes to the number of female students of Serbian, Hungarian, and Romanian nationality during the four-year period. After an increase in the number of Serbian female students in the 2010/2011 academic year in comparison to the base 2009/2010, there was a decrease in that number. The number of Hungarian students showed a similar trend, but with a more pronounced decline compared to the Serbian. The same trend was identified for the Romanians as well. This tendency was somewhat different in the case of ethnic Slovak students. Namely, after the base year, the number of students declined in 2010/2011 and 2011/2012, but was higher in 2012/2013. This fact can be explained by demographic migrations, but also by the increase in the number of people interested in studying at the faculties of the UNS in the given year, especially at the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Technical Sciences. These two faculties introduced popular study programs, which were not always connected only to computer sciences (see Table 3.5 in the Appendix). The level index can be seen in rows 3, 7, 11, and 15 in Table 3.5 (Appendix). It can be concluded that the number of national minority female students who decided to continue their studies at the faculties of when it comes to Hungarian national minority female students (from around 60–56%), when it comes to Slovak female national minority

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students it varied between 55 and 57% and when it comes to Romanian it varied between 57 and 59%. The tendencies were similar when it comes to the relative share of female students of Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak and Romanian nationality in the total number of students of those nationalities. In the relative share of female students of Serbian nationality, there was an increase in the share in the 2010/2011 academic year in comparison to the base 2009/2010 year, which was followed by a decrease in the last two years of the analysed period. When it comes to female students of Hungarian nationality, the relative share has a decreasing tendency throughout the whole analysed period. In the 2009/2010 academic year the share was 60.21%, and in 2012/2013 it was only 56.26%, which is 3.95% lower than in 2009/2010. After comparing these two indicators I concluded that the share of female students of Hungarian nationality in the total number of Hungarian students was higher than the share of female students of Serbian nationality in the total number of Serbian students at the UNS during the observed four-year period. There might be different reasons for this, but one of the most important is, certainly, the fact that Hungarian students leave the country or do not continue their studies at the institutions of higher education in the country. Similar tendencies are noticed in the structural analysis of the number of female students of Slovak and Romanian nationality. In comparison to the base school year of 2009/2010, there was a slight increase in number of the students of these nationalities in the 2010/2011 and 2011/2012 academic years, and, after that, there was a decrease in their number during the last analysed academic year. Although the reasons behind this trend were not clearly identified, they were most probably caused by demographic factors and/or the attractiveness of some new study programs at faculties of the UNS, which were introduced and marketed as excellent choices for a successful entry into the labour market after graduation. The analysis of the number of female students from the Hungarian national community in Vojvodina, who are studying at the University of Novi Sad, in comparison with the number of students of Serbian nationality at the same University, as well as the gender aspect of their faculty choices arrived to a conclusion that there is a lower representation of Hungarian female students at the University of Novi Sad, especially in

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the areas of technical sciences studies and computing and information sciences, and to propose measures and solutions in order to overcome the above-mentioned lower representation. The research results indicate a decrease in the number of female Hungarian students and a seriously biased structure of their faculty choices at the University of Novi Sad, as well as the fact that their faculty choices result in problems which they face later when they start looking for employment. It would be of great importance if the government, as the founder of higher educational institutions, would take action. The civil society’s engagement is needed as well in this field, through affirmative and other measures which could increase the number of students in the technical study areas and thereby increase the likeliness of finding suitable employment opportunities after graduation. The analysis of the secondary data was a good opportunity to assess the field of research I was about to enter and start to build up a wider picture of the national minority students’ positions in the higher education system of Serbia. Namely my quantitative data collection, i.e. questionnaires with national minority high school graduates was the way of assessing their knowledge of the state language (as it is a requirement for the entrance of the higher education system of Serbia—which is mainly organized only in the state language) and the implications which language has on their future career prospects and educational migration. This was followed by the qualitative part of the research where I was curious to interpret and make sense of the narratives of those students and professors (female–male, minority–majority) who were in the system of the higher education in Serbia at the time of the interviews. Thus I made a full circle in this way, by assessing first the secondary data—moving to a quantitative research, with students who were (at least a certain percentage of them) to become university students in Serbia. What I couldn’t get from the secondary data is the percentage of the national minority university professors and staff members, since this data was not gathered when someone from the national minority was employed. There are only civil societies in Vojvodina which gather national minority university staff members and could serve as for statistics on them, but those are not accurate data—since a lot of their members are only by origin from Vojvodina, but work in other countries (mainly in Hungary).

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The total number of male and female students observed was relatively small. Because of that, the quantitative analyses were not always reliable.

3.3

National Councils as Institutional Support

In Serbia the National Councils have the legal authority and (limited) financial means to implement measures necessary to improve the current status of national minority education. National councils are a form of a non-territorial autonomy (NTA), an important modality of ethnic and religious diversity management. Whereas multicultural liberal democracies sincerely champion equality and individual human rights, they often have considerable difficulty in accommodating culturally diverse minority communities. In most cases, minority communities do not reside within a compact space, making any territorial representation impossible. This brings into focus modalities of NTA as a possible alternative approach. NTA takes a variety of different forms, such as national cultural autonomy, and also encompasses other forms of representation, such as frameworks for accommodating indigenous peoples, juridical autonomy extended to religious communities, or elements of some models of multiculturalism.2 “Although Serbia’s 2009 Law on National Minority Councils was welcomed by the international community, both national minority councils and public agencies have from the very beginning of its operation expressed serious concerns relating inter alia to the unspecified legal status of the councils. This has resulted in frequent misunderstandings in practice and, rather than being real self-governments of national minorities under public law, the councils are usually treated as nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) or organizations under the influence of political parties” (Beretka, 2020).

2

https://www.peterlang.com/document/1053288.

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The Law on the protection of the rights and freedoms of national minorities3 (The Law) was passed in 2002. It stipulates that the state may delegate certain rights to the national councils for the effective protection of the rights and freedoms of national minorities. Obviously, the extent of these powers is tightly coupled with the financial capabilities of the councils. Before making decisions in the areas of language, education, information, and culture in the state, provincial and local government agencies are required to seek the opinion of the national councils (Article 19 of the above Law). In 2009 the Law on National Councils4 entered into force, which was in the making since 2002. The law regulated in detail the foundation of national councils, the terms for the election of their members, their financing, and their place in the political system of the country. According to the Law on National Councils they have competences in the field of education, which are determined by Articles 11–15 of the Law. They may establish institutions to upbringing education, monitor the standards for elementary and high school students and students in higher education, and exercise the rights and obligations of the founder. The National Council may establish educational institutions on its own or together with the Republic or with the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (APV), with a local self-government unit or other legal entity (Article 11). The Republic, the autonomous province, and local selfgovernment units as founders of institutions may transfer in whole or in part the founding rights to the national council (Article 11). It is important to mention that national councils are financed from the budget of the Republic of Serbia, from the budget of the APV, and they may receive donations from their kin-states, i.e. from Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania respectively. Until the last changes of the Law on National Councils, the national councils also had the right to give opinion in the process of dismissal of the principals in institutions in which minority languages are used as well as they were asked to give prior consent when 3 Zakon o zaštiti prava i sloboda nacionalnih manjina (“Sl. list SRJ”, br. 11/2002, “Sl. list SCG”, br. 1/2003 - Ustavna povelja i “Sl. glasnik RS”, br. 72/2009 - dr. zakon i 97/2013 odluka US). 4 Zakon o nacionalnim savetima nacionalnih manjina (“Sl. glasnik RS”, br. 72/2009, 20/2014 - odluka US i 55/2014).

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selecting a new director for a national minority educational institution (Paragraph, 4 and 5, Article 12). These paragraphs were erased with the last changes in the Law.5

3.3.1 The Hungarian National Council When it comes to education in mother tongue, i.e. Hungarian, NCHNM has a number of incentive measures that it implements in the mentioned area, beginning with the scholarships it offers to university students and they can apply for the Európa Kollégium 6 student dormitory, where students who (1) finished their elementary and/or high school education in Hungarian language,7 (2) study at an accredited higher education institution, (3) commit themselves to working at least three years in Serbia after graduation, (4) do not have an address in Novi Sad and (5) previously did not violate any institution policy.8 Senior students are obliged to attending the additional training courses organized in the dormitory (official NCHNM website, 2020). The student dormitory opens up the possibility for a larger number of national minority students who speak Hungarian to study at the University of Novi Sad, because in order to apply in dormitories at the University of Novi Sad, a high cumulative GPA during undergraduate studies is required, which, due to the language barrier, is always a problem for most students of Hungarian nationality in Vojvodina. Students have the possibility to apply for three types of scholarships. The Várady9 excellence scholarship for Ph.D. students (Várady kiválósági 5

Zakon o nacionalnim savetima nacionalnih manjina (“Sl. glasnik RS”, br. 72/2009, 20/2014 - odluka US, 55/2014 i 47/2018). 6 Európa Kollégium opened its doors in Novi Sad in September 2015 with the aim of providing home to Hungarian-speaking students studying in the provincial capital and its entirely financed by the Hungarian government. 7 In some cases, a special board can rescind a student from this requirement, usually Hungarians living in very small communities and with no option to attend elementary nor high school education in their mother tongue. 8 This last condition applies to senior students. 9 Professor Tibor Várady, a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts has donated 10,000,000 USD for the foundation of the scholarship program in 2013. The scholarship is also supported by the Bethlen Gábor Alap Zrt. from Hungary. The scholarship was originally

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ösztöndíj doktoranduszok részére) for first-and second-year Ph.D. students. The goal of this scholarship is to provide financial aid to Hungarian Ph.D. students living and studying in Serbia. The NCHNM has been awarding this scholarship since 2013, when it was awarded only to firstand second-year doctoral students, but the decision has been changed, and it is now awarded to doctoral students regardless of the year of study. This change came about because the number of doctoral students of Hungarian nationality in Serbia is very low. Applicants previously had to finish their studies in the Hungarian language (elementary and/or high school) and they have to enrol in Ph.D. studies in one of the accredited higher education institutions, the amount of the scholarship is 160 euros/month (in dinars), and 5 scholarships are awarded per years and the scholarship is to be repaid after the completion of the Ph.D. studies (Official NCHNM website, 2020). The Várady excellence scholarship for M.Sc. students (Várady kiválósági ösztöndíj mester hallgatók részére) is the next option with similar conditions as for the Ph.D. students, this is a 10-month scholarship/year in an amount of 11.74,100 dinars/month10 and 10 scholarships are awarded in two rounds. The scholarship for M.Sc. students started to be financed with the financial support of the Bethlen Gábor Fund11 (Bethlen Gábor Alap Zrt ) from Hungary in 2016. Undergraduate students might apply for the scholarship awarded by the NCHNM with the financial support of the Bethlen Gábor Fund12 (Bethlen Gábor Alap Zrt ) from Hungary. If they get the scholarship they need to declare that, after graduation, they will work in Serbia for at least 3 (three) years, if possible in a position corresponding to the qualification obtained during their studies. The monthly allowance is between 90 and

designed as a student loan, but with the financial support of the Gábor Bethlen Fund, it ceased to be a loan, i.e. the amount received should not be repaid by the beneficiaries. 10 This amount is appoximately equal with 100 euros. 11 The Bethlen Gábor Fund is a separate state fund designed to promote the achievement of the goals of the Hungarian Government’s national strategy. Its primary task is to provide grants to help individual and community prosperity, material and spiritual growth in the homeland of the Hungarians from abroad and to preserve their culture. 12 The Bethlen Gábor Fund is a separate state fund designed to promote the achievement of the goals of the Hungarian Government’s national strategy. Its primary task is to provide grants to help individual and community prosperity, material and spiritual growth in the homeland of the Hungarians from abroad and to preserve their culture.

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150 euros (in dinars) and the amount depends on the social condition of the students and on the distance of their hometown from the faculty they are enrolled in.13 The scholarship is awarded for one year, but it could be extended to maximum two more years. The NCHNM awards 150 scholarships in total each year and those students who are studying in shortage professions are prioritized. There is also a new scholarship for law students (from the 2021/22 school year), which is financed by the Ministry of Justice of the Government of Hungary, through the NCHNM. There are 10 scholarships to be awarded and for 4 years continuously (which is the length of the B.Sc. law studies in Serbia). There is also a Demonstrator’s scholarship (Demonstrátori ösztöndíj ) for senior undergraduate students (second year and above) who should have achieved 37 credit points in the previous year (and have to fulfil the above-mentioned other requirements as well). NCHNM awards 65 scholarships each year and, the awardees, if winning the scholarship need to declare that, after graduation, they will work in Serbia for at least 3 (three) years, if possible in a position corresponding to the qualification obtained during their studies. The monthly allowance is between 70 and 140 euros (in dinars). If they get entitled for getting the scholarship for Undergraduate students in the same time, they will get the basic amount of 70 euros (in dinars) for the Demonstrator’s scholarship. The students receiving this scholarship are obliged to help the freshmen (i.e. first-year students) to get familiar with the higher education system. The Demonstrator’s scholarship has an enhancing role for students to get the highest grades as possible during their studies, therefore they could get the monthly financial aid, in return for mentoring a younger student. The Hungarian National Council offers a fast-learning Serbian course for students, which is designed for students who need to improve their knowledge of the Serbian language, thereby allowing them to face fewer challenges in connection with the language difficulty

13

For students who live in Szabadka/Subotica and they go to faculty in the same town, they will get a lower amount of money, this is equally valid for students who live in Újvidék/Novi Sad and go to faculty in their home town.

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during their studies. The language course lasts only two weeks, which is, of course, insufficient for essential language acquisition. With these possibilities students who speak Hungarian language in Serbia are encouraged to study in Serbia to succeed later, in the labour market. The above-listed scholarships are financed either by the Hungarian government or by privately held funds (i.e. the Várady Scholarships). The NCHNM states in its Strategy for the Advancement of Education 2016–2020 (Strategy) that it also encourages and supports preschool education in minority Hungarian language, by promoting it among the parents with young children. This is very important among the parents who are living in mixed marriages, as education in the minority language ensures the proficiency of the minority language. For first graders of elementary school, the NCHNM with the support of the Rákóczi Association Foundation (Rákóczi Szövetség Alapítvány) gives school supplies to the first graders who opt for schooling in Hungarian language in Serbia (Strategy, 2020). Moreover, the school bus program is also an important incentive, as the NCHNM organizes buses for the school children living in smaller villages and who do not have the opportunity for mother tongue schooling in the place where they are living, to take the children to schools where they can have instructions in Hungarian (Strategy, 2020). The Hungarian National Council offers scholarships to ethnic Hungarian students who finished their elementary and/or high school education in the Hungarian language. In some cases, a special board can rescind a student from this requirement, usually Hungarians living in very small communities and with no option to attend elementary or high school education in their mother tongue. Hungarian students can apply for the Európa Kollégium 14 student dormitory in Novi Sad, where students who (1) finished their elementary and/or high school education in the Hungarian language, (2) study at an accredited higher education institution, (3) commit themselves to working at least three years in Serbia after graduation, (4) do not have an 14

Európa Kollégium opened its doors in Novi Sad in September 2015 with the aim of providing home to Hungarian-speaking students studying in the provincial capital, as well as students belonging to the Serb community in Serbia but studying in Novi Sad.

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address in Novi Sad, and (5) previously did not violate any institution policy. Senior students are obliged to attending the additional training courses organized in the dormitory (MNT Hivatalos Honlapja, 2017). Ethnic Hungarian students have the possibility to apply for three types of scholarships. The Várady15 Excellence Scholarship for Ph.D. students (Várady kiválósági ösztöndíj doktoranduszok részére) for firstand second-year Ph.D. students. The goal of this scholarship is to provide financial aid to Hungarian Ph.D. students living and studying in Serbia. Applicants previously had to finish their studies in the Hungarian language (elementary and/or high school) and they have to be enrolled in Ph.D. studies in one of the accredited higher education institutions (MNT hivatalos honlapja, 2017). The Várady Excellence Scholarship for M.Sc. Students (Várady kiválósági ösztöndíj mester hallgatók részére) is the next option with similar conditions as for the Ph.D. students. Undergraduate students may apply for the scholarship awarded by the Hungarian National Council with the financial support of the Bethlen Gábor Fund16 from Hungary. There is also the Demonstrator’s Scholarship (Demonstrátori ösztöndíj ) for senior undergraduate students (second year and above) with an 8,0017 average grade or above in the previous academic year. The students receiving this scholarship are obliged to act as mentors, i.e. to help the first-year students in getting familiar with the higher education system. The Demonstrator’s Scholarship inspires students to get higher grades during their studies. The Hungarian National Council offers a fast-learning Serbian course for students, which is designed for students who need to improve their knowledge of the Serbian language thereby helping them to face fewer language-related 15

Prof. Tibor Várady has donated 100.00,000 US dollars for the foundation of the scholarship program in 2013. The scholarship is also supported by the Bethlen Gábor Alap Zrt. from Hungary. 16 The Bethlen Gábor Fund (Bethlen Gábor Alap Zrt ) is a separate state fund designed to promote the achievement of the goals of the Hungarian Government’s national strategy. Its primary task is to provide grants to help individual and community prosperity, material and spiritual growth in the homeland of the Hungarians from abroad and to preserve their culture. 17 In the Serbian Higher Education System, the grades are beginning from 5 to 10, where 5 is not a passing grade, while 10 is the highest grade.

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challenges during their studies. With these possibilities students who speak Hungarian language in Serbia are encouraged to study in Serbia and to enter more successfully the Serbian labour market.

3.3.2 The Slovak National Council The National Council of the Slovak National Minority in Serbia also offers a scholarship program for students who study in one of the accredited higher education institutions of Serbia and meet the following criteria: knowledge of the Slovak language (completed a Slovak language secondary school or a Serbian language school and attended Slovak with elements of national culture classes). Students who apply should be oriented towards a career in elementary or secondary school education in the Slovak language, in the Slovak language media or other Slovak cultural institutions. The applicants should have completed successfully at least the first year of their studies in one of the following departments: mathematics, physics, German language, law, journalism, economics, Slovak language, and literature. The candidates should also attach a document, which proves what sort of other financial aids they are receiving.

3.3.3 The Romanian National Council Presently the National Council of the Romanian National Minority does not offer scholarships. Earlier they had scholarships, which were granted to bachelor students and master students as well.18

18

This fact was verified by the author via phone, as the website of the Romanian National Council is temporarily not working.

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NGOs Supporting National Minority Education

A variety of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) function within the Vojvodina Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian national minority communities. Some specifically support or deal with higher education and/or research. They are mainly trying to fill the gap created by the lack of comprehensive higher education in national minority languages.

3.4.1 Hungarian NGOs The following four Hungarian civil societies19 deal with higher education, research, publications, and/or organizing conferences. The Hungarian Scientific Research Society (Magyarságkutató Tudományos Társaság ) was founded in 1991 with an aim to conduct sociological, psychological, demographic, ethnographic, legal, historic, and other social science-oriented research in the Vojvodina with a possibility for professional forums and publications as well (Gábrity-Molnár et al., 2011). The Vojvodina Hungarian Scientific Society (Vajdasági Magyar Tudományos Társaság ) was founded in 1999 with the aim to address a variety of scientific challenges of the ethnic Hungarian community in Vojvodina. It organizes a conference once a year (Gábrity-Molnár et al., 2011). The Hungarian College for Higher Education in Vojvodina (Vajdasági Magyar Fels˝ooktatási Kollégium) was founded in 2001. It successfully supports young Hungarian students who study in the higher education system of Serbia with a special tutoring program. It organizes the annual Vajdasági Magyar Tudományos Diákköri Konferencia (Vojvodina Hungarian Students’ Scientific Conference). The College founded the Kristálygömb (Crystal Globe) annual award, which has been awarded since 2006 to a young Hungarian talent from Vojvodina for their

19 There are other Hungarian civil societies acting on the territory of Vojvodina, but the author selected the four most significant for the sake of this book.

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outstanding scientific or artistic results. The award is presented each November at the Conference. Since 2006 the Crystal Globe was awarded to 9 men and 3 women.20 The Hungarian Academic Council of Vojvodina (Vajdasági Magyar Akadémiai Tanács) was founded in 2008 and its goal is to coordinate the activities of the scientific community, to develop strategic research plans, to set priorities, and to create a network of researchers and professors of Hungarian origin (Gábrity-Molnár et al., 2011). The Academic Council has its own annual conference as well. In 2017 it introduced the Aranybagoly (Golden Owl) award, which is awarded to Hungarian researchers in Vojvodina who already obtained their Ph.D. and have outstanding academic achievements. It is awarded to two scholars per year, one in STEM and one in SSH (VMAT Website, 2017). The 2009 amendments to the XL Act on the Hungarian Academy of Sciences from 1994 stated that the Hungarian Ministry of Science and Technology introduced the issue of cross-border Hungarian science in the following way: the Hungarian Academy of Sciences “liaises with the experts of Hungarian scientific and linguistic research abroad and supports cross-border Hungarian science.” One of the public functions of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, further HAS) is the communication and support of Hungarian science beyond the borders. The top-set, principal, and conceptualizing body of this dual task system provided by law is the Chairmanship Committee of the Hungarian Science Foundation Abroad, established by the HAS in 1996, and in 1999 assigned the Administrative Secretariat of the Hungarians Across the Border (MTA Website, 2017). The HAS donates funds to these civil societies annually. The funds are covering the basic operations of these civil societies. There are possibilities for them to apply for government-funded projects21 as well.

20

In year 2017 the Crystal Globe award was given to the author of this dissertation. There was a project in 2017 titled: “Hungarian Scientific Database of Vojvodina” which was funded by the Provincial Secretariat for Science and Technological Development, Vojvodina.

21

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3.4.2 Slovak NGOs Altogether two ethnic Slovak NGOs perform scientific activities in Serbia. The Slovak Cultural Institute in Vojvodina (Ústav kultúry Vojvodiny Slovákov) has publishing, research, educational, and organizational activities (Zavod za kulturu vojvod-anskih Slovaka, 2017). The Slovakian Society in Vojvodina (Slovakistická vojvodinská spoloˇcnosˇt ) was behind the publications of the Department of Slovak Studies at the University of Novi Sad. Recently the society had very limited funds for financing their activities.22

3.4.3 Romanian NGOs The Romanian national minority in Vojvodina is supported by the Romanian Cultural Institute in Vojvodina (Institutul de Culturã al Românilor din Voivodina), which organizes the annual scientific conference Banat—History and Multiculturality (Banat – istorija i multikulturalnost ). It awards books to elementary school pupils who won prizes in Romanian language competitions. The Romanian Language Society in Vojvodina (Societatea pentru limba român˘a din Voivodina) publishes Logos, a journal of philology. This society also organizes the international symposium named “In memoriam Radu Flora” and other cultural activities (e.g. literary meetings, festivals).23

Appendix See Tables 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, and 3.5

22 The author gained this information from one of the Professors at the Department of Slovak Studies, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad. 23 The author gained this information from one of the Professors at the Department of Romanian Studies, Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad.

Ekonomska srednja sˇkola „Bosa Mili´cevi´c Subotica Srednja medicinska sˇkola Subotica Hemijsko – tehnoloˇska sˇkola Subotica Tehniˇcka sˇkola „Ivan Sari´c“ Subotica Muziˇcka sˇkola Subotica

Gimnazija i ekonomska sˇkola „Dositej Obradovi´c“ Baˇcka Topola ˇ Tehniˇcka sˇkola „Sinkovi´ c Joˇzef“ Gimnazija „Svetozar Markovi´c“ Subotica Gimnazija za nadarene uˇcenike „Deˇze Kostolanji“ Subotica

Poljoprivredno-tehniˇcki srednjoˇskolski centar „Besedeˇs Joˇzef“ Kanjiˇza Gimnazija Novi Kneˇzevac Sen´canska gimnazija Gimnazija sa domom uˇcenika za talentovane uˇcenike „Boljai“, Senta Ekonomsko – trgovinska srednja sˇkola Senta Srednja medicinska sˇkola Senta ˇ Hemijsko-prehrambena srednja sˇkola Coka Zrenjaninska gimnazija Ekonomska – trgovinska sˇkola „Jovan Trajkovi´c“ Zrenjanin Medicinska sˇkola Zrenjanin Elektrotehniˇcka i grad-evinska sˇkola „Nikola Tesla“ Zrenjanin

ˇ Tehniˇcka Skola Ada

Hungarian

(continued)

Agricultural—technical high school centre „Besedeˇs Joˇzef“ Kanjiˇza Novi Kneˇzevac Gymnasium Senta Gymnasium Gymnasium with a dorm for gifted students „Boljai“ Senta High school for economics and trade Senta Medical high school Senta ˇ Chemistry and food industry high school Coka Zrenjanin Gymnasium Economics—trade school „Jovan Trajkovi´c“ Zrenjanin Medical school Zrenjain Electrotechnical and constructions school „Nikola Tesla“ Zrenjanin Gymnasium and economics school „Dositej Obradovi´c“ Baˇcka Topola ˇ Technical school „Sinkovi´ c Joˇzef“ Baˇcka Topola Gymnasium „Svetozar Markovi´c“ Subotica Gymnasium for gifted students „Deˇze Kostolanji“ Subotica Economics high school „Bosa Mili´cevi´c Subotica Medical high school Subotica Chemical—technological school Subotica Technical School „Ivan Sari´c“ Subotica Music school Subotica

Technical School Ada

Table 3.1 The high schools where ethnic minority students have the possibility to study in their mother tongue

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Gimnazija „Veljko Petrovi´c“ Sombor Srednja medicinska sˇkola „Dr Ruˇzica Rip“ Gimnazija Beˇcej Ekomomsko – trgovinska sˇkola Beˇcej Tehniˇcka sˇkola Beˇcej Gimnazija „Svetozar Markovi´c“ Novi Sad Elektrotehniˇcka sˇkola „Mihajlo Pupin“ Novi Sad Medicinska sˇkola „7. April“ Novi Sad Poljoprivredna sˇkola sa domom uˇcenika – Futog ˇ ˇ Skola za dizajn „Bodan Suput“ Novi Sad Srednja sˇkola „Lukijan Muˇsicki“ Temerin Slovak Gimnazija „Mihajlo Pupin“ Kovaˇcica Gimnazija „Jan Kolar“ sa domom uˇcenika Baˇcki Petrovac Romanian Ekonomska – trgovinska sˇkola „Dositej Obradovi´c“ Alibunar Gimnazija „Vojislav Petrov Braca“ Vrˇsac

ˇ Tehniˇcka Skola Ada

Hungarian

Table 3.1 (continued)

Economics—trade school „Dositej Obradovi´c“ Alibunar Gymnasium „Vojislav Petrov Braca“ Vrˇsac

Gymnasium „Mihajlo Pupin“ Kovaˇcica Gymansium „Jan Kolar“ with a dorm Baˇcki Petrovac

Gymansium „Veljko Petrovi´c“ Sombor Medical high school „Dr Ruˇzica Rip“ Sombor Gymansium Beˇcej Economics—trade school Beˇcej Technical school Beˇcej Gymnasium „Svetozar Markovi´c“ Novi Sad Electrotechnical school „Mihajlo Pupin Novi Sad Medical school „7. April“ Novi Sad Agricultural school with a dorm—Futog ˇ School for design „Bogdan Suput“ Novi Sad High school „Lukijan Muˇsicki“ Temerin

Technical School Ada

72 K. Lendák-Kabók

2009/2010 145 66 45.52 273 201 72.30 42 28 66.67 131 75 57.25 203 145 71.43 424 152 35.85 489 317 64.83 416 294

Academic year/description

Faculty of Agriculture—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Faculty of Philosophy—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Faculty of technology—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Faculty of Law—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Medical Faculty—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Faculty of Technical Sciences—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Faculty of Economics-total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics—total • number of female students

136 62 45.59 236 180 76.27 44 30 68.18 162 101 62.34 201 141 70.15 412 184 44.66 481 262 54.47 497 336

2010/2011 140 67 47.86 242 185 76.45 39 28 71.79 149 93 62.42 197 147 74.62 463 205 44.28 402 228 56.71 447 289

2011/2012

(continued)

160 78 48.75 299 207 69.23 47 30 63.83 110 68 61.82 182 136 74.73 547 218 39.85 329 224 68.08 459 223

2012/2013

Table 3.2 The number of Hungarian students and their gender structure at the faculties of the University of Novi Sad, from the 2009/2010 to 2012/2013 academic year

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70.67 90 54 60.0 151 59 39.07 115 43 37.39 60 15 25.0 34 28 82.35 252 224 88.89 2.825 1.701 60.21

% of female students in the total number Academy of Arts–total • number of female students in the total number % of female students in the total number Faculty of Civil Engineering—total • number of female students in the total number % of female students in the total number Faculty of Technical Sciences “Mihajlo Pupin” in Zrenjanin—total • number of female students in the total number % female students in the total number Faculty of Sport and Physical Education—total • number of female students in the total number % female students in the total number Faculty of Education in Sombor—total • number of female students in the total number % female students in the total number Teachers’ training faculty in Hungarian language in Subotica—total • number of female students in the total number % female students in the total number University—total • number of female students in the total number % female students in the total number

Source The University of Novi Sad and the author’s calculations

2009/2010

Academic year/description

Table 3.2 (continued) 67.60 77 51 66.23 148 53 35.81 118 60 50.85 80 22 27.50 36 29 80.55 248 210 84.68 2.876 1.721 59.84

2010/2011 64.65 79 43 54.43 133 44 33.08 102 48 47.05 71 16 22.53 16 13 81.25 241 189 78.42 2.721 1.595 58.62

2011/2012 48.58 67 37 55.22 137 45 32.85 130 61 46.92 59 12 20.33 36 29 80.56 248 213 85.89 2.810 1.581 56.26

2012/2013

74 K. Lendák-Kabók

2009/2010 63 31 49.21 43 31 72.09 19 13 68.42 24 14 58.33 46 33 71.74 170 65 38.23 37 24 64.86 93 64

Academic year/description

Faculty of Agriculture—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Faculty of Philosophy—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Faculty of technology—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Faculty of Law—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Medical Faculty—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Faculty of Technical Sciences—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Faculty of Economics-total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics—total • number of female students

59 28 47.46 39 29 74.26 20 13 65.00 33 19 57.57 45 34 75.55 118 42 35.59 36 21 58.33 82 58

2010/2011 57 28 49.12 39 30 76.92 14 9 64.28 42 27 64.28 38 29 76.31 86 35 40.70 39 22 56.41 94 57

2011/2012

(continued)

51 25 49.02 36 28 77.78 22 15 68.18 38 24 63.16 39 29 74.36 226 94 41.59 33 22 66.67 94 61

2012/2013

Table 3.3 The number of Slovak students and their gender structure at the faculties of the University of Novi Sad, from the 2009/2010 to 2012/2013 academic year

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68.81 12 7 58.33 3 1 33.33 9 4 44.44 18 4 22.22 30 26 86.67 0 0 0 567 317 55.91

% of female students in the total number Academy of Arts—total • number of female students in the total number % of female students in the total number Faculty of Civil Engineering—total • number of female students in the total number % of female students in the total number Faculty of Technical Sciences “Mihajlo Pupin” in Zrenjanin—total • number of female students in the total number % female students in the total number Faculty of Sport and Physical Education—total • number of female students in the total number % female students in the total number Faculty of Education in Sombor—total • number of female students in the total number % female students in the total number Teachers’ training faculty in Hungarian language in Subotica—total • number of female students in the total number % female students in the total number University—total • number of female students in the total number % female students in the total number

Source The University of Novi Sad and the author’s calculations

2009/2010

Academic year/description

Table 3.3 (continued) 70.73 11 6 54.54 0 0 0 10 4 40.00 19 5 26.31 26 21 80.77 0 0 0 498 280 56.22

2010/2011 60.64 10 6 60.00 1 0 0 11 5 36.36 25 7 28.00 24 20 83.33 0 0 0 480 275 57.29

2011/2012 64.89 9 5 55.55 1 0 0 9 4 44.44 13 4 30.77 25 21 84.00 0 0 0 596 332 55.70

2012/2013

76 K. Lendák-Kabók

2009/2010 6 3 50.00 26 18 69.23 4 3 75.00 16 10 62.50 8 5 62.5 4 1 25.00 11 6 54.54 18 13

Academic year/description

Faculty of Agriculture—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Faculty of Philosophy—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Faculty of technology—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Faculty of Law—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Medical Faculty—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Faculty of Technical Sciences—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Faculty of Economics—total • number of female students % of female students in the total number Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics—total • number of female students

7 3 42.85 21 16 76.19 3 2 66.67 17 10 58.82 6 4 66.67 4 1 25.00 8 5 65.50 28 20

2010/2011 7 3 42.85 22 17 77.28 5 3 60.00 13 8 61.54 6 4 66.67 5 2 40.00 9 5 55.55 15 10

2011/2012

(continued)

9 4 44.44 13 9 69.23 5 3 60.00 14 9 64.28 8 5 62.50 4 1 25.00 7 4 57.14 23 16

2012/2013

Table 3.4 The number of Romanian students and their gender structure at the faculties of the University of Novi Sad, from the 2009/2010 to 2012/2013 academic year

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72.22 5 3 60.0 1 0 0 14 5 35.71 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 114 67 58.77

% of female students in the total number Academy of Arts—total • number of female students in the total number % of female students in the total number Faculty of Civil Engineering—total • number of female students in the total number % of female students in the total number Faculty of Technical Sciences “Mihajlo Pupin” in Zrenjanin—total • number of female students in the total number % female students in the total number Faculty of Sport and Physical Education—total • number of female students in the total number % female students in the total number Faculty of Education in Sombor—total • number of female students in the total number % female students in the total number Teachers’ training faculty in Hungarian language in Subotica—total • number of female students in the total number % female students in the total number University—total • number of female students in the total number % female students in the total number

Source The University of Novi Sad and the author’s calculations

2009/2010

Academic year/description

Table 3.4 (continued) 71.42 6 4 66.67 1 0 0 25 10 40.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 126 75 59.52

2010/2011 66.67 3 2 66.67 0 0 0 23 9 39.13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 108 63 58.33

2011/2012 69.56 3 2 66.67 0 0 0 17 6 35.29 1 0 0 1 1 100.00 0 0 0 105 60 57.14

2012/2013

78 K. Lendák-Kabók

Number of Serbian students at the UNS Number of females Level index (2009/10 = 100) % of female students in the total number of students Number of Hungarian students at the UNS Number of females Level index (2009/2010 = 100) % of female students in the total number of students Number of Slovak students at UNS Number of females Level index (2009/2010 = 100) % of female students in the total number of students Number of Romanian students at UNS Number of females Level index (2009/2010 = 100) % of female students in the total number of students

1 2 3 4

Romanian

Slovak

Hungarian

Serbian

Source The University of Novi Sad and the author’s calculations

13 14 15 16

9 10 11 12

5 6 7 8

Academic year/description

Number

114 67 100 58.77

567 317 100 55.91

2.825 1.701 100.0 60.21

37.767 21.402 100.0 56.67

2009/2010

126 75 111.94 59.52

498 280 88.33 56.22

2.876 1.721 101.18 59.84

38.834 22.571 105.46 58.12

2010/2011

108 63 94.03 58.33

480 275 86.75 57.29

2.721 1.595 93.77 58.62

38.131 21.171 98.91 55.52

2011/2012

105 60 89.55 57.14

596 332 104.73 55.70

2.810 1.581 92.94 56.26

37.268 20.653 96.50 55.42

2012/2013

Table 3.5 The comparative overview of the percentage share of female students in the total number of Serbian, Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian nationality at the University of Novi Sad, from 2009/2010 to 2012/2013 academic year

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References Beretka, K. (2020, March). Fluid borders of national-cultural autonomy: The legal status of National Minority Councils in Serbia. Nationalities Papers, Volume 48, Special Issue 2: Special Issue on National Cultural Autonomy in Diverse Political Communities: Practices, Challenges, and Perspectives, pp. 273–288. https://doi.org/10.1017/nps.2018.64 Bracewell, W. (1996). Women, motherhood, and contemporary Serbian nationalism. Womens Studies International Forum, 19 (1–2), 25–33. https:// doi.org/10.1016/0277-5395(95)00061-5 Gábrity-Molnár, I., Csányi, E., & Takács, M. (2011). A magyar tudományos hálózat szerepl˝oi Vajdaságban. In I. Gábrity-Molnár (Ed.), Magyarságkutatás Vajdaságban. Magyarságkutató Tudományos Társaság. Kandiyoti, D. (1994). Identity and its discontents: Women and the nation. Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 20 (3), 429–443. https://doi. org/10.1177/03058298910200031501 MNT Hivatalos Honlapja. (2017). Magyar Nemzeti Tanács hivatalos honlapja (2017), Ösztöndíjpályázatok. http://www.mnt.org.rs/osztondijprogram/pal yazat. Accessed 18 Oct 2017. Preece, S. (2008). Multilingual gendered identities: Female undergraduate students in London talk about heritage languages. Journal of Language, Identity and Education, 7 (1), 41–60. https://doi.org/10.1080/153484507018 04706 Strategy. (2020). Magyar Nemzeti Tanács, Oktatásfejelesztési Stratégia 2016– http://www.mnt.org.rs/dokumentum/oktatasfejlesztesi-strategia2020. 2016-2020. Accessed 12 Nov 2018. Szalma, J. (2005). Magyar tannyelv˝u fels˝ooktatás az Újvidéki Egyetemen. In M. Kontra (Ed.), Sült galamb? Magyar egyetemi tannyelvpolitika (pp. 203–209). Fórum Kisebbségkutató Intézet. Uˇciteljski - Osnovna. (2017). Uˇciteljski fakultet na mad-arskom nastavnom jeziku u Subotici—Osnovne informacije. http://www2.uns.ac.rs/en/fakulteti/ucitel jskiSU/osnovna.htm. Accessed 9 Oct 2017. VMAT Website. (2017). Vajdasági Magyar Akadémiai Tanács hivatalos honlapja (2017). Aranybagoly díj. Retrieved from: https://vmat.rs/2017/10/05/palyaz ati-felhivas-a-vajdasagi-magyar-tudomanyossag-aranybagoly-dijaelnyeresere/

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Yuval-Davis, N. (1997). Nationality, gender relations and multiculturalism. In P. Werbner & T. Modood (Eds.), Debating cultural hybridity (pp. 193–208). Zed Books. Zavod za kulturu vojvod-anskih Slovaka. (2017). Zavod za kulturu vojvod-anskih Slovaka zvaniˇcna veb stranica, (2017), Obrazovanje i ljudski resursi. http://www.slovackizavod.org.rs/sr/kultura-i-sira-javnost/obr azovanje-i-ljudski-resursi. Accessed 02 Nov 2017.

4 Lost in Translation: The Language Barrier’s Effect on National Minority High School Graduates

In this chapter I will explore language as a symbol of the pillarization of society. I will analyse how language competencies—or the lack of thereof—influence national minority high school graduates’ career choices through the way it is perceived to affect national minority students in the Serbian higher education. I will also investigate the symbolic meaning of language for high school graduates, students, professors, and researchers who are about to enter and start their studies, or they study or work in the Serbian higher educational system. Doing so, I will analyse the ways in which language affects the life strategies of national minority and majority women and men. Further, I will analyse whether and how can language-related strategies evolve from being a disadvantage to an advantage during the career paths of national minority women. The chapter comprises the presentation of the quantitative research results done with Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian high school graduates with respect to the gender variable. The analysis will focus on their answers about their mother tongue and knowledge of the majority language and the countries, which they chose to continue their higher education in, and the societal factors that influenced their decisions. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 K. Lendák-Kabók, National Minorities in Serbian Academia, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02367-5_4

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As Filipovi´c et al. argued, since national minority pupils studying in their mother tongue in Serbia only have a couple of Serbian classes per week, they do not make significant progress in perfecting their majority language skills. Additionally, if these pupils live in municipalities in which ethnic minorities are in fact majorities, i.e. Ada, Senta, Kanjiža for Hungarian population and Baˇcki Petrovac and Kovaˇcica for Slovak population, Alibunar for Romanian population, they will end up having a very low level of competence in Serbian, which leads to their being unable to function outside their linguistic/ethnic community. They become incapable of continuing their education at the university level in Serbia (Filipovi´c et al., 2007: 9). My goal was to further explore this phenomenon based on questionnaire data. What is also interesting to mention, that the media consumption in those municipalities is mostly media from the kin-states. In the continuance of this chapter, I analysed the education migration patterns of Vojvodina national minority students. I present the results of this gender-sensitive analysis of (1) students’ aspirations to continue (or not continue) education, (2) the extent, destination, and motivation behind educational migration to nearby EU countries, as well as (3) the interaction between the perceived language barrier and educational migration.

4.1

Sample, Procedure, Instruments, and Ethics

The total sample was determined using the quota sampling method (Biljan-August et al., 2009) and consisted of 2192 high school students: 1119 females (51%) and 1073 males (49%). The average age of the respondents was 18 years. The ethnic structure was the following: 1951 Hungarians (89%), 175 Slovaks (8%), and 66 Romanians (3%). These students were in their final year at high school, a critical period for making decisions about their future, career choices, and further education. The sample was collected in the following 16 municipalities of the AP Vojvodina, where there was a sizeable community of the ethnic

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minorities under investigation: Ada, Alibunar, Baˇcka Topola, Baˇcki ˇ Petrovac, Beˇcej, Coka, Kanjiža, Kovaˇcica, Novi Kneževac, Novi Sad, Senta, Sombor, Subotica, Temerin, Zrenjanin, and Vršac.1 The questionnaire was completed in 26 high schools in total. The pupils were finishing high school in their vernacular. The entire population of the national minority Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian high school graduates in the 2013/14 and 2014/15 school years numbered 33,1182 students in Vojvodina; therefore, the sample covered 66.20% of all national minority high school students. The research was conducted in two consecutive school years; specifically, in May 2014 and in April 2015, as these were the last months of the students’ secondary education before graduating in June. It should be noted that the research focused on students who studied in their vernacular national minority languages, while those who were enrolled in majority language schools were not included. After obtaining the principals’ approval, I attended one of the classes during which students filled in the paper-based questionnaires. All three types of high schools that operate in the languages of the three ethnic minorities were included in the research—namely, three-year vocational, four-year vocational, and four-year grammar schools. For the purpose of the study, a questionnaire was built, consisting of 20 questions that can be grouped into the following themes of interest: demographic information consisting of gender, nationality, school, and school year (i.e. third or fourth grade); mother tongue of respondents (i.e. Hungarian, Slovak, or Romanian); self-assessed Serbian (majority) language skill level; plans for continued (i.e. higher) education; location of chosen higher education institution (Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, or Serbia), as well as thoughts about the career choices women have in pedagogy and/or in technical fields.

1

The names of the municipalities are given in the Serbian language, as it is the official state language; however, the national minority students used the names of the municipalities in their mother tongue when filling in the questionnaire. 2 Data was provided by the Provincial Secretariat for Education, Regulations, Administration and National Minorities—National Communities, AP of Vojvodina and was used only for the purpose of this research.

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Most questions were closed-ended, multiple-choice format, but eight open-ended choices and one open-ended question were also included. Respondents were asked to fill in by hand the name of the chosen higher education institution. Self-assessed knowledge of the Serbian language was measured using a seven-point Likert scale that ranged between “not at all” and “very good,” and the frequency of use of the Serbian language with a five-point Likert scale ranging between “less than once a week” and “several times a day.” Data analysis was performed using IBM’s Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 for Windows. Given the fact that the majority of variables were defined as categorical data, nominal, crosstabulation analysis, and Pearson’s Chi-Square test were mainly utilized. In the case of continuous variables (e.g. assessment of knowledge and language-use frequency), one-way ANOVA was used to analyse the differences among group means. Use of the paper-based questionnaires was authorized by the principals at each secondary school involved in this research. Students were informed about the goals of the research, and given the option to opt out from filling in the questionnaire. Questionnaires were anonymous, i.e. no names, addresses, or other personally identifiable information of students were recorded. Only the location, name, and type of secondary school were recorded, as this information was relevant in the context of the research.

4.2

To Study, or Not to Study?

Regression analysis was used to explore the role of parents’ educational attainment and the level of Serbian language proficiency in planning further education in the kin-state. In the regression analysis, there were 853 high school students who did not intend to study further, did not yet know if they want to study further, and if yes, where (whether in the kin-state or in the state of origin)—the sample analysed in this way counted 1339 people. Based on Table 4.6 (Appendix), it can be seen that the model is significant (p < 0.001), however, the independent variables used in the

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87

analysis can explain only 1.5% of the variance. Based on the results in Table 4.7 (Appendix), we can determine the partial effect of the independent variables in the model. In the case of the intention to study further in their kin-states, all three influencing factors proved to be significant. There is an inverse proportionality between the level of Serbian language proficiency and the intention to continue studying in their kin-states (p < 0.001), i.e. the less the level of the Serbian language skill is, the more likely the high school student is to decide to continue studying in the kin-state. The parents’ education level has a positive and significant effect on their intention to continue their education in the home country, that is, the higher the educational level of the parents, the more likely it is that high school students will intend to continue their studies abroad in their mother tongue—and the father’s level of education has a slightly greater effect (p < 001). As elsewhere in Europe (Eurostat, 2016), the sample showed that more young women finishing secondary education (83.6%) aspire to continue their studies than young men (73.1%), a finding which is in line with the results of previous research done in Vojvodina among national minority Hungarian students (Papp, 2003). It should be mentioned that a significant percentage of these youth do not want to continue their education at all, which fact may be connected to their parents’ education level, which has been hypothesized to influence young people’s choice of whether to pursue post-secondary education (Foley, 2001). More importantly, a lot of people don’t see learning as a worthwhile investment. Where young people have a predictable vision, it is precisely the fact that they raise the bar higher than their parents, and the child of the high school graduate parents is going to university, also a child whose parents finished university studies will most probably want to obtain a university diploma as well. The reasons given by students who did not wish to continue their studies after secondary education were examined as well, and I found that there were significant gender-related differences in these (χ2 (6) = 29.70; N = 673; p < 0.001). Most students did not plan to continue their education because they wanted to find a job instead. As shown in Table 4.1, male students more often agreed with the statement “a high school degree is sufficient.” This outcome is markedly

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Table 4.1 Reasons for discontinued studies

I want to get a job Financial barrier, i.e. lack of funds No courses match my interests A high school degree is sufficient Language barrier Low grades in high school Multiple answers Total answered

Female

Male

Total

Number [%]

Number [%]

Number [%]

106 53

42.4 21.2

198 45

46.81 304 10.64 98

45.2 14.6

19

7.6

33

7.8

7.7

15

6

64

15.13 79

11.7

15 7 35 250

6 2.8 14

25 21 37 423

5.91 4.96 8.75

5.9 4.2 10.7

52

40 28 72 673

different from the situation with other ethnic minorities in the European geographic context, especially first- or second-generation immigrants, who usually understand the need for and aspire to complete higher education (Lessard-Phillips et al., 2018). Very few students stated that they did not want to enrol in a higher education institution because of the language barrier, which may indicate that they do not have adequate Serbian language skills. There were no significant gender differences between boys’ and girls’ answers regarding language skills. Almost two-thirds of the girls who were not planning to continue their higher education claimed that they wanted to get a job or had financial difficulties. Although in absolute terms the number of girls and boys who referred to financial difficulties was quite similar, more than one in five girls who did not aspire to complete higher education claimed that their lack of motivation was connected to some form of financial barrier. The relatively high number of national minority students stating that they wanted to get a job or that financial difficulties barred them from higher education, points to class-related issues, i.e. most of the national minority population lives up north of the province, in smaller municipalities, which means that in order to send their children to university they would need to finance their living and other cost in a city where the universities are located. As it was discussed in the previous chapter, Novi Sad has opened a dormitory for ethnic Hungarian students, which

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grants them affordable living during their studies. However, this kind of a possibility is not granted for other ethnic minorities, who have to compete with majority students (often with very high cumulative grades) for the state-funded dorm placements in Novi Sad. Those who pass the entrance exam with high scores, have to come with good grades from high school as well, in order to get state-funded university education.

4.2.1 Where to Study? My goal was to determine the extent and causes of the educational migration of national minority students to nearby EU countries. Therefore, we first analysed where the respondents planned to continue their higher education. Out of 2192 respondents, 684 students solely intended to study abroad, which is a staggering 39.6% (see row 2 in Table 4.7 for details). The finding that almost 40% of national minority pupils who were finishing high school in Vojvodina planned to study abroad is higher than the percentage identified in previous studies (Takács, 2013). Migration for education would not be an issue if the students returned to Serbia after completing their studies, but multiple decade-long trends show that most of them will not (Takács et al., 2013). Additionally, a smaller number of respondents claimed that they would also leave Serbia if they gained entry to a higher education institution abroad. Statistical analysis of the data showed significant gender differences in the career aims of respondents (χ2 (3) = 9.18; N = 1728; p < 0.05). We found that female students are somewhat more determined about their career choices, as the total number of girls answering “do not know yet” or not answering at all was slightly lower than that of the boys. We found that more girls desired to continue their studies in Hungary, Slovakia, or Romania than boys. If we add to these numbers those students who will try to gain entry to higher educational institutions both in Serbia and in their kin-state, but if accepted to both places would continue their studies in the kin-state, the proportion is even larger. It is important to note that there were no gender differences in favour of boys as regards pursuing education abroad, which may represent a

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Table 4.2 Gender and the destination country of education

Serbia Hungary, Slovakia, or Romania Will apply both in Serbia and in the kin-state, but would prefer studying in the kin-state Do not know yet Total

Female

Male

Total

Number [%]

Number [%]

Number [%]

375 369

40.5 309 39.8 286

38.6 684 35.7 655

39.6 37.9

70

7.6

9.5

8.4

113 927

12.2 130 801

76

146

16.2 243 1728

14.1

greater financial burden on parents. Therefore, we conclude that parents were not expecting a higher economic return from their sons’ education (Schneebaum et al., 2016) (Table 4.2). Although the questionnaires were filled in only a couple of months before the deadline to submit applications to higher educational institutions in Serbia and abroad, quite a large% of boys (16.2%) were undecided. This might have a detrimental effect on the future prospects of these students and their social groups as well, as they will either not continue their education, thereby putting themselves in an inferior position in the Serbian labour market, or make uninformed and hasty decisions at the very last moment. Fortunately for the male students, even if they do make a decision at the very last minute, chances are high that they will choose a traditionally “masculine” track (technical college or university) and thereby be in a better starting position after graduation. The undecided girls might not fare as well. Due to their general inclination towards the social sciences and humanities (SSH), in combination they may end up working in areas with a lower number of vacancies and lower average salaries. Next, I analysed why students chose to stay and study in Serbia, and here we also found gender differences (χ2 (5) = 16.93; N = 1015; p < 0.005). Our findings indicate that most students want to remain and study in Serbia because, in their opinion, the Serbian higher education system will give them a high level of knowledge. Male students opt to study in Serbia because of financial problems more often than female

91

4 Lost in Translation: The Language Barrier’s Effect …

ones, as well as because of ties with friends. On the other hand, female students opt for Serbia because they think they will succeed more easily with a Serbian diploma at home (Table 4.3). I also examined why students choose to study outside Serbia, and found that there were no significant differences between the answers of women and men (χ2 = 2.06(4); N = 887; p = 0.724). The main reason for leaving Serbia to study in a nearby EU Member State was, for both male and female students, the desire to obtain a university degree from a country within the EU. Earlier studies typically identified language barriers as the primary source of motivation for migration. This reason seems to have been superseded by the fact that in the meantime Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania joined the EU. However, our analysis also showed that language barriers were still a major source of Table 4.3 Reasons for studying in Serbia Female Financial issues disallow studying abroad Will succeed easier with a Serbian degree Family bonds Bonds with friends Will study in Serbia if fail entry exam abroad Academic education in Serbia provides excellent knowledge Total

Male

Total

Number

[%]

Number

[%]

Number

[%]

35

6.6

52

10.8

87

8.6

63

11.8

48

9.9

111

10.9

46

8.6

42

8.7

88

8.7

34

6.4

54

11.2

88

8.7

68

12.8

69

14.3

137

13.5

286

53.8

218

45.1

504

49.7

532

483

1015

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K. Lendák-Kabók

concern, since this factor was quoted as the second most frequent reason for leaving.

4.3

Language Barriers

Students from national minority communities have limited higher education options in their mother tongue in Serbia. Namely, the departments for Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian language and literature at the University of Novi Sad (UNS) and at the University of Belgrade, the state-funded Hungarian Language Teachers Training Faculty in Subotica (part of the UNS) and a number of courses taught in Hungarian at the Faculty of Economics and Civil Engineering also in Subotica. In Vojvodina, apart from the University of Novi Sad, partial or complete Hungarian language tuition is offered by the Subotica Tech College, and at the privately owned Educons University. Slovak and Romanian language tuition is offered at the Faculty of Philosophy’s native language departments and at the Teacher Training Faculty in Sombor. Once there was also a post-secondary study program in the Slovak language in Baˇcki Petrovac, but this has since closed due to an insufficiency of staff. Presently, a branch of the Bratislava-based St. Elisabeth University of Health and Social Work is operated by the Slovak government in Baˇcki Petrovac. The University of Belgrade runs a study program titled Professor of Classroom Teaching that is taught in Romanian in Vršac, Vojvodina. Such a limited choice of courses might explain why respondents so frequently stated that their insufficient knowledge of the Serbian language was the reason for leaving Serbia to study abroad (see row 2 in Table 4.8, Appendix). The lack of Serbian language proficiency might be partly explained by the increased segregation within the majority and minority communities, which started with the abolishment of the autonomies of the two provinces and by exclusion of the minority language learning in municipalities were the minorities lived in a significant number. The Yugoslav civil wars just added a huge dose of estrangement and fear as the ethnic minorities were forced to either emigrate or endure nationalism-fuelled atrocities. Because of the increased segregation, children from ethnic minorities do not often need

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Table 4.4 Weekly frequency of Serbian language use Female No answer Less than once a week Once a week Several times a week Once a day Several times a day Total

Male

Total

Number

[%]

Number

[%]

Number

[%]

5 205 161 337 59 352 1119

0.4 18.3 14.4 30.1 5.3 31.5

7 218 115 285 66 385 1076

0.7 20.3 10.7 26.5 6.1 35.8

12 423 276 622 125

0.5 19.3 12.6 28.3 5.7 33.6

2195

to master the Serbian language before finishing their secondary education, especially in municipalities in which they are the majority ethnic group. I decided to investigate the causes and effects of this language barrier with my questionnaire. Ninety-seven% of respondents indicated that their national minority language was their mother tongue. A relatively small number of students explained that they had two mother tongues, typically a national minority language and Serbian. Most of these exceptions involved intermarried families. We asked students how often they speak Serbian each week. More than 30% (rows 2 and 3 in Table 4.4) of our respondents used Serbian not more than once a week. That means that some students managed to get by almost without ever using the majority language.3 There was no significant gender-related difference in the frequency of majority language use. In the questionnaire, students were asked to self-assess their skills in both their mother tongues and in Serbian. Results are shown in Table 4.5. Most of the national minority secondary school graduates spoke good, very good, or excellent Serbian, 56.9% of girls, and 52.9% of boys, which is a little more than half of all respondents. The language barrier is greater for male students, meaning they are more likely not to opt for higher education at all (as shown in Table 4.1, where male students more often chose the option “a high school degree is sufficient” compared to 3

I did not specifically ask students whether they watched TV or read books or other written materials in Serbian.

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Table 4.5 Self-assessed Serbian language skills (high school) Female Mother tongue (%) No answer Not at all Does not speak, but understands Only a few words Not so good Good Very good As a mother tongue

Male Serbian (%)

Mother tongue (%)

Serbian (%)

0.4 0.4 0

0.4 2.2 5.1

0.8 0.5 0.1

1.2 4.7 5.8

0.2

7.9

0.5

9.4

0 1.6 2.9 94.5

27.5 27.8 18.1 11.0

0.6 3.2 3.1 91.3

26.1 26.3 15.4 11.2

female ones). The self-assessed Serbian language skills of the rest of the respondents (around 45%) were inadequate to permit them to enrol in a higher education study program in Serbian. The level of Serbian language proficiency appeared to have an influence where respondents were planning to continue their education. In order to examine this proposition, a one-way ANOVA with a Bonferroni post-hoc test was used (the dependent variable was the frequency of use of the Serbian language—see the Y axis in Fig. 4.1, and the grouping variable was the location of the chosen higher education institution: Serbia, EU Member State, etc.). Significant correlation was identified between the frequency of Serbian language use and the intended country of further education (F (4.2190) = 8.94; p < 0.01). Participants who used the Serbian language less frequently were more liable to want to study outside Serbia. This confirms our third hypothesis (H3); namely, that the lack of Serbian language skills significantly impacts the career choices of national minority secondary school graduates, and is an important driving force behind the education migration faced by their communities. Firstly, I will make a few analytical conclusions based on quantitative data, collected via the paper-based questionnaire. The minority high school graduates were asked about their language proficiency and their

Frequency of Serbian language use

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3.5 3.4 3.3 3.2 3.1 3 2.9 2.8 2.7 Serbia

Country of national I will try to apply Do not know yet origin both in Serbia and in country of national origin, but I prefer country of national origin if I pass entrance examination

Fig. 4.1 Frequency of use of Serbian language and destination country of education

plans for their future education. It was really interesting to discover that a relatively high proportion of high school students manage to get by with very limited Serbian language proficiency, especially in municipalities where they are in majority. By being monolingual, they limit their career options and put themselves in a vulnerable situation, because they live in a country where they do not speak the official language. Language is one of the determinatives of their future education. I have presented research about the status and career choices of Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian national minority high school graduates in Vojvodina. During my research I was particularly interested in the higher education aspirations of the target group in terms of the desired destination (Serbia or neighbouring/nearby EU Member States, which represent their kin-state) and the effect of the language barrier on outward educational migration towards nearby EU states. We found that almost 40% of national minority high school graduates intend to leave Serbia to study abroad. If we add to this figure those who will try to pass an entrance exam in both countries (for example, in both Serbia and Slovakia) and whose aspiration is to move to the neighbouring

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country if successful, the number is even higher. As most emigrants will not return (Takács et al., 2013), this represents a significant brain drain that will affect the national minority communities and Serbia as well. We have shown that language barriers may no longer be the most important driving force behind the multiple-decades-long educational migration of national minority students living in Vojvodina. According to our findings, the most important reason for national minority students to leave Serbia is the promise of a higher education degree from an EU-based institution, which grants them immediate access to the EU’s integrated labour market, and the potential for increased social status. However, the language barrier is relativized, as there is a strong overlap between the economic and linguistic elements of the phenomenon under analysis. The second reason for students leaving their country of origin is the language barrier; i.e. a lack of Serbian language proficiency that hinders entry into the Serbian higher education system, in which most study programs are available in the Serbian language only. Reasons for leaving the country students were born in are also likely to be linked to social status and empowerment. Respondents felt that obtaining a higher education degree in an EU-based institution might allow them to earn more and obtain higher social status than if they stayed in their home countries. Additionally, if they continued their studies in Serbia, the language barrier would place them in an inferior position compared to their Serbian peers. This inferiority might even extend to their entry into the labour market in Serbia in which certain professions are reserved for well-integrated individuals with excellent Serbian language skills. Through the analysis significant gender differences were identified in educational aspirations and migration patterns. First, the results confirmed previous research (Papp, 2014) that found that more girls who finish secondary education aspire to continue their studies compared to boys. Among the reasons why they decided to not continue their postsecondary studies, male students more frequently mentioned that a high school degree was sufficient, while girls not planning to continue their education claimed that they wanted to get a job or had financial difficulties. I also found that almost every third girl wanted to continue her

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studies in a nearby EU country, whereas this proportion was significantly lower for boys. Boys faced greater language barriers (i.e. weaker Serbian language skills), which means that they might not opt for higher education at all. Additionally, I found that female students are more determined about their career choices: the total number of undecided girls (i.e. those not knowing where they would continue their studies) was significantly lower than that of boys. This lack of timely decisionmaking might have a detrimental effect on the future prospects of both genders and their social groups. The latter will either not continue their education, thereby putting themselves in an inferior position on the Serbian labour market, or will need to make uninformed and hasty decisions at the very last moment.

Appendix See Tables 4.6, 4.7, and 4.8. Table 4.6 Regression model, shown in a table In which country do you plan to continue your education?

F

df

p value

R2 adj

17.671

1339

0.000

0.015

Source Author’s calculations

Table 4.7 The effect of the level of Serbian language skills and the parents’ education on further education and its place Do you plan to continue your studies in the kin-state? Independent variables

β

p value

Mother’s education level Father’s education level The level of the Serbian skill

0.104 0.107 −0.095

0.001 0.001 0.000

Source Author’s calculation

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Table 4.8 Reasons for choosing higher education in Hungary, Slovakia, or Romania Female Insufficient knowledge of the Serbian language EU diploma is better I want to work in the country of my ethnic origin Educational profile which I want to pursue does not exist in Serbia Something else Total

Male

Total

Frequency

[%]

Frequency

[%]

Frequency

[%]

77

16.1

70

17.1

147

16.6

182

38.1

165

40.3

347

39.1

63

13.2

47

11.5

110

12.4

37

7.7

24

5.9

61

6.9

119

24.9

103

25.2

222

25

887

100

409

478

References Biljan-August, M., Pivac, S., & Štambuk, A. (2009). Statistiˇcka analiza u ekonomiji [Statistical analysis in economics]. Ekonomski fakultet Sveuˇcilišta u Rijeci. Eurostat. (2016). Key figures on Europe. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. Filipovi´c, J., Vuˇco, J., & Ðuri´c, Lj. (2007). Critical review of language education policies in compulsory primary and secondary education in Serbia. Current issues in language planning. Channel View Publications, 8(1), 1–20. Foley, K. (2001). Why stop after high school?: A descriptive analysis of the most important reasons that high school graduates do not continue to PSE . Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation.

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Lessard-Phillips, L., Boliver, V., Pampaka, M., & Swain, D. (2018). Exploring ethnic differences in the post-university destinations of Russell Group graduates. Ethnicities, 18(4), 496–517. https://doi.org/10.1177/146879681877 7543 Papp, Z. A. (2003). Igényfelmér˝o kutatás a vajdasági magyar fiatalok továbbtanulási hajlandóságáról. In N. Bárdi & Cs. Fedinec (Eds.), Etnopolitika: A közösségi, magán -és nemzetközi érdekek viszonyrendszere Közép—Európában. Teleki László Alapítvány. Papp, Z. A. (2014). Selecting a majority-language school by Hungarian minority students, or from PISA results to discourses in the Carpathian Basin. Minority Research, 17 , 87–99. Schneebaum, A., Rumplmaier, B., & Altzinger, W. (2016). Gender and migration background in intergenerational educational mobility. Education Economics, 24 (3), 239–260. https://doi.org/10.1080/09645292.2015.100 6181 Takács, Z. (2013). Fels˝ooktatási határhelyzetek. Szabadka: Magyarságkutató Tudományos Társaság. Takács, Z., Tátrai, P., & Er˝oss, Á. (2013). A Vajdaságból Magyarországra irányuló tanulmányi célú migráció. Tér És Társadalom, 27 (2), 77–95. https://doi.org/10.17649/tet.27.2.2530

5 The Language Barrier as the Ethnic “Glass Ceiling”: Ethnic Micro-Universes Within Serbian Universities

This chapter presents the qualitative analysis about the ways in which language skills shape the career paths of national minority women. It will offer the qualitative analysis of interviews enquiring how language is affecting career choice and career progress of ethnic Hungarian, Slovak and Romanian female students and professors, and how language may be a strategic tool for the majority population as seen in the narratives of Serbian female professors and student(s). The answers of female respondents will be compared to the answers of their male counterparts. In the end, I will analyse what do members of the Serbian, majority population tell about the language-related challenges faced by national minority students and staff members, i.e. how is language becoming a metaphor for (in)equality in the higher education system of Serbia. The analysis of the qualitative data will follow a chronologic sequence, starting with Hungarian female students, as they are the ones who need to adjust to the new environment after high school graduation and entry into the Serbian higher educational system. Next I will analyse the narratives of Hungarian female professors who succeeded to build international careers in higher education and/or research by relying © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 K. Lendák-Kabók, National Minorities in Serbian Academia, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02367-5_5

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on a different strategic dimension of language, namely by using bilingualism as an advantage. The analysis of the Serbian female professors and students’ narrative will follow, showing their perspective on the language barrier happening in practice when they encounter national minority students with an insufficient Serbian language skills. In the end, the narratives of minority and Serbian male professors will be analysed, reflecting on their language-related experiences. The total number of conducted interviews was forty-five (45). Twentyfive interviews were conducted with Hungarian female professors and students, three with Slovak and Romanian female professors, eight with Serbian female professors and one student. The basic information about the respondents can be found in Tables 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 5.10, and 5.11 (Appendix). Five interviews were conducted with Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian, and Serbian male professors and four with Hungarian male students. The relatively small sample of Slovak and Romanian female and male professors is due to their small number at the University of Novi Sad and Belgrade. The exact number of Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian professors in the higher education system of Serbia is not known, because revealing one’s national/ethnic identity is not obligatory according to Article 47 of the Constitution of Serbia. The municipalities in which interviewees from minority communities were born and raised is shown in Table 5.1 and the percentage of the minority population living in those municipalities is based on the 2011 Census of Population, Households, and Dwellings in the Republic of Serbia. The interviewees from the majority community were born and raised in municipalities where most of the population is Serbian or where most of the population is speaking the Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian language. Namely in municipalities: Novi Sad, Sombor, Šajkaš, Zagreb (today Croatia), Sarajevo (today Bosnia and Herzegovina), and Zrenjanin.

5.1

Hungarian Female Students

Twelve semi-structured interviews were conducted with Hungarian female students. The interviewees were selected through personal contacts and with the snowball sampling method. The interviews were

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Table 5.1 Vojvodina municipalities’ percentage of national minority populations Hungarian

Slovak Romanian

Novi Sad Subotica Kula Senta Bezdan Zrenjanin Temerin Baˇcka Topola Ada Srbobran Panˇcevo Baˇcko Petrovo Selo Beˇcej Pivnice Petrovac Seleuˇs Zrenjanin

3.88% 35.65% 7.92% 79.09% 50.77% 10.01% 26.37% 57.94% 75.04% 20.76% 2.77% 61.51% 46.34% 76.53% 65.37% 49.10% 1.75%

conducted in Hungarian. The interviews were tape-recorded in late 2014 and early 2015, transcribed and sent back to the interviewees for authorization. The interviewees were codenamed HFS1-HFS12 (HFS = Hungarian Female Student). Seven students studied in STEM fields and five in SSH. The students were born between 1986 and 1995, and raised in different parts of Vojvodina, namely: Novi Sad, Subotica, Baˇcka Topola, Ada, Srbobran, Panˇcevo and Temerin. All but one finished their elementary and high schools in their mother tongue, i.e. Hungarian. Seven students studied in STEM fields and five in SSH. Table 5.2 shows the summarized and quantified results of the interviewees’ language proficiency. The first, left-hand half of the table contains information about their childhoods, which affected the Serbian language skills acquired during childhood. If they were growing up in a mostly Serbian environment, they had a higher level of Serbian language proficiency, while if they grew up in a Hungarian environment, the situation was the opposite. Only one interviewee finished high school in Serbian, and she also grew up in a mostly Serbian environment as well. The second part of the table shows the type of studies the students chose (STEM or SSH), the language of the study program (Hungarian or Serbian), as well as

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Table 5.2 Possible causes of language difficulty (Hungarian female students)

the level of Serbian proficiency and the self-estimated magnitude of the language difficulty faced at the start of their studies (in the columns with shaded background). Serbian language skills were coded in three levels: L—low, M—medium, H—high. The magnitude of language difficulty was also coded in three levels: L—low, M—medium, S—strong. Those who grew up in a Serbian-speaking environment knew Serbian very well, while most of those who were born and raised in settlements with sizable Hungarian communities had language-related difficulties. HFS5 was an exception to this rule as she relocated to a Hungarian environment. HFS12 grew up in a Serbian-majority town, but as she elaborated in her narrative everybody spoke Hungarian on her street and she only had contact with the Hungarian speakers. It is important to note that only one student studied in her mother tongue (i.e. Hungarian), while the other ten chose studies that were only available in Serbian.

5.1.1 Stories About Strong Language Barrier The interviewees stated that they still felt discomfort during viva voce exams or when speaking in public in Serbian. The language difficulty manifested in a constant anxiety in some women; it became their category of Otherness. Because of their nervousness when speaking Serbian

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they performed worse in exams compared with their Serbian-speaking colleagues, which undermined their self-confidence and affected their grades and future career prospects. To outsiders unfamiliar with their background, it might have seemed as if they had not studied sufficiently for an exam, as illustrated by the statement of HFS7: During an oral exam I constantly feel like I am at a disadvantage because of the language.… Simply put, I feel confused; I have little courage to speak, as I am not sure whether I speak correctly or not. It is also a problem that I speak in short sentences, in order to make fewer mistakes.… During oral examinations students are expected to be more eloquent; [but] I cannot say the same thing in five different ways. (HFS7)

During an exam, HFS7 was criticized in front of her colleagues by one professor because of her imperfect language skills and told that she should learn Serbian by reading Dostoyevsky. The professor’s reaction and comment on her less than impeccable knowledge of the majority language is an example of the hegemonic discourse that categorizes the non-majority speaker as an inferior Other. In response to this, HFP7 used her agency (Jensen, 2011) to disentangle herself from becoming the Other self. Although she was proud of her origin, when placed in a subordinate position during the oral examination, she did not react to the professor’s comment. She was narrating about how she is originating from here, not migrating from anywhere and how all her ancestors lived in Vojvodina. HFS7 was publicly scolded by a male professor from a position of power: he was male and from the majority community, while in HF7’s case, gender, nationality and language intersected: Then he [the professor] said that this is the second year and I should learn the state language. Then he asked me whether my parents learned Serbian when they came here? I did not want to ask him, who is the native here? This is how it happened, yes. Then I went to the professor for a consultation, I asked him for his advice on I how should learn the language. He told me to read Dostoevsky in Serbian. This was his solution. (HFS7)

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Even though HFS11 studied SSH in her mother tongue (i.e. in Hungarian), she did encounter a majority language-related challenge at the University of Novi Sad. She recalls that in her foreign language class she had to translate into Serbian, which was difficult for her. When, contrary to the instructions, she translated the text she was given into Hungarian instead of Serbian she was scolded by her teacher and did not receive any points for her homework. This is supported by the following quote: I translated into Hungarian, because the task was to understand the text we received for homework. I got a minus because I did not translate it into Serbian. The goal was for us to understand. To understand the text in a foreign language I had to translate it into my mother tongue. I did not understand why I had to translate it into Serbian, so that others could understand? The task for them was the same, to understand the text. I did not understand why I got a minus for my homework. (HFS11)

STEM student HFS4 experienced a strong language barrier at the beginning of her studies and went through an unpleasant situation during one of the oral exams. She was asked by the professor whether she had finished her previous schooling in Hungarian, and when she answered affirmatively, she received a low grade. She thought she might do better next time and took the exam once more to get a higher grade, but the professor remembered her and she got the same grade again. Her interview excerpt follows: Well, there was one time, in the first year, in one of the exams, the seniors advised me to take the oral exam and not the written one and, well, I chose that and I didn’t get a very good grade; I got a seven. And then I thought maybe I was not well enough prepared, and I’ll do better next time. And then I will get a higher grade. And next time I really felt I knew the material better; but the professor gave me the same scores. At the previous, first exam, he asked if I had finished my schooling in Hungarian, and I said yes. It is just that I feel like maybe a little… weird. As if it had all come down to “be happy with what you get.” (HFS4)

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STEM student HF12 experienced something similar when in one exam she wished to ask whether there was point deduction in effect for mistakes in the written exam. She postponed asking her question, because she considered that she would not be able to ask the question in a grammatically correct manner. When she finally did acquire the information she was embarrassed by the teaching assistant’s reaction, as seen in the following interview extract: I do not like to approach professors; I prefer not to talk. I usually don’t ask questions either. For example, I wanted to ask the teaching assistant whether there was point deduction but I stuttered and felt very bad. The teaching assistant helped: he explained but made a strange face when he saw me struggling with Serbian. (HFS12)

5.1.2 Stories About Medium Language Barrier The students who faced moderate language difficulties had to “switch their brains” to studying and passing exams in Serbian. Although HFS6 studied STEM and HFS8 studied SSH and had grown up in Novi Sad in a Serbian-speaking environment, they both stated that at the start of their studies they were unable to study and to reproduce the material in Serbian. This was a short-lasting barrier for them; after a few months they had managed to adjust and efficiently study, think and learn in Serbian. They felt othered, but it was an inner struggle, which they were able to hide. Nonetheless, they did not feel equal with their fellow colleagues at the beginning of their studies.

5.1.3 Stories About No Language Barrier There were only two interviewees who stated that they knew the state language almost perfectly already at the beginning of their studies. These were STEM students HFS2 and HFS3 who were both raised in a largely Serbian community. They shared that they did not face noticeable language difficulties at all. HFS2 even said that her parents would not have minded even if she had had to repeat a year at the university, as after

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all she was not studying in her mother tongue. Even though she said that she did not experience any difficulties at all, switching from a Hungarian high school to studying in Serbian at the university was seen as difficult per se—as exemplified by her parents lowered expectations—therefore she did feel her Otherness in the Serbian higher education system. HFS3 had a very positive experience during her studies, she had no language barrier to struggle with, she had no accent when speaking Serbian, but declared herself as a Hungarian when asked by her colleagues. She narrated about her male colleagues’ disbelief on her being a national minority: My colleague said: “What? What is this? Come on,” he said, “you’re a Serb, you just imagine being a Hungarian.” I said: “No.” They teased me a couple of times that: “you cannot be Hungarian because you don’t have an accent when speaking Serbian, [your accent] is not Hungarian at all.” (HFS3)

It was a common expectation of the Serb students on campus that Hungarian students would have an accent. Even though in this example there was no gender dimension, the fact that male students were asking about her national minority membership and making jokes on behalf of Hungarian accent did demonstrate a power position.

5.2

Hungarian Female Professors

Thirteen semi-structured interviews were conducted with Hungarian female teaching staff. They will be referred to in the text via code names HFP1-HFP13 (HFP = Hungarian female professor). The interviewees were selected by the snowball sampling method. The interviews were recorded during late 2014 and early 2015, in an interval of approximately six months. They were transcribed and sent back to the interviewees for authorization. I made extra effort to equally represent both the STEM and SSH fields by finding six interviewees who worked in STEM and seven in SSH fields. The interviewees were born between 1952 and 1983 and raised in different parts of Vojvodina, namely Novi Sad, Subotica, Kula,

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Senta, Bezdan, and Zrenjanin. Their background affected their Serbian language skills, as it was the case with Hungarian female students. Most of the professors finished their secondary education in Hungarian and then enrolled at the university in the Serbian language. It is important to note that four professors studied in their mother tongue, as three of them studied Hungarian language and literature in Serbia, and one professor obtained her bachelor’s degree in a STEM field in Hungary. Table 5.3 contains the summarized findings based on the analyses of the coded interview transcripts and serves as introduction and background information to the qualitative part of the research, where parts of the interviews will be analysed. The table is structured in three main parts: the professor code is in the first column; the second part contains relevant information about their background affecting their Serbian language proficiency, and the third part summarizes their languagerelated experiences at the start of their studies. The three levels of Serbian language proficiency used were: H = high, M = medium, and L = low. The three levels of language difficulty used were: S = strong, M = moderate, and a dash was used for the professors who did not face a noticeable language difficulty. Their Serbian language proficiency at the start of their studies and the intensity of the language-related difficulties Table 5.3 Possible causes of language difficulty (Hungarian female professors)

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faced when starting their studies were magnitude coded as it was at the female students’ answers. The possible causes for such language-related challenges was the same as it was in Hungarian female students, i.e. prior education in Hungarian and childhoods spent in Hungarian-only environments. These two aspects intersected and led to low Serbian language skills. National minority professors had better Serbian language skills if they were educated in their mother tongue, but lived in a municipality where most of the population were Serbian. Based on the background data in Table 5.3, we observed that professors who knew the majority language very well (1) were educated in Serbian, (2) grew up in an environment with a Serbian majority, or (3) were raised by mixed-marriage parents. Professors who came from municipalities or city blocks with a Hungarian majority usually had medium (HFP4, HFP6) or low (HFP7, HFP8, HFP11) Serbian language proficiency. The only outlier was HFP2, who although came from a Hungarian environment, knew Serbian very well as she learnt it at home. HPF4 and HPF6 knew Serbian in a medium level. HFP1, HFP2, HFP3, HFP5, HFP9, HFP10, and HFP12 knew the language in a high level, four of them were educated in Serbian (HFP1, HFP5, HFP6, and HFP10), four of them grew up in a Serbian environment (HFP3, HFP5, HFP9, and HFP12), and one (HFP5) was raised in a mixed marriage. Two interviewees faced a strong language difficulty at the beginning of their studies (HFP8, HFP11), which is clearly related to their low Serbian language proficiency, which is further linked to their childhood background, as they grew up in environments where they almost exclusively used the Hungarian language. HFP7’s low Serbian proficiency level did not cause her any issues, as she studied in Hungarian. The stories of the interviewees who faced a moderate language difficulty at the start of their studies differ significantly. HFP4 started her studies in Serbian with medium Serbian language proficiency, therefore facing moderate language difficulties. HFP5 and HFP10 faced an “inverse” problem as they completed their early education in Serbian and then started their studies in Hungarian. HFP5 studied Hungarian language and literature in Serbia and was anxious at the beginning of her studies, i.e. she was not sure whether her Hungarian language skills

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were sufficient for her studies. HFP10 went to Hungary to study in a STEM field and had to adjust back from Serbian to her mother tongue, which was a moderate challenge, as she was slower in solving equations in mathematics or physics, as she had lost the automatism, which worked for her when solving math problems in Serbian. Later, she went on to obtain a Ph.D. and got a teaching position at the University of Belgrade, where she had to adjust again, i.e. switch back to Serbian. HFP6 told that after switching to a Serbian class in high school, she had difficulties reading from the blackboard. This is supported by the following quote from her interview: The beginning was really “hard”, after ten years spent in an all Hungarian environment and attending school in Hungarian, I could not read out loud simple things in Serbian at the blackboard, e.g. three plus two, four minus three in Serbian. (HFP6)

It is interesting to point out, how their level of language competency changed during the years. This is important, as it was never easy to maintain high-level language competency in both languages, especially if only one of the languages (mostly Serbian) was used in communication, teaching, and publishing papers. Nine professors obtained and maintained high levels of Hungarian language competency. HFP1, HFP6, and HFP8 had medium-level professional language skills in their mother tongue, i.e. they are moderately able to communicate in Hungarian with other Hungarian-speaking colleagues. HFP9 had low competency in Hungarian, which was a sure signal that her mother tongue “switched” to Serbian during her career. The Hungarian female professors and researchers unanimously stated that being bilingual was a significant advantage for them, as they can read, write and publish in both Serbian and Hungarian. Almost all maintain good relationships with colleagues in Hungary. Some of them did research or wrote their dissertations in Hungary. A few of them participated in joint projects or other forms of established collaborations with various higher education institutions in Hungary. HFP8 talked about this in the following interview excerpt:

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I defended my thesis in Serbia, after doing my research in Budapest (Hungary). I wrote my thesis in Serbian. This was the advantage of the Hungarian language: I could do a very special experiment in Hungary and discuss the problem with my Hungarian colleagues. I could publish the findings of my research conducted in Hungary in significant scientific journals.

There was an advantage from this nationality perspective and that the struggle in the beginning of their careers was compensated later by professional bilinguality and having significant connections with colleagues in Hungary. This phenomenon could be attributed to the Othering from postcolonial theory, as they are making an advantage for themselves by being Others. This is what Jensen suggests in his study as well. Hungarian female professors narrated more about language as a source of advantage, while this was not the case with Hungarian female students. This could also be attributed to the fact, that their lived experiences connected to language happened chronologically earlier in their career, while the same challenge was a relatively fresh memory for Hungarian female students.

5.3

Slovak and Romanian Female Professors

Three semi-structured interviews were conducted with Slovak and Romanian female professors. The interviewees were selected through personal contacts and with the snowball sampling method. The interviews were conducted in Serbian. The respondents were asked in the beginning of the interview, whether they felt comfortable to talk in Serbian, knowing that it was not their mother tongue. Conducting the interview in Serbian was the most efficient way, as it was the common language for the interviewer and the interviewees. The interviews were tape-recorded in late 2014 and early 2015, transcribed and sent back to the interviewees for authorization. All of the interviewees worked in SSH studies. The interviewees were codenamed SLFP1-SLFP2 (SLFP = Slovak Female Professor) and RFP1 (Romanian Female Professor). The professors were born between 1972 and 1984 and raised in different parts of Vojvodina, namely: Pivnice, Baˇcki Petrovac, and Seleuš.

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I analysed their Serbian language proficiency and its relation to the language difficulty faced by the professors at the start of their studies. Although members of Slovak and Romanian national minority could also have some difficulties regarding the language, most of the interviewees mentioned their experiences with Hungarian students or fellow colleagues as well, as they regarded them as having the most difficulties in the Serbian higher education system. In Table 5.4 we can observe that all three of the interviewees finished their primary education in their mother tongue (Slovakian or Romanian), as well as that they also finished their secondary education in their mother tongue (SLFP1, SLFP2, RFP1). All of them were raised in predominantly Slovak or Romanian environments. SLFP1 studied in Serbian, while SLFP2 and RFP1 studied in their mother tongue at the departments of Slovak and Romanian language and literature. When it comes to Serbian language proficiency, two of the interviewees stated (SLFP1, SLFP2) that they had very high Serbian language proficiency and only one interviewee stated (RFP1) that she had a medium language proficiency but a strong language difficulty at her workplace. RFP1 enrolled mathematics in Romania, but as she was a student during the Yugoslav crisis in the 1990s, she faced financial difficulties and could not complete her studies there. SLFP2 first wanted to study biology, but later she changed her mind, and enrolled Slovak language and literature because she was not sure she would be able to secure a state-funded position in the Biology Department. These female interviewees chose the “safe option” instead of STEM. This could lead us to the hypothesis that becoming teachers in the minority languages is perceived as an easier option for women, having state-funded education Table 5.4 Possible causes of language difficulty (Slovakian and Romanian students)

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and “less pressure” compared to having chosen a less feminine field of studies (e.g. engineering). These two examples are also partial “clues” to solving the issue of national minority women’s underrepresentation in STEM studies. Two out of three interviewees stated that they had no problems studying in the majority’s language. One of the interviewees went to Serbian elementary and high school, partly to avoid the complications of travelling to school and partly to avoid the bad experience his mother had with the language difficulty when studying law in Novi Sad. Only one interviewee (RFP1) stated that she still had problems with the language barrier, when teaching Serbian students who do not speak Romanian (she is teaching at the Department for Romanian language and literature): I think that the language difficulty is very important ... as I am really suffering when lecturing in Serbian to my students who do not understand Romanian, because I must teach in Serbian. (RFP1)

The Slovak interviewees stated that because of the similarity of the two languages (Slovak and Serbian), they had less problems compared to Hungarian students. They explained that they also spoke Serbian with a noticeable accent: I think I did not have any problems with the language, in fact, I know I did not have any problems only the accent, which remains a problem. Even now I sometimes make a mistake with the accent, especially when I am tired. Then I even start to mix the two languages, which is a sure signal to me that I had enough of lectures. (SLFP1)

I found that members of the Romanian and Slovak ethnic minorities faced fewer issues with the language barrier compared to the Hungarians. This could be attributed to two things: first the Slovak language is very similar to Serbian therefore they face a lower language barrier per se. Second, because the size of the Romanian community is continuously shrinking, a significant portion of the community studies in Serbian schools or goes to Romania to study. This is the case with the Slovak

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minority as well. All the correspondents stated that young members of their communities rather choose to study in their kin-states, because of the EU diploma and the scholarships they get from the Romanian and Slovakian state governments.

5.4

Making Sense of the “Other” Through Language: Serbian Women

Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with Serbian female professors and one with a Serbian female student. The interviewees were selected through personal contacts and with the snowball sampling method. The interviews were conducted in Serbian. The interviews were tape-recorded in late 2014 and early 2015, transcribed and sent back to the interviewees for authorization. Five of the respondents were in STEM studies and three in SSH. The interviewees were codenamed SFP1-SF7 (SFP = Serbian Female Professor) and SFS1 (SFS = Serbian Female Student). The professors were born between 1954 and 1985 and raised in different parts of Vojvodina and Former SFRY, namely: Novi Sad, Sombor, Šajkaš, Zagreb, and Sarajevo. The student was born in 1993 and raised in Zrenjanin. Statements of Serb female students and professors about Hungarian students facing a language barrier were analysed. Table 5.5 contains an overview of the qualitative part of the research, i.e. the interview analysis. The left part of Table 5.11 lists the experiences of Serb professors and their opinions about Hungarian students who experienced language difficulties. All but one interviewee stated that they had Hungarian students. The professor who did not encounter any Hungarian students (SFP5) was employed at the University of Belgrade, where Hungarian students are a rare exception. She stated that although there were no students from the Hungarian national minority, there were students from other minorities in Serbia, mostly of Albanian origin. The right half of Table 5.5 contains information about the interviewees’ attitudes towards Hungarian students with language difficulties. Two respondents did not give an explicit answer, whereas five of them said they tried to help when they could. Two of them revealed that they were not amiable towards these students.

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Table 5.5 Attitudes towards Hungarian students and/or colleagues Teaching Hungarian students with a language difficulty Code

Field

Yes

SFP1

STEM

x

SFP2

STEM

x

SFP3

SSH

x

SFP4

SSH

x

SFP5

STEM

SFP6

STEM

x

SFP7 SFS1

STEM SSH

x

No

No answer

Helpful towards the Hungarian students with a language difficulty Yes

No answer

x x x x

x

No

x

x x x

x

5.4.1 Teaching Hungarian Students All ethnic majority female academics claimed that Hungarian students tend to have language difficulties. STEM professor SFP1 expressed her opinion of the Hungarian students at the Faculty of Technical Sciences. She highlighted how Hungarian students have great difficulties with the majority language and how they consequently receive low-average grades from the faculty. When they start to master the language, their grade average rises: There are very few [Hungarian students], and I love them very much, they are very sweet, they come and often don’t speak Serbian. And as they learn Serbian they still have a low average grade, [but] they are diligent. They are almost always synonymous with hard-working student. They need some time to learn the language. Professor X worked at the Faculty of Technical Sciences in the 1990s. However, the students did not like him because he had a Hungarian accent when speaking in Serbian. I now have a student… he just passed the exam, he got a six in my subject, but the first time I saw him it was clear to me that he did not speak Serbian. As he built up his Serbian, he was able to pass the exam. I also write a lot of scholarship recommendations for them. (SFP1)

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SFP1 explained that Professor X had left the Faculty of Technical Sciences during the 1990s Yugoslav wars, as had many of the Hungarian professors at the University of Novi Sad. “Professor X” was not loved by the students, as he had a strong Hungarian accent when teaching. This observation is in line with the argument by Russo et al. (2017: 515) that non-native accents can have a series of effects on non-native-accent speakers’ work and career outcomes. He was considered a subordinate Other by his students during the 1990s, and eventually left the University of Novi Sad. STEM professor SFP2 narrated about her own experience with one of her Hungarian associates, who is a particularly strong researcher who used to have difficulties in expressing himself in Serbian, still managed to achieve great scientific results. As they worked in a STEM field, this was acceptable. SFP2 thought that this was not a good situation for her associate, as he still struggled when speaking in Serbian. SFP2 took a different approach to the language-related challenge. She said that if she were an ethnic minority mother, she might have enrolled her children in majority primary and secondary education in order to avoid language difficulties when they had grown up and had to choose a career. SFP2’s narrative reveals the privileged position a Serb female professor has and the political domination, which aims to impose universal recognition of the dominant language (Bourdieu, 1991: 46). As Papp concluded, if members of the national minority community would not opt to study in their mother tongue it will eventually lead to their (voluntary) assimilation (2017). Part of her interview excerpt follows: I can speak from the experience of one of my associates, who works with me and has great work and results (because he sits quietly and achieves fantastic results). But I think that it was harder for him. It is hard for him even today, when he must prepare a presentation and exercises [for the students], but then I am not sure to what extent that is a language problem and to what extent a personal issue caused by his character. I have heard of this experience from others as well, whose children went to Hungarian elementary and high school.… If I were a Hungarian mother, I am not sure whether I would opt for primary and secondary education in Hungarian, because of the difficulties my children would face when starting their studies. (SFP2)

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SSH professor SFP3 explained that she understood the national minority students’ language difficulties as it puts them in an inferior position, they immediately become the subordinate Other due to the lack of state language proficiency. Thus, national minority students are not equal with their fellow colleagues, who can progress with their studies more quickly and more easily. She suggested that this is the system’s fault (meaning the state). The majority teaching staff is of an opinion that Serbia has a very generous educational system towards minorities. They can study from kindergarten until the end of high school in their mother tongue, which in their opinion does not favour them (and we can argue pro and contra when it comes to this question), as they struggle through university education. For them education should be unanimous for everyone, it does not come to their attention, that education in the majority language means immediate assimilation. Nor do they possess an ability to understand how education is not only about language, but it is about heritage and culture, also what is the most important: identity building. It is not progressive, and the education system “creates” this language difficulty for minority students. This is what Filipovi´c et al.’s research results suggest as well (2007: 9). SFP3 narrated the following: As a teaching assistant I noticed the problem of Hungarian students who do not understand and do not possess adequate Serbian language skills.… This is a problem for them, because they are not on an equal footing with their colleagues during their studies, because the others can do their tasks more quickly and better, as they do not have to face the language barrier. Some students begin to speak Serbian only during their studies at the university, because the system allows them to do so. (SFP3)

5.4.2 Help to Hungarian Students with Language Difficulties SSH professor SFP4 narrated how in SSH studies students sometimes struggle with the language barrier up until the very end of their studies. This can be frustrating for the students and for the professors too. At the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, students can pass some subjects in their mother tongue by cooperating with professors

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from other departments who speak Hungarian. This system is favourable to the Hungarian students, as they can study in their mother tongue. However, because of this opportunity the same students of then fail to invest in improving their knowledge of the Serbian language, which causes a problem when they have to take the rest of their exams in Serbian. As they seem to know less while they struggle to find the right words, they often receive lower grades than what their knowledge merits, which inevitably puts them in an inferior position. SSH professor SFP4’s following quote supports the statement that Hungarian students are not fluent in Serbian until the very end of their studies: Hungarian students have difficulties because of their inadequate knowledge of the majority language. We sometimes have situations whereby students reach the end of their master studies and are still struggling because we have to seriously and fundamentally proofread their master theses. Earlier they could take certain exams in Hungarian with a Hungarian professor, who retired.… Still, they have to pass most exams in Serbian. At the exam, they warn us that their work might contain erroneous formulations, grammatically incorrect sentences, and we ignore that aspect and we assess based only on the content. The only difficulty I see is the insufficiently mastered language, which stays with them until the very end of their studies. (SFP4)

SFP4 was a little irritated in her narrative by the fact that Hungarian students cannot master the majority language properly even over the course of their university studies. In her narrative a sophisticated Othering could be sensed, as opposed to a crude Other (Brons, 2015: 70), in the case of HFS7.

5.5

Language Cannot Be a Limitation: Men on Language

Five semi-structured interviews were conducted with Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian and Serbian male professors and four interviews with Hungarian male students. The interviewees were selected through personal connections and with the snowball sampling method.

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The interviews were tape-recorded in late 2014 and early 2015, transcribed and sent back to the interviewees for authorization. The interviewees were codenamed HMP1-HMP2 (HFS = Hungarian Male Professor), SLMP1 (SLMP = Slovak Male Professor), RMP1 (RMP = Romanian Male Professor), SMP1 (SMP = Serbian Male Professor), HMS1-HMS4 (HMS = Hungarian Male Student). The professors were born between 1950 and 1984 and raised in different parts of Vojvodina, namely: Novi Sad, Zrenjanin, Pivnice. The students were born between 1986 and 1992 and raised in different part of Vojvodina, namely: Baˇcko Petrovo Selo, Beˇcej, Zrenjanin, and Temerin. Table 5.6 contains the summarized findings based on the analyses of the coded interview transcripts and serves as introduction and background information to the qualitative part of the research, where the interviews will be analysed. The same aspects were analysed as for the Hungarian female professors and students, i.e. Serbian language proficiency and its relation to difficulties faced by national minority students at the start of their studies. Our findings based on the male interviewees’ responses were similar to the female interviewees. All of them completed their education in Hungarian and all started their studies in Serbian. The ethnic composition of the settlement where they had been raised made a significant impact on their knowledge of the majority’s language. The interviewees who grew up in a Serbian-speaking environment (HMP1, HMP2, and Table 5.6 Possible causes of language difficulty (male professors and students) Childhood

Early studies

Code Educated in Serbian HMP1

Mixed marriage x

HMP2

Serbian environ.

Hungarian environ.

Serbian

H

Serbian

H

–

STEM

Serbian

M

M

STEM

Serbian

M

S

STEM

Serbian

H

–

x

HMS4

X

–

STEM

x

RMP1

Language difficulty

STEM

HMS2

x

Serbian proficiency

x x

SLMP1

Language of studies

x

HMS1 HMS3

Field

X

x

SSH

Serbian

M

S

x

STEM

Serbian

H

–

STEM

Serbian

H

–

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HMS3) had high Serbian language proficiency. Those who came from Hungarian-speaking environments (HMS1, HMS2, and HMS4) knew Serbian in a medium or low level. One of the professors came from a mixed marriage (HMP1) additionally to the fact that he was raised in a Serbian-speaking environment. Based on the quote below by a professor who was raised by parents in a mixed marriage (Hungarian father, Serbian-Croatian mother) we concluded that he had high-level competence in Serbian. I had no language related difficulty at all. As early as the elementary school I knew Serbian better than most Serbians. Often I did their homework, the level of my Serbian language proficiency was high from elementary school. (HMP1)

The above narrative extract is a performative action of the interviewee, which could be seen as agency suggested by Jensen, where (as it is in this case), the actor did not accept becoming the Other self, instead choosing to disidentify with the Other self (Jensen, 2011: 73). HMP2 narrated that he had no difficulty regarding language, but as he finished his elementary and high school education in Hungarian, some terms in mathematics he knew only in Hungarian. He emphasized that although he finished his university studies in Serbian and was employed as a professor at his faculty, he still had to revise the terminology in Serbian before going to lectures. He referred to this as if the basic terminology was somehow “engraved” in Hungarian in his brain. When it comes to Hungarian male student interviewees, all of them studied in Serbian. The only student who knew Serbian in very high level at the beginning of his studies was born and raised in Zrenjanin (HMS3), where the majority population is Serbian, therefore he could learn and practise the language. The students who knew the language in a medium level (HMS1, HMS2, HMS4) were raised in Baˇcko Petrovo Selo, Beˇcej, and Temerin, i.e. in municipalities with a sizeable Hungarian community. One student (HMS1) facing a medium language difficulty stated that even though his Serbian was not perfect, he could cope with the curriculum and slowly built up his knowledge of Serbian. For this he is mostly thankful to his colleagues, who constantly corrected him,

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when he made grammar mistakes. In his narrative, language was not seen as a source of discrimination, he emphasized a different perspective of language performativity. For him it was an advantage to study in Serbian and a designed road to career success, as in this way he knew he could be skilled and competent in both languages. In other words, being a minority language speaker was not seen by him as a source of discrimination rather as a possibility. HMS2 knew Serbian in a medium level but did not know Serbian scientific terminology at all. He could not cope with the curriculum in an acceptable level. Partly because of that he did not pass the necessary number of exams in the first year of his studies, carried over some exams to the second year, and later had to repeat that year: I do not know in which level I knew Serbian but I know I was able to communicate. The terminology in Serbian I knew nothing of, it was totally unknown to me. I set there in the first mathematics class and my reaction to it was: “wow, this is great, but it would be better if I could understand something”. Then through the second year the language barrier spiked, and I had to repeat the second year. I started coping with the curriculum it wasn’t so bad. I think that the language barrier cannot be the main obstacle to your success at the university. If someone really wants to graduate, s/he will.

From this quote by HMS2 we can recognize a masculine narrative, in which he explains how he is not attributing his lack of success purely to language. He explained how language could not become an obstacle to university success, if someone really wants to finish university, s/he will do it regardless of any language-related challenges. The only male interviewee (HMS4), who studied in an SSH field, stated that he had put a lot of effort into learning Serbian. He regularly read the newspapers and followed all the latest news and spelling and grammar regulations of modern Serbian language. Although as he recalls, the professors were supportive at the beginning and tried to encourage him to learn the majority’s language on the highest level, he had one experience where he felt discriminated because of his nationality and the language barrier:

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I felt only once that I was in a less favourable position. It was when I studied for an elective course. It was one of my favourite subjects, which I knew well as it was based on knowledge which could be partially gained from the media and self-study. The professor was a nationalist politician and even though his attitudes and statements were like those nationalist statements we were used to during the nineties, I accepted to do a one-class seminar. At the exam, I knew the answers to all three questions and he did not consider the seminar I held. I got the lowest grade but I deserved better. (HMS4)

HMS4’s statement is interesting to analyse, as he had this pre-established bias towards the professor, who was active in the nineties, when the political climate was not favouring ethnic minorities and he experienced no change regarding the statements the professor made at the lectures. It seems that HMS4 wanted to prove his worth and decided to take the course. He did not succeed in the end, and he felt discriminated and inferiorized. He attributed his “failure” in that subject to the professor’s political affiliation. HMS4 emphasized that most professors were practising politicians, supporting the conservative-populist parties and the glorification of the nation state, and consequently showing less understanding towards national minority students. HMS4 also expressed a potentially gender-biased opinion about the language barrier’s effect on women: I am convinced that the lack of confidence is stronger in women. Some mentally collapse and give up after a single language-related failure. For example, on the freshmen year I had a female colleague who burst into tears after failing the sociology exam, and eventually she dropped out. The loss of self-confidence is more prominent in women. It is less common in men. (HMS4)

The above claim might be partially attributed to gender stereotypes, i.e. maybe HMS4 in his narrative attributed a sort of mental weakness to women which resulted in not being able to cope with the language barrier. Women emphasized in their narratives that the language difficulty was the most important obstacle they had to overcome before gaining momentum in their studies. Almost all female interviewees used in their narratives language as a metaphor for inequality, whereas males

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emphasized their masculine side, making sense of language as more like a possibility to become even more diverse, rather than a disadvantage. However, it should be noted, when talking about STEM and SSH differences, that female students studying in STEM fields would not have to focus only on the language difficulty in the same level, as female students had in SSH fields, but they could focus on studying and excelling from the onset. Therefore, although STEM studies can (also) be difficult without the required level of Serbian language proficiency, the pressure to speak perfect Serbian is lower in these fields, and, therefore, colleagues and professors are more tolerant. In the SSH fields the pressure to speak perfect Serbian is constant and stipulates fear in the national minority students who struggle with the language barrier. Some are challenged by this disadvantage and put in additional effort, but most lose the momentum and get even more insecure. SLMP1 finished secondary education in Serbian. We should emphasize, that both elementary and secondary education are gendersegregated, which could be attributed again to the preservation of the nation as Yuval-Davis suggested (1997: 17). RMP1 was brought up in a Serbian environment and the other four were raised in Slovak or Romanian environments. SLMP1 a senior professor evoked his memories regarding his superior in his youth, who was of Hungarian origin. My superior professor was Hungarian. He was from Kanjiža. When I came to work for him, I knew only by his name that he was of Hungarian origin, i.e. he spoke perfect Serbian. Afterwards when he got older, his Hungarian accent surfaced. They say that the situation is the same with me. It must be genetics or biology. (SLMP1)

RMP1 talked about his experience with Hungarian students and the language difficulty they sometimes struggle with. He said that he had a lot of Hungarian male students and no females at all in his STEM department. He said he could easily spot Hungarian students, as they always stick to themselves and formed small groups where they converse with each other only. RMP1 stated that the language difficulty they

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have is sometimes so strong that they cannot express themselves at all in exams. One of the professors who spoke Hungarian, because he lived in a mixed environment (namely Subotica), where he learnt some Hungarian, tried to help his ethnic Hungarian students by speaking Hungarian. RMP1 states that it is very difficult to be fair in these situations, as teaching staff has to treat equally all students, while he would have liked to help, as he saw that those students needed help. He also pointed out that language is important even in STEM studies, as for example in software development exercises people must work together in a team, and conversation is very important there. He had rich experience with Hungarian students (mostly males) and that they might not have the best grades, but that they were finishing their studies. This is supported by RMP1’s following narrative. They might not have the best grades, especially when it comes to the written part of the exam, there they could not compete with the students from the majority population. But when it comes to practical, laboratory assignments they are equally good, they can easily get the highest grades. They face problems when they cannot express themselves well in a written exam, because the professor might not assume that their performance is related to their limited language skills. It might be an option for them to come to consultations and explain orally the written exam’s material, but it depends whether the professor is willing to make this possible or not. It is very important that everybody gets equal treatment. This is very inconvenient. Wasn’t there a story for a while that Hungarians will have a University in their mother tongue? (RMP1)

SMP1 taught Hungarian students struggling with language difficulty. The respondent stated that he has experienced teaching Hungarian students with a language difficulty and also that he was helpful towards them. SMP1 applied his modest Hungarian language knowledge to help Hungarian students to be more open during exercises, so that they would ask him to help them, when they encountered a problem. He stated that Hungarian students tend to stick together and that they are reclusive by nature. This could be attributed to the fact that they do not speak the majority language perfectly and therefore avoid socializing with their Serbian colleagues.

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Conclusion: Language Barrier as the Ethnic “Glass Ceiling”

An intersectional approach was employed when analysing the narratives of Hungarian female students with a focus on nationality, language, and gender. Five female students explicitly identified in their narratives the language difficulty as the most important obstacle they had to overcome when entering the Serbian higher education system. Three of the five interviewees from SSH studies narrated distinctly negative experiences, for example, being publicly criticized by professors for their limited Serbian language skills or feelings of being in a less favourable position compared with fellow (majority) colleagues. This made them feel marginalized and insecure. Most STEM interviewees were satisfied with the atmosphere at their faculties and with their colleagues. This is due to the fact that STEM subjects might not require as good language skills as SSH subjects, that is, the formulas and numbers are universal and more language independent. In SSH fields the students study subjects connected to the state, nation, and society, in which the state’s language and its knowledge become essential, thus the privilege of the majority professors’ surfaces as their Serbian language competency is flawless and they are mostly using the Serbian literary language. When comparing the female narratives divided across their respective fields of study, four respondents, all from STEM fields, recounted positive language-related experiences, including supportive professors and colleagues who understood if they did not know something in Serbian or if they pronounced something incorrectly. Some of their colleagues even wanted to learn some Hungarian words from them. Two students had negative experiences. They all sensed varying levels of Otherness in their academic environments. Considering their career path and language difficulties, this study demonstrated that young women from the Hungarian national minority are the ones who undertake the preservation of the national identity and culture (Yuval-Davis, 1997: 196). They do this subconsciously and (un)willingly, by opting either for SSH studies where they can either study in their mother tongue (Hungarian language and literature, or the Teacher Training Faculty in Hungarian Language in Subotica), or they

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opt for other SSH fields (like law or economics) where they risk facing the most significant language-related difficulties. These young women are doing so because of well-embedded stereotypes that are even more pronounced in minority communities (Lendák-Kabók, 2021). This also relates to the fact that the Hungarian minority community receives financial aid from its kin-state, Hungary to educate the next generations of national minority language speaking teachers (Gábrity-Molnár, 2017). Such aid is predominantly aimed at preserving the ethnic minority identity, which is in most cases done by women, thus they are inevitably becoming the gatekeepers. The chapter continued with the analysis of the narratives of Hungarian female professors. Most of them finished their studies in a different political setting, in former Yugoslavia, which had a quite different approach towards minority and majority language teaching in schools. Namely, in municipalities where a sizeable minority community lived, Serbian pupils learnt the minority language as well. In this sense everybody spoke the others’ language and there was no segregation and a higher level of tolerance was assured. Still, most of the professors narrated about having some issues regarding language as well, when they entered the Serbian higher education system. While this problem was almost unnoticeable for those who were already fluent in Serbian, it was quite significant to those who had lower Serbian language proficiency. As years passed, knowing the Hungarian language became an advantage to the Hungarian professors, as they used their language skills and ethnic background to build connections with their colleagues from their nation states. This way they were using the concept of Othering as an advantage as Jensen suggested in his research, which can also be a source of discrimination but it can be a strategic tool for the senior minority female professors. Hungarian female professors highlighted that language was important and that their national minority students should have a high level of Serbian language competence in order to succeed in the higher education system. There was common understanding that even in STEM studies, high language competency should be a prerequisite. The other two national minorities faced different challenges. Members from the Slovak national community stated that they had no problems

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because of the similarity of the two languages. Within their community there is a “brain drain” as a lot of young Slovaks emigrate to Slovakia, where they easily get scholarships. Members of the Romanian national minority stated that they have problems with the language as well, if they finish elementary and high school in their mother tongue. As theirs was the smallest of the three mentioned minority communities, some municipalities did not offer the option to obtain primary or secondary education in their mother tongue, mainly due to the low number of students. The obvious consequence of this was that Romanian children enrolled in schools in Serbian. This is especially true for mixed marriages, in which one parent is Serbian and the other Romanian. In the Hungarian community this was also a pattern, which the parents are following in the case of mixed marriages, i.e. they enrolled children in schools in Serbian thereby trying to avoid future language difficulties. Additionally, those students who finished their schools in Romanian usually went to study in Romania, mainly because of the state scholarships. In the narratives of Serb female professors, the language-induced unpleasantness could be sensed—it had two sides to it, as they faced the additional burden to help and therein make exceptions with national minority students. Obviously, in their opinion this “inequality” affected the minority student’s success, and they lagged behind the majority students. The majority female professors assumed a somewhat privileged position, induced by the political domination, which is reproduced by institutions such as the university, capable of imposing universal recognition of the dominant language (Bourdieu, 1991: 46) as linguistic hegemony shapes the nation state. In their explaining language as a main hurdle for national minority students they used sophisticated Othering (Brons, 2015). They also highlighted their helpfulness towards Hungarian students, supporting them in their verbal communication or by overlooking the grammatical errors they make, proofreading their written assignments, or writing letters of recommendation for scholarships financed by their kin-state. For male students studying in a language different from their mother tongue was more of a possibility, than a source of discrimination, even though they faced language-related

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difficulties just as females did. In their narratives they seemed very confident that they would overcome the difficulty and eventually become competent in two languages, rather than one. Although the language difficulty was an obstacle, they did not see it as something crucial in their studies, they accepted the situation and tried to overcome it. They did not (admit to) lose their self-esteem due to the language difficulty. Importantly, in STEM studies, both men and women relied on the common language of mathematics and the surrounding was supportive, in SSH this was not the case with the male respondent. One interviewee was overcoming the language difficulty methodically, by lots of reading as he wanted to perfect his language skills. Even though he felt discriminated once, overall he did not connect language to his career success. Based on the above presented analysis of the questionnaire and the interviews with professors and students the author concluded that language became a metaphor for performative social (in)equality. Minority women and men were using various language-related strategies. Minority women used language more to connect their status of being the Other (Spivak, 1988), while majority women are also using language as a strategy to make sense of the Othering concept they use towards minorities. Men relied on different language-related strategies, which highlighted how language could be turned from disadvantage into an advantage by making the most of the possibility to learn another language. In closing I would like to point out the overarching aim of this chapter, i.e. to report on an under-researched but important phenomenon of national minority university students’ experiences of language-related otherness based on both their own experiences as well as the perspective of minority and majority female and male teaching staff.

Appendix Basic information about the interview respondents See Tables 5.7, 5.8, 5.9, 5.10, and 5.11.

Type of studies

STEM

SSH

SSH

SSH

SSH

STEM

SSH

STEM

STEM

Code

HFP1

HFP2

HFP3

HFP4

HFP5

HFP6

HFP7

HFP8

HFP9

High school

Faculty

Elementary school

Faculty

High school High school Elementary school /

Faculty

Mother

Serbian

Serbian

Hungarian/Serbian

Serbian

Hungarian/Serbian

Hungarian

Environment in which they were brought up

Hungarian/Serbian

High Serbian school

Faculty

High Hungarian school

Faculty

High school High school High school /

Faculty

Father

Education of their parents

Table 5.7 Hungarian female professors

Hungarian

Hungarian

Hungarian

Hungarian/Serbian

Hungarian/Serbian

Hungarian

Hungarian

Hungarian

Serbian

Language of the elementary and high school

Serbian

Serbian

Hungarian

Serbian

Hungarian

Serbian

Serbian

Hungarian

Serbian

Language of the faculty Senior researcher Senior researcher Senior researcher Senior researcher Senior researcher Midcareer researcher Midcareer researcher Midcareer researcher Early career researcher

Career stage

Married

Married

Widowed

Married

Divorced

Married

Divorced

Unmarried

Married

Relationship status

0

3

1

2

1

1

2

0

1

Number of children

130 K. Lendák-Kabók

Type of studies

STEM

STEM

SSH

SSH

Code

HFP10

HFP11

HFP12

HFP13

Faculty (PhD)

Faculty (PhD)

High school

High school

Mother

Environment in which they were brought up

Faculty

Faculty

Serbian

Serbian

High Hungarian/Serbian school

High Hungarian/Serbian school

Father

Education of their parents

Hungarian

Hungarian

Hungarian

Serbian

Language of the elementary and high school

Serbian/Hungarian

Serbian

Serbian

Hungarian

Language of the faculty Early career researcher Early career researcher Early career researcher Early career researcher

Career stage

Unmarried

Unmarried

Married

Unmarried

Relationship status

0

0

0

0

Number of children

5 The Language Barrier as the Ethnic “Glass Ceiling” …

131

Type of studies

STEM STEM STEM STEM SSH STEM SSH SSH STEM SSH SSH STEM

Code

HFS1 HFS2 HFS3 HFS4 HFS5 HFS6 HFS7 HFS8 HFS9 HFS10 HFS11 HFS12

High school High school Faculty High school Faculty College Faculty Faculty High school Faculty High school High school

Mother High school High school Faculty High school Faculty Faculty Faculty Faculty High school Faculty High school High school

Father

Education of their parents

Table 5.8 Hungarian female students

Hungarian/Serbian Serbian Serbian Hungarian/Serbian Serbian Serbian Hungarian/Serbian Hungarian/Serbian Hungarian Hungarian/Serbian Hungarian/Serbian Hungarian/Serbian

Environment in which they were brought up Hungarian Hungarian Hungarian Hungarian Hungarian Hungarian Hungarian Hungarian Hungarian Hungarian Hungarian Hungarian

Language of the elementary and high school

Serbian Serbian Serbian Serbian Serbian Serbian Hungarian Serbian Serbian Serbian Hungarian Serbian

Language of the faculty

132 K. Lendák-Kabók

Type of studies

SSH

SSH

SSH

Code

SLFP1

SLFP2

RFP1

Elementary school

High school

Faculty

Mother

Elementary school

College

Faculty

Father

Education of their parents

Romanian

Slovakian

Slovakian

Environment in which they were brought up

Table 5.9 Slovak and Romanian female professors

Romanian

Slovakian/Serbian

Slovakian

Language of the elementary and high school

Romanian

Slovakian

Serbian

Language of the faculty

Mid-career researcher Junior researcher Mid-career researcher

Career stage

Married

Unmarried

Married

Relationship status

1

0

3

Number of children

5 The Language Barrier as the Ethnic “Glass Ceiling” …

133

Type of studies

STEM

STEM

SSH

SSH

STEM

STEM

STEM

SSH

SFP1

SFP2

SFP3

SFP4

SFP5

SFP6

SFP7

SFS1

Faculty

Faculty

Faculty

College

High school College

High school Faculty

Mother

Faculty

High school Faculty (PhD) Faculty

High school Faculty

Faculty

Faculty

Father

Education of their parents

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian/Hungarian

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Environment in which they were brought up

Serbian female professors and a student

Code

Table 5.10

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Language of the elementary and high school

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Language of the faculty

Senior researcher Senior researcher Early career researcher Early career researcher Early career researcher Early career researcher Early career researcher /

Career stage

/

Unmarried

Married

Married

Married

Married

Married

Widow

Relationship status

/

0

2

1

1

1

3

2

Number of children

134 K. Lendák-Kabók

STEM

STEM

STEM

STEM

STEM

STEM STEM STEM

SSH

HMP1

HMP2

SLMP1

RMP1

SMP1

HMS1 HMS2 HMS3

HMS4

Faculty Faculty High school/Faculty(?) High school

High school

Elementary school Faculty

Faculty

Faculty (PhD)

Mother

Faculty Faculty High school High school

Faculty

Faculty (PhD) High school High school Faculty

Father

Education of their parents

Hungarian

Hungarian Hungarian Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Slovakian

Serbian

Serbian

Environment in which they were brought up

Hungarian

Hungarian Hungarian Hungarian

Serbian

Serbian

Slovakian/Serbian

Hungarian

Hungarian

Language of the elementary and high school

Serbian

Serbian Serbian Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Serbian

Language of the faculty

Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian, and Serbian male professors and students

Type of studies

Code

Table 5.11

/

Early career researcher Early career researcher Senior researcher Early career researcher Early career researcher / / /

Career stage

/

/ / /

Married

Married

Married

Married

Married

Relationship status

/

/ / /

2

3

2

4

2

Number of children

5 The Language Barrier as the Ethnic “Glass Ceiling” …

135

136

K. Lendák-Kabók

References Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language and symbolic power. Harvard University Press. Brons, L. (2015). Othering, an analysis. Transience, a Journal of Global Studies, 6 (1), 69–90. Filipovi´c, J., Vuˇco, J., & Ðuri´c, L. (2007). Critical review of language education policies in compulsory primary and secondary education in Serbia. Current Issues in Language Planning. Channel View Publications, 8(1), 1–20. Gábrity-Molnár, I. (2017). Képzettségi helyzetkép a Vajdaságban. In G. Puszati & Z. Márkus (Eds.), Szül˝oföldön magyarul – Iskolák és diákok a határon túl (pp. 28–41). Debrecen University Press. Jensen, S. Q. (2011). Othering, identity formation and agency. Qualitative Studies, 2(2), 63–78. Lendák-Kabók, K. (2021). A gender perspective on language, ethnicity, and otherness in the Serbian Higher Education System. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/15348458.2021.192 0415 Papp, Z. A. (2017). Oktatási részvétel és továbbtanulási szándkékok a Kárpát-medencei magyar fiatalok körében. In Z. A. Papp (Ed.), Változó kisebbség: Kárpát-medencei magyar fiatalok A GeneZYs 2015 kutatás eredményei (pp. 341–366). Mathias Corvinus Collegium-Tihanyi AlapítványMTA Társadalomtudományi Kutatóközpont Kisebbségkutató Intézet. Russo, M., Islam, G., & Koyuncu, B. (2017). Non-native accents and stigma: How self-fulfilling prophesies can affect career outcomes. Human Resource Management Review, 27 (3), 507–520. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2016. 12.001 Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the Subaltern Speak? In C. Nelson & L. Grossberg (Eds.), Marxism and the interpretation of culture (pp. 66–109). University of Illinois Press. Yuval-Davis, N. (1997). Ethnicity, gender relations and multiculturalism. In P. Werbner & T. Modood, (Eds.), Debating cultural hybridity (pp. 193–208). London: Zed Books.

6 The Costs of Academic Career for a National Minority Woman

Inequalities in society are shaped by social categories such as gender and/or race and/or nationality, depending on the geopolitical context. Academic knowledge production may contribute to the deconstruction of these social barriers, as it represents a suitable arena for the shaping of the knowledge of future generations (Davila & Aviles, 2018: 122). However, even in an academic environment that cherishes equality, such as the Finnish higher education, social categories such as gender, nationality, as well as age and class may influence measurable success (Huopalainen & Satama, 2001: 3). In many places higher education, albeit ostensibly accessible to everyone, does not offer the same experience to all, nor it is likely to offer everyone the same rewards (Reay et al., 2001: 871). Still, going to university and building a university career may represent a much-desired breakthrough for members of national minority communities (Ball et al., 2002). Research has established that some women do not see themselves as leaders because they prefer not to internalize the values that they perceive as necessary for holding such positions (Miši´c et al., 2018). Other women, who strive towards leadership positions, are ready to shape the patterns of behaviour of individuals in such positions (Madden, 2002). © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 K. Lendák-Kabók, National Minorities in Serbian Academia, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02367-5_6

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However, Acker argues that even when a woman takes up a leading position, this is an insufficient guarantee of major change in the status quo of patriarchal discourse due to layers of history and normative expectations (2012: 423). Although women leaders ought to empower other women (Cox, 2008), often there is a lack of solidarity among women as a result of the neoliberal transformation of academia and the atomization of human and professional relations within the higher education system (Žarkov, 2015). According to recent research, academic staff members in Serbia, especially in Vojvodina (regardless of their nationality), are generally not interested in attaining high positions in the management structures of the university (Lendák-Kabók, 2018). This chapter will analyse narratives about national minority women and their possibilities of career building in Serbian academe. Narrative inquiry constitutes a way of doing qualitative research. While sharing the general underlying assumptions and similar research practices with other qualitative methods, it stands out as unique in its focus on stories which people construct and present about their lives (Aavik, 2015). Narrative research is concerned with ways in which individuals and groups interpret the social world and their place within it (Law, 2004). Hence, the meanings people attribute to the events they narrate are at the centre of analysis (Aavik, 2015). Pet˝o argues that “through women’s life stories we get to know the women’s narrated experience, the ways in which the specific narrativity constructed their social identities” (2006: 322). In this chapter I analysed the biographical parts and the sequences of events that the respondents shared about their experiences, thoughts, and feelings as teaching/research staff at the universities. In the first subchapter, The position of national minority women in Serbian academia, I will examine narratives of national minority women, and through these I will assess their level of motivation to reach decision-making positions in higher education. In the second subchapter, Academic women in decision-making positions, I will engage with national minority and majority women’s narratives, and enquire the stakes of remaining on a scientific career path and the possibilities for reaching decision-making positions for minority women. Within these narratives, I will focus on various forms of discrimination, such as nationalitybased discrimination, gender-based discrimination, and the intersection

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of gender and nationality-based discrimination. I will identify narrative strategies with which the respondents explain and/or justify and/or try to dismiss the difficulties minority women face when pursuing a career in Serbian academia. The last subchapter, Another glance, analyses the narrative strategies majority Serbian women and men use to justify and/or explain the positions, decisions, and attitudes towards national minority women in Serbian academia. Throughout the interviews the respondents used a set of narrative strategies to justify and explain their status and attitudes in relation to the academic context. To start with, a narrative strategy of otherness was employed to stress a sense of alienation in the predominantly majority academic structure, while one respondent used a strategy of the minority complex, which suggested that a member of the national minority community is pre-destined to fail. A narrative strategy of scientific excellence explains the implicit pressure, which a national minority woman can be burdened by, and which makes her believe that she must excel in relation to her colleagues. A narrative strategy of political involvement assumes that, in terms of reaching decision-making positions, there is too much political influence on the academic community. A political background narrative strategy can empower minority community members in terms of cohesiveness at the ethnic level. A strategy of the equal distribution of powerful positions reveals an important feature of national minority women’s positions in their ethnic enclaves (for example, rotation of national minority female academic staff members in power positions within their own departments, regardless of any political background). Moreover, an open possibilities strategy presumes that there are equal chances for members of minority communities to attain high positions in academia. Finally, a language barrier narrative strategy was used by respondents to explain the situation in which minority women struggle to build their careers in academia because they feel unequal to majority academic staff members due to a language barrier. The narrative strategies defined this way help to approach and discuss the narratives of my respondents in a more nuanced way.

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6.1

K. Lendák-Kabók

The Position of National Minority Women in Serbian Academia

I applied hypothesis coding in my analysis and created a list of codes as hypotheses. These codes were aligned with the questions used in the semi-structured interviews, namely: Is for minority women more difficult to pursue a career in academia? and Can minority women reach decisionmaking positions? The answers were coded with the following values: yes, no, not sure, and N/R (no response or I do not know). The codes were summarized in Table 6.1, which enabled me to quantify the answers from the narratives. After briefly presenting the quantified analysis, I will continue in a qualitative way presenting and analysing interview excerpts. The left half of Table 6.1 contains findings about the difficulties national minority Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian women face while they pursue a career in Serbian academia. The third column shows that eight respondents considered that for a national minority woman it was more difficult to pursue a career in academia, while two of the female Table 6.1 Minority women in academia (female national minority professors)

Code

Field

Is for minority women more difficult to pursue a career in academia? Yes

HFP1 HFP2 HFP3 HFP4 HFP5 HFP6 HFP7 HFP8 HFP9 HFP10 HFP11 HFP12 HFP13 SLFP1 SLFP2 RFP1

STEM SSH SSH SSH SSH STEM SSH STEM STEM STEM STEM SSH SSH SSH SSH SSH

No

Not sure

Can minority women reach decision-making positions? N/R

x

Yes

No

Not sure

x x

x x

x x x x

x x x

x

x x x

x x x x

x x

x x x x

N/R

x x x x x x

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professors experienced no such difficulty: HFP1 and HFP7. HFP1 finished her education in Serbian (from kindergarten to university) therefore she never had any language difficulties. Instead, when talking about her ability to write scientific papers in her mother tongue, she mentioned that being a challenge for her. HFP7 was raised in a mixed marriage and she finished high school in Serbian, still, even though HFP7 pursued a career at the Department for Hungarian Language and Literature she had no problems with her vernacular skills. The right half of Table 6.1 summarizes the respondents’ views on national minority women’s potential to reach decision-making positions. Eight respondents stated that it was possible for national minority women to reach high positions, one respondent was not sure, while four did not answer the question. The lack of answers on the proposed questions might not be intentional, as the interviewer let the narratives flow without much interruption. The qualitative analysis begins with HFP2 from SSH, who at the time of the interview studied parallelly at a minority language department in Novi Sad and at the Teacher Training Faculty in Subotica. She emphasized that being a member of the Hungarian minority can be both advantageous and disadvantageous, depending on where one lives. For instance, being Hungarian is certainly an advantage if one lives in Subotica, the city closest to the Hungarian border in that region, where almost 40% of inhabitants are Hungarians, hence there is a greater chance of being accepted. However, being a woman and a member of a national minority community in a predominantly majority academic environment is more challenging: I did not face any difficulties regarding my nationality. I am convinced that it depends on where you live. For example, in Subotica, there is a place for Hungarians and there always has been. But I am sure that a Hungarian woman would encounter difficulties at the University of Novi Sad in a Serb majority environment. First, she has a different perspective on things; maybe she faces a language barrier or speaks with a foreign accent, maybe because of her minority community membership she is not accepted well. I do not know for sure, but I think that she would have to fight harder than members of the majority. (HFP2)

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HFP2’s interview excerpt suggests that she uses a narrative strategy of otherness to explain a set of invisible biases such as the language barrier or a foreign accent (Russo et al., 2017). The interviewee notes the importance of the context: being within one’s own community protects one from being “otherized.” HFP9 was a demonstrator1 at the university in a STEM field at the time of the interview. She pointed out that she was not paid for this position, nor did she receive any guarantee that a paid position would become open to her in the future. She particularly emphasized the influence of her father on her self-assessment. Namely, her father was convinced that she would never get a paid job at the university because of her Hungarian origins: My father told me a few years ago: “Do you realize that you’re never going to get into the university as a professor, or as a teaching assistant?’ I asked ‘why?’ ‘Because you are Hungarian!’ He ‘implanted’ this thought in my head, and sometimes I think about this, because, in fact, I no longer see how my situation could be resolved. (HFP9)

Although she did not mention any specific cases or experiences of direct or indirect discrimination, the quote implies that her father directly linked her disadvantaged position at the faculty with her nationality (Aavik, 2015; Morrison et al., 1987). Her father’s claims were further strengthened by the fact that, although she was an exceptional student, she did not have the support of professors when building an academic career, which she explicitly talked about in the continuation of the interview. She relied on the narrative strategy of a minority complex (Maran, 2013) to explain her situation, i.e. she perceived herself as a less valuable member of the society because of her ethnic belonging. SLFP1, an ethnic Slovak respondent explicitly stated that women from national minority communities have no difficulties when building a career in academia, while SLFP2 did not answer whether Slovak women have difficulties when pursuing an academic career. RFP1, a Romanian respondent confirmed that women members of ethnic minorities face 1

This is the lowest position in the academic hierarchy. A “demonstrator” has no contract nor receives any remuneration for their work. The only benefit is the opportunity to gain experience in the academic community.

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extra difficulties when pursuing a career in academia. She emphasized that the language is the main source of these difficulties: I think that in this case the language difficulty is very important. Someone, who speaks in his/her family only in Romanian and finishes schooling in Romanian and after s/he has to continue his/her education in Serbian or to speak only in Serbian, as it was my case, can have a great difficulty when teaching in Serbian to students who do not speak Romanian. This is maybe important, the language difficulty. Most people here in Banat, in Vojvodina are bilingual, I think that it should not be a barrier of some kind, they can get a job wherever they want but it depends on the employer as well .

RFP1, a professor in SSH studies in a minority language department, emphasized in her narrative the language barrier as a major obstacle to women from national minority communities in the academic environment. More specifically, as Romanian is her mother tongue, it was difficult for her to teach Romanian as a foreign language for Serbian students in Serbian. Her experience can be linked to earlier research on national minority students, a majority of whom were unbalanced bilinguals, characterized by a very low level of Serbian proficiency (Filipovi´c et al., 2007). The former situation applies equally to students who are Romanians and who chose to study Romanian language and literature, but due to a high level of assimilation speak the language of their origin poorly or not at all. RFP1 in her statements explains the limiting factors in the careers of national minority women. SLFP2 dissociated herself from the answer, as she said that in her opinion at her faculty (the Faculty of Philosophy) there is a possibility for women from any national minority to reach decision-making positions as there are many people from national minority groups working at the mentioned faculty. She was not sure about the situation at other faculties: It is possible, I think it is, at our faculty certainly. I am not sure about others, at our faculty a lot of foreign languages and languages of national minorities are studied and that is one of the characteristics of this faculty. I have not noticed any discrimination regarding this question. I think they can. (SLFP2)

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SLFP2 relied on the strategy of ethnic blindness, but her focus was on the environment she was most familiar with, i.e. the Faculty of Philosophy, which is, as SLFP2 said, a multi-ethnic environment, which never yet had a dean in its history from one of the national minority language departments. Hence, SLFP2’s ethnic blindness is also a self-deceiving strategy, and by using this kind of narrative she actually dismisses the implicit and subtle discrimination present in her workplace. Some interviewees seemed to accept certain inequalities seemingly without ever noticing or thinking about them. This was one such example. When asked if in her opinion a professor of ethnic Romanian origin could ever become the dean of her faculty, RFP1 expressed her doubts: I have never thought about it whether the dean would ever be [ethnic] Romanian. It could be, but I don’t know whether we would have the support of the people from other departments, for one of us to become the dean. (RFP1)

She was relying on the strategy of politics in academia. In RFP1’s opinion there could be a chance for a member of the Romanian minority community, if the community was very cohesive and used their political power through the Romanian National Council. RFP1 was the only respondent who exhibited a consciousness about the need for ethnic cohesiveness. The possibility for women—of various ethnic backgrounds—to act together, reach decision-making positions, and thereby empower other women in academia was not mentioned in any of the interviews.

6.2

Academic Women in Decision-Making Positions

6.2.1 Female Professors from National Minority Background Hypothesis coding was used to code the interviews of national minority, female professors. A predetermined list of codes was generated. The codes were predefined and were divided into two main categories: not motivated and motivated. Under the main code of being not motivated

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there were 5 sub-codes: politics within academia, not well paid, devoted to teaching, devoted to research, and people change (i.e. for the worse when in a decision-making position). Under the main code of being motivated, 5 more codes were introduced, namely: motivated, did not have a decision-making position, could not get a position, had a decision-making position earlier, and N/R—as no response (Table 6.2). Table 6.3 summarizes my findings about the motivation of national minority female professors for reaching decision-making positions within academia. It is divided into two parts. As for the first one, respondents are demotivated because of the politics in the academia, because they are not well paid, lack of devotion to teaching, lack of devotion to research, or because of the fact the people change when they reach these positions. Two respondents were motivated, eight never had a decision-making position, one failed to reach such a position, and five had a decisionmaking position earlier. Only two professors stated that they would like to reach high positions. Some of them were not sure whether they would change their minds in the future, and might decide to strive to reach high positions. Some of the national minority female professors (HFP1, HFP2, HFP4, HFP5, and RFP1) had decision-making positions earlier, namely vice-dean, head of department, deputy head of department, coordinator of a language centre. The most experienced HFP1 used to be the vicedean for academic affairs, she held the position of the head of department and she was the director of a research institute as well. She held her decision-making positions in a mostly male environment. When asked about her positions, she said that when she started working, in the state socialist era, there was a set list of qualities by which people were selected for decision-making positions. She was always a successful researcher plus she is of ethnic Hungarian origin; therefore, she was deemed suitable for some decision-making positions in the old political regime: I was the head of an institute for many years. I was the vice-dean, as well, during my mandate, although I did not apply for a second term. In the city, during communism, there was a list of the qualities needed for a decisionmaking position. I was the head of an institute for many years. I was the vicedean, as well, during my mandate, although I did not apply for a second term. In the city, during communism, there was a list of the qualities needed for a

Field

STEM SSH SSH SSH SSH STEM SSH STEM STEM STEM STEM SSH SSH SSH SSH SSH

Code

HFP1 HFP2 HFP3 HFP4 HFP5 HFP6 HFP7 HFP8 HFP9 HFP10 HFP11 HFP12 HFP13 SLFP1 SLFP2 RFP1

x

x

x

x

x

Not well paid

x x

x

Devoted to teaching

x

x

x x

Devoted to research

Not motivated to reach top position People change

Table 6.2 Motivation of national minority female professors

x x

Moti-vated

x x

x x x x x x

Did not have a decision-making position

Motivated to reach top position

x

Failed to reach position

x x

x x

Had a position earlier

x

x x

N/R

146 K. Lendák-Kabók

Field

STEM STEM SSH SSH STEM STEM STEM

Code

SFP1 SFP2 SFP3 SFP4 SFP5 SFP6 SFP7

x

Politics within academia

It is not well paid x x x x

Devoted to teaching

x

x

Devoted to research

Not motivated to reach top position

x

People change

Table 6.3 Motivation of ethnic majority female professors

x

x

Motivated x x x x x x x

Did not have a decision-making position

Failed to reach position

Had a decision-making position earlier

Motivated to reach top position

NN/R

6 The Costs of Academic Career …

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K. Lendák-Kabók

decision-making position. So, for the positions where they were looking for a female Hungarian engineer, I was the only one suitable. I was Hungarian, a woman, married, lived in a family, university graduate and an assistant professor as well. People were very curious about who this person was who had all the listed qualities. So, for many years I held various functions, like in the social union. I also worked in the House of Representatives for years, then in the main committee, the personnel commission, which still exits, and on the Serbian National Theatre board of directors, which still exists, as well . (HFP1)

HFP1 and HFP2, who had decision-making positions earlier, stated that they would not accept such positions again, but they failed to elaborate their reasons. HFP4 used to hold the position of the vicedean for academic affairs, and during those years she had to work long hours, often in the evenings as well. Her success compensated her for the extra work she did, still she did not talk about accepting decisionmaking positions in the future. She said that although she had established numerous collaborations with universities in Hungary but when a new dean was elected, she was slowly left out from those collaborations. This is something she attributed to the change of the “political climate” at her faculty. HFP1, HFP2, and HFP10 said that they were devoted to teaching, therefore they were not interested in taking a break and entering a decision-making position. Two of them already held decision-making positions, one was a vice-dean, and during that time, she had to do a lot of administrative work, thus had no time for research. HFP2 shared that she was asked a few times to become dean, but she refused each time. She loves her profession and is devoted to it, but being in a decision-making position would mean that she would sometimes have to be strict with people. That is something she would not like to do: I did not accept any decision-making positions. Neither would I accept the position of the dean, because I like my profession very much /…/ In addition, it is very difficult for me to rebuke people, and for these positions it is expected that you will be in charge; hence, this person should not be so sensitive and should be able to tell off someone who did not do his/her share of the work. (HFP2)

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HFP3 said that she could not get a decision-making position, as by her male boss’ opinion she was not suitable. In the state socialist era she could get a position, but then her children were small, therefore she was not active in the Communist Party, which was in turn judged negatively when she was considered for a position. After her children grew up, her boss was always “over-protective” towards her, saying that she could not fulfil any important position because that would have affected her work. Her narrative is also proof of a different working regime in the state socialist era. Women and men, ethnic minorities, and the majority population had equal opportunities regarding the right to work and progress. But, loyalty to the Communist Party was obligatory. I never got a decision-making position. I was not suitable. The party’s leadership favoured me, but my boss feared that if I got such a position, I would get promoted too quickly. He said that I would have a lot of obligations concerning my further training, and therefore I could not deal with the decision-making positions properly. (HFP3)

HFP5 stated that even though she had decision-making positions during her career, as she was the Coordinator of a Language Centre, she was never interested in higher positions, namely to become a vice-dean, dean, vice-rector, or rector. One of the Hungarian interviewees narrated that her primary obligation is to work with students; therefore she was never motivated to change that for a decision-making position: No, decision-making positions do not appeal to me. I was always more interested in working with students, I love working with them. I think I am better at this job. I have never longed for any decision-making position. (HFP6)

HFP8 said that she would like to do managerial work, e.g. the coordination of big science projects where the salaries are considerably higher. In her opinion, a dean has a lot of obligations and the salary increase (if any) is not aligned with that. HFP5, HFP9, and HFP11 narrated that politics within the academic society is the reason why they are not motivated. This was a strategy

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they were using to explain why they were not willing to get involved in neither internal faculty politics, nor politics outside the walls of the faculty/university. This statement is supported by the following quote: No, there is too much politics involved, and you should know how to deal with people. In my opinion, my biggest problem is my great sense of justice for my students, my boss and my fellow colleagues. It is difficult for me to deal with injustice. Maybe because I am too young, and maybe it is hard for me to understand. But then again, I think I am not that young anymore.

Only two Hungarian female professors (HFP12 and HFP13) told explicitly that they were interested in reaching decision-making positions. Both were younger and they had no prior experience in decision-making positions in academia. Importantly, their family also provided support. Namely, HFP12’s grandfather was an academic himself, her mother has a PhD and held a decision-making position outside academia for a long period. HFP13 works at the Hungarian language Teachers Training Faculty in Subotica, where she is teaching in her mother tongue in an environment, which is geographically separate from other faculties of the UNS. In small and familiar environments there is a bigger chance for women having confidence and drive. HFP13 when asked what her goal would be while holding a top position, she stated that it would be the development of research. In her narrative, she stated that in Serbia there is limited access to modern research equipment and methods. SLFP1 narrated that she could not fulfil her duties towards her students and her research career if she would have to deal with a decisionmaking position. She also said that her family was important and she needed to devote them enough time. SLFP2 did not say anything explicitly about wishing to reach high positions within the academia. However, SLFP2 and RFP1 in their narratives mentioned that the agreement between the teaching staff at their departments was that everybody will get to be the head of department eventually, i.e. the professors will rotate in that position. Therefore, decision-making position was something natural to come and they did not need to put extra effort into reaching it. For instance, RFP1 was the deputy head of her department at the time of the interview:

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I am now the deputy head of department. We agreed within our department that we would alternate, and we’ll all have a turn. We will not fight to be the head of the department. (RFP1)

RFP1 when talking about the university’s situation outside their department, said that there was a lot of politics involved and that she was not motivated to get involved in politics. Romanian and Slovak female professors used the same strategies as Hungarian professors did, namely politics involved in academia and devotion to research/teaching, which strategies have a strong gender component.

6.2.2 Female Professors from Ethnic Majority Background In the following section, Serbian female professors’ narratives will be analysed starting from the most experienced one and finishing with the youngest professor. The interviewees were previously presented and their codenames were explained as well. Table 6.4 contains the summarized results of the analysis of the transcribed interviews. From the first part of Table 6.4 it can be seen that one respondent was not interested in reaching a decision-making position because of the involvement of politics, four respondents were not interested because of their devotion to teaching, whereas two respondents were devoted Table 6.4 National minority women in academia (by Serbian female professors)

Code

Field

SFP1 SFP2 SFP3 SFP4 SFP5 SFP6 SFP7

STEM STEM SSH SSH STEM STEM STEM

Is for minority women more difficult to pursue a career in academia? Yes

No

Not sure

Can minority women reach decision-making positions? N/R

Yes

No

x

Not sure

N/R x x

x x

x x x x x

x x x x

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to research. One respondent did not want a decision-making position because people change in management positions. Two respondents were motivated to reach high positions, but neither of the respondents held a decision-making position before. This is important, as we could see how holding a decision-making position on a departmental level is a common thing for national minority female professors. SFP1 confessed that she thought about achieving decision-making positions, but then she realized that people change when they are in a power position: Yes, I thought about it [of reaching decision-making positions]. /…/ Those positions require you to be different. People change a lot. You know someone for 40 years and then s/he becomes someone important, and you see that you misjudged them. Maybe I would change as well. It depends on a person and on the feeling of fake grandeur, or real grandeur - it does not matter. That is not that appealing to me. (SFP1)

Although SFP2 acted as a working group leader in different projects, she did not have a decision-making position at her faculty. SFP2 was a very successful scientist who, besides her work at the faculty, had a significant role in a high-profile research group at a research institution and she was very confident about the quality of her work there. When asked about decision-making positions, she said that she would turn down any such offer but she did not elaborate immediately why. In her opinion women in general are unmotivated to achieve decision-making positions and this is because they are treated differently. She had a very good example to share: although previously she had the feeling that male colleagues were paying her compliments, she had come to realize that by doing so, they were signalling that they did not think of her as a peer: I also think that women are very unmotivated to reach decision-making positions. Here is a little example: for years, it was very appealing to me, but, I do not know, I did not give much significance to it and then, one day, I realized that it is so unappealing to me when elderly colleagues and colleagues who are in high positions call me “girl”! “How are you today, girl? You look so sweet today!” At first, you think that it is a compliment, but it is far from being a compliment. That is ageism and chauvinism, that’s what it is. And then it

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starts annoying you. It means that a successful woman in our society will be either a girl or a hysterical woman, a witch. So, she will be assigned one of the two adjectives by men, and it will then immediately block her from any further progress. (SFP2)

SFP2 was interested in “enriching” the academic discourse at her workplace by adding her ideas. She thinks that each generation ought to give something to the people they work with and that it is unfair that some professors (mostly men) occupy decision-making positions for a long time, leaving no space for younger colleagues with new or different ideas. SFP2 was commonly asked by women’s organizations to promote successful women and women in STEM. She always rejected those invitations, because she would have not liked to be seen as a woman engineer, but as an engineer per se and not as a woman professor but as a university professor per se. I interpret this as a masculine behaviour she embraces in order to be accepted as equal by men. When she received a prestigious award for her achievement in research, an equal number of men and women received awards. That made her think that maybe she had received an award because she was a woman, and perhaps some very successful man or woman missed out on the award because of the “forced gender equality.” She considers that such actions jeopardize scientific excellence. Two of the respondents (SFP3, SFP4) stated that their work with students, i.e. the teaching dimension of their work, was primary for them: That is the kind of aspiration I really do not have. No, I do not, if you mean whether I would like to be part of a dean’s or the rector’s pack. No. Neither the positions interest me, nor the tasks these positions impose. The positions of the rector, dean, department head —no, absolutely not. The essence of my job is primarily my work with students; the university’s emphasis should be placed on education because we are primarily teachers, only then scientists and researchers; it is the central part of the profession. (SFP4)

Thomas and Davis argue in their research, that a number of their female interviewees felt like the teaching duties and administrative tasks were forced upon female academic staff and “that they were excluded

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from research activities and were locked into departmental maintenance activities and emotional work in the department. Research, the new performance standard, was an activity they found increasingly difficult to engage due to the sheer size of teaching and administration workloads” (2002: 381). They also point out that for many female interviewees “teaching was their primary interest in working in the higher education. This was especially so in vocational subjects where their motivation for working in the higher education was to teach” (Thomas & Davis, 2002: 389). This was supported by the narratives of my respondents, who felt like teaching was their primary duty, and every other academic duty came as second. This is due to gender stereotypes, which assume that women, even within the academe, are primarily caretakers, i.e. they are the ones who ought to serve the students’ needs and expectations. However, teaching in higher education does not involve only academic lectures but also scientific production—in fact, progress depends exactly on scientific production and only partially on the way students rate their professors. Thus, because of their greater share of the teaching load women are more likely to produce only the minimum of the research requirements for their academic advancement, and in this way they are less likely two achieve an internationally recognized scientific career. Men are more likely to work on projects with teaching being less of their priority. SFP5 claimed that she never wanted to hold any decision-making position because every one of those positions is defined by politics, still, she did not completely rule out the idea of taking a decision-making position one day in the future: I am not attracted to decision-making positions within the faculty, I would not like to be a vice-dean for this or that. I am not the kind of person who /…/ within our society everything is always connected with politics, and I am not, so at the moment that is why I despise it, to be realistic. (SFP5)

The youngest respondent (SFP7) said that for her the most important thing was her career progress and evolution. She was not interested in decision-making positions.

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When summarizing the findings from the narratives of Serbian female professors, we can conclude that the two main strategies they employed were devoted to teaching and devoted to research. Additionally, they mentioned the politics in academia and that people change during the time they occupy a decision-making position. In the narratives of national minority women there was a direct correlation between decision-making positions and politics as one of the recurring reasons of discouragement to reach top positions. Although Slovak and Romanian professors did not mention this kind of difficulty, the Hungarian women were very sure about it in their narratives. This leads us to believe that Serbian women are not as wary of politics as are Hungarian minority women. Only one of the Serb women mentioned politics as a discouragement; still, she did not dismiss the possibility of one day being interested in power positions. Another important finding is that national minority female professors have greater opportunities to get decision-making positions, but only in their own environment, i.e. the national minority language departments.

6.3

Another Glance: The Possibilities of National Minority Women as Seen by Ethnic Majority Professors

6.3.1 Female Professors from Majority Background After analysing the seven semi-structured interviews that I conducted with Serbian female professors I summarized the results below with the same methodology I have previously detailed. Serb female professors were asked whether a female professor from a national minority background can pursue a career in academia without difficulties, and whether it was possible for them to reach decisionmaking positions. SFP1 and SFP3 said that minority women indeed face difficulties when building a career in academia. SFP5, SFP6, SFP7 in their narratives pointed out that there were no difficulties for minority women in their careers and in reaching decision-making positions. SFP2 and SFP4 did not answer the question. To the second question about

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minority women reaching decision-making positions, only two respondents answered explicitly. This might be because of the fact, that the respondents were more focused on talking about their own motivation for building a career in academia and for reaching decision-making positions and thereby they exhausted this topic. Serb female professors also used various narrative strategies to make sense of the hardships they perceive in the careers of national minority women while developing their academic careers. SFP3 stated that in Serbia members of ethnic minorities could not reach decision-making positions such as the dean’s position. In turn, SFP4 held that there were no obstacles in the way of national minority women. Both of them talked about the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad, where people from various ethnic backgrounds work together. SFP5 considered that coming from a national minority background does not play a part in the position of women. However, according to her there is a gender-based difficulty, because women have to balance a lot more between their careers and families (Lendák-Kabók, 2020), i.e. they need to sacrifice part of their family life to be present at work: I do not think that they [women from national minority background] have any difficulties [when building a career]. I think that women as women have difficulties, most of all because they have to balance between work and family obligations, because you have to elbow your way through, to fight, you have to be very present, and that means that your family will have to suffer a lot. I mean, if someone is ready for these sacrifices. This is perhaps the only obstacle, and more so for women than for ethnic minorities. (SFP5)

SFP5 relied on the narrative strategy of work-life balance, which allowed her to analyse only the gender aspect instead of the intersection of gender and nationality aspects. She did not seem to have a sense of the interplay of gender and nationality, therefore she pointed out only one possible factor of disadvantage, while the other she marginalized. SFP6 works at the Faculty of Technical Sciences. She said that in her environment people were not divided by nationality. She had no female colleagues from national minority background, but she had Hungarian male colleagues, and, according to her, no one was paying attention to

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their nationality. She said that at her department there were also male colleagues who were of Bosnian origin. In her opinion peoples’ ethnic background does not define their relations. I don’t know, but at the Faculty of Technical Sciences, at least in our environment, I do not think that [it is more difficult], I think there are no big divisions based on nationality. We do not have Hungarian female colleagues, but we have a few Hungarian male colleagues and they do not have any problems, at least I do not see that anyone is thinking about their nationality. We have Bosnian colleagues as well, but I think no one thinks about it. (SFP6)

As it is apparent from this segment, SFP6 also relied on the strategy of ethnic blindness in her narrative. SFP7 also narrated that she perceived no difference between people based on ethnic background at her faculty although she worked with members of different national minority communities (Hungarians, Croats, Slovaks). However, she thought that having a “connection,” either family-related or other, for example political, would sometimes make a difference: I think that [nationality] plays no part, I don’t know, I did not have a chance to meet with such an example, but I think there is no significance of any kind. As I have mentioned earlier, I am surrounded by people of different ethnicities: Hungarians, Croats, Slovaks. I think that we are all in the same position, there is no differentiation between us. Someone has more luck, then others, I think there are other things in question here. If we would have some “connections” we would have a better position, regardless of nationality. And is nationality the most important? I don’t think so. I think it’s important who are your family members or who do you know, but nationality is not important at all . (SFP7)

In SFP7’s narrative can be identified as the strategy of family support, which means the support from family members or acquaintances necessary to progress on the career ladder. So-called “connections” could be interpreted in various ways, but mostly they imply familial, economic, and/or political connections. SFP7 also used the word “luck,” by which she tried to explain how things in academia work.

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When it comes to the question about national minority women reaching decision-making positions within in the academic hierarchy, two Serbian female professors held that the language barrier is a potential difficulty for minority women. They were convinced that for reaching decision-making positions in the higher education system perfect knowledge of the majority language is indispensable. SFP3 narrated that beside language, there are some other factors, which aid people to reach decision-making positions. SFP3 claimed that the majority is not supportive towards minorities. Even though SFP3 is working in a multicultural environment, where different ethnic minorities are represented, she thought that there was no chance for them to reach a decisionmaking position yet. She is optimistic that in the future this might change. The language is surely important. I think that I do not have any examples, which could prove in favour or against, but I think that it is difficult [for minority women], because to be in a decision-making position is a political decision, even though politics should not be present at the faculty. Not the politics in a classical way, but the politics at institutional level because you have to have the support of seventeen departments and to get the favour of the majority and I think that even in this faculty this is still not yet in practice: I hope that I’m wrong. (SFP3)

SFP3 applied the strategy of language difficulty. Russo et al. pointed out in their research, how “non-native accents can have a series of effects on non-native-accent speakers’ work (job performance, job performance evaluation, task assignment) and career outcomes (career advancement, career satisfaction)” (Russo et al., 2017: 515). SFP3 also used the strategy of politics in academia, as she referred to politics within the institution, which is creating a cohesive constituency for the majority and in which minorities might become marginalized. SFP4 worked at the same faculty as SFP3, but she had a different stance about minority women’s opportunities of reaching decisionmaking positions. She also mentioned the language difficulty, which she claimed was a big disadvantage for the minorities, still, she held that people were equal and nationality was not that important.

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No, it is the same. Only the language difficulty, but I really think, that in this environment, in Novi Sad and the Faculty of Philosophy, nationality plays no part. I think that decades of various ethnic minorities living together raised people’s awareness and nationality is not considered a relevant parameter. (SFP4)

SFP4’s narrative about the non-importance of nationality again relies on the strategy of nationality blindness.

6.3.2 Ethnic Majority Men in Decision-Making Positions Male professors were analysed together, their analysis was not chronological, nor was it divided by nationality, but instead by the similarity of their narratives. Table 6.5 contains the summarized results of the analysis of the transcribed interviews. HMP1, HMP2, and RMP1 did not want decision-making position because of the politics involved, and one male professor (RMP1) did not want it because he was devoted to research. In the second part of the table, it can be seen that four respondents were motivated to reach high positions. Four never had such a position, only one male respondent did. Almost all male interviewees mentioned their interest in achieving high positions in academia. Although most of them were not motivated at the moment of the interview, but they did not exclude the possibility of being interested in the future. HMP1, HMP2, and RMP1 stated that their disinterest was connected to politics, as they did not want to get involved in that. The following passages illustrate these opinions: I am an assistant professor at the moment. I am a member of the university council and a member of another few councils. I could say that I am a member of the faculty middle management. For the time being I am satisfied, considering the fact that only problems arise from having these decision-making positions. It is safer this way. (HMP1)

HMP1 HMP2 SLMP1 RMP1 SMP1

Code

x

x x

Politics in acade-mia

Not well paid

Devoted to teaching

x

Devoted to research

Not motivated to reach top position

People change

Table 6.5 Motivation of male professors (all STEM)

x x x x

Motivated

x x

x x

Did not have a decision-making position

Failed to reach position

Motivated to reach top position

x

Had a decision-making position earlier

160 K. Lendák-Kabók

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Two respondents (SLMP1 and SMP1) spoke about their motivation to reach decision-making positions. One of them was a vice-dean in two mandates. He stated that his promotion to high positions was not something he planned, but he had thought about it: I was vice-dean. I did not plan to reach a senior position, but I had thought about it. When I was a student, I was the vice president of the students’ union. I had an inclination for these types of positions. (SLMP1)

A younger professor had thoughts about reaching high positions, as well. He narrated that being in a “less visible’ position, which also comes with a certain degree of power, is better for him: …I do not see myself at the top of the hierarchy, rather in a supporting position that comes with a certain degree of responsibility. (SMP1)

These men used different strategies than the interviewed women. Although national minority men in their narratives reported disinterest in reaching top academic (management) positions because of the politics involved, four interviewees explicitly spoke of their willingness to assume a decision-making role one day or of having filled such a role for a long time. They articulated a strategy of postponing, i.e. assuming that kind of responsibility later on in their careers. Achieving a high position was in the future plans of most interviewed men.

6.3.3 Men in Serbian Academia Table 6.6 contains the summarized results of the analysis of the transcribed interviews conducted with national minority and majority male professors. The same aspects were analysed as for Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian, and Serbian female professors, i.e. is there a chance for minority women to pursue a career in academia without difficulties and is there a chance for them to reach decision-making positions as well? Four respondents stated that for national minority women it was more difficult to pursue a career in academia. Only SLMP1 did not speak about this, but he did tell that for minority women it was more difficult

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Table 6.6 Minority women in academia (by male professors)

Code

Field

Is for minority women more difficult to pursue a career in academia? Yes

HMP1 HMP2 SLMP1 RMP1 SMP1

STEM STEM STEM STEM STEM

No

Not sure

Can minority women reach decision-making positions? N/R

x x

No

Not sure

N/R

x x x

x x

Yes

x x x

to reach a decision-making position. Only HMP1 stated explicitly that women from national minority communities can reach decision-making positions, and two respondents were unsure. SMP1 did not explicitly answer this question. HMP2 talked about gender stereotypes at work at the Faculty of Technical Sciences and he also touched the question of nationality, as an important or rather a limiting factor: The fact that someone is Hungarian, I don’t know whether it has an impact or not… There are surely professors, who think that it is important. At the department, where I work, it tends to be important, they do not say anything incorrect, but they are simply not working together. I think the situation is the same for women as well, regardless of their nationality. (HMP2)

When it comes to gender stereotypes HMP2 claimed that men have stereotypical views of women in the “old boys club” and that they are sometimes reluctant to work with them. He mentioned repeatedly how women only get administrative tasks within some teams at the Faculty of Technical Sciences and that this is due to gender stereotypes. We explained this narrative as an occurrence of the strategy of gender stereotypes. The interviewee was aware of this, but he considered it normal and did not question the justness of this situation. In his narrative this situation seemed to be the “rule of the game” at the Faculty of Technical Sciences.

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Although HMP1 was the only one who stated that women from minority communities can reach decision-making positions, his statements also reveal the difficulties women must face if they are trying to climb the ladder of academic hierarchy. At his department HMP1 witnessed the very successful career of a woman from a national minority background. He said that because of her there were no boundaries for women, but he emphasized that she had a name which did not reveal her nationality, had no language difficulties, and in addition she had exceptional scientific results. When he tried to speak about minority women in general, he had a slightly different view. He told that the society we live in is very patriarchal therefore it is difficult for women to progress in their careers: …. Serbian society is still very patriarchal, there is a need for a few generations to pass before progress will become easier for women. If she is not speaking the language of the state perfectly then her position is even more difficult. (HMP1)

HMP1 used the strategy of future resolution with which he took responsibility off of himself and the current actors of society. Since future changes are conditioned by present movements or actions, if there are no actions today, nor anyone is taking responsibility, then it’s highly dubious if changes will come at all. SLMP1 was very determined when it comes to the question whether women from national minority communities can reach the highest decision-making positions. His opinion was affirmative, i.e. a woman could become the dean of the Faculty of Technical Sciences; however, he held that it is hardly possible for a woman with a national minority background. This was drawn from his long-term, first-hand experience in the academic circles: I think a woman could be the dean of the Faculty of Technical Sciences, but hardly can a woman from a national minority group become the dean of the Faculty of Technical Sciences. (SLMP1)

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SLMP1 was himself ethnic Slovak, holding decision-making positions for a long time. He was subconsciously and unintentionally adopting an explicitly intersectional analysis, comparing the status of majority and national minority women, and pointing out how the intersection of gender and nationality surely disallowed national minority women from becoming the dean of his institution. SMP1 explained that although he thinks that there was no difference between people, from his point of view, he cannot generalize this. In his department there was no difference between people, and this was something he was sure of. This is his personal point of view—but also a socially acceptable answer. We should also keep in mind that I as an interviewer was a national minority woman and my interviewee was a man with an ethnic majority background, who unconsciously or consciously adjusted his narrative to the interviewer. Even though he claimed that in his department there is no differentiation based on gender and nationality, he could not support his theory with examples: In my environment, at the department, and I say this from my perspective, I think that there is no differentiation, because if nationality is judged by the name and surname of a person and by what is in their ID card or passport and so on, then it should not have to do with anything and as I have seen from my experience, there is no effect. Now, on the other hand, as I know, we at the department do not have anybody who is a female and a member of national minority group. (SMP1)

SMP1 used the strategy of accident, i.e. he explained by luck and chance that there were no national minority women in his (STEM) department at the Faculty of Technical Sciences.

6.4

Career Building in the Serbian Academic Arena: Narrative Strategies

Our intersectional analysis showed that national minority women struggle with invisible biases at the individual level in terms of their sense of belonging and otherness. They possess greater awareness of

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their nationality than of their gender (Aavik, 2015), which is somewhat connected to the language barrier they have to overcome when entering the higher education system (Russo et al., 2017). Since they succeeded in building an academic career, they do not question their social status as women, although they live in a traditional society built upon patriarchal values (Blagojevi´c Hjuson, 2015). Instead, they accept the position of gatekeepers within their ethnic walls, i.e. in the departments in which minority culture, literature, and languages are studied. Traditionally, women’s role is to preserve the nation, which may be facilitated by fostering ethnic identity, as well as minority language (Kora´c, 1996). Besides, national minority women are often faced with cultural taxation, being burdened by the additional expectation that they should mentor and support students from their communities (Tierney & Bensimon, 1996). National minority women face difficulties due to horizontal genderbased segregation between STEM and SSH fields. Although men from ethnic minorities are employed in STEM fields, women from ethnic minorities are underrepresented, even in relation to the total number of women in these areas (Lendák-Kabók, 2018). This can be explained by the fact that STEM disciplines are seen as “male” areas of study, and are thus predominantly male environments. When combined with the factor of nationality, such gendered constellations are difficult to overcome, as confirmed by previous research, see for example Blagojevi´c (2009). Women from minority communities working in STEM emphasized that they need to be exceptional individuals and have a brilliant scientific career behind them for others to accept and follow their ideas. What they also are confronted by and must overcome is the double jeopardy of being women in STEM areas (Williams and Chrisman, 1994). Finally, I found, in accordance with earlier studies, that women do not perceive gender and nationality as an intersectional bias, but most often focus solely on their ethnic belonging (Aavik, 2015; Morrison et al., 1987) when narrating the potential difficulties they encounter in obtaining decision-making positions. The analysis showed that decisionmaking positions are guaranteed to national minority women who work within their ethnic enclaves, such as at departments for national minority languages. In these domains they can advance hierarchically, since they

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are not seen as competing with the majority population. If both male and female national minority staff were proportionally employed at departments, it would be logical to assume that national minority men would climb the career ladder faster than minority women. Such a situation occurred, for instance, at the Hungarian Language and Literature Department at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Novi Sad, where male staff members had occupied decision-making positions for years. Today, there are no male staff members in the department, which has opened up the space for national minority women leaders. Thus we can conclude that, except for in ethnic enclaves, gender and nationality effectively obstruct most national minority women from reaching decision-making positions, leading them to encounter the glass ceiling in the Serbian academic community. Most of the Serb female respondents did not talk specifically about national minority women’s position, they were either talking about women’s position or the position of members of minority communities in academia. Serbian women were mostly neglecting, or not realizing at all the intersectional implications of the question asked. Their ignorance was not intentional, they were just not used to thinking in two or more dimensions, which are intersecting and creating a new dimension of discrimination. Despite this, one Serbian female professor explicitly discussed how for minority women, or minorities in general would be very difficult to get the dean’s position even in a multilingual and multiethnic environment such as the Faculty of Philosophy. She connected it to the fact that minority language departments have less social and economic power within the faculty. In turn, one of the majority female staff members from the same faculty shared that because of the multicultural environment of the faculty minority women can indeed reach decision-making positions. She mentioned the fact, that the Faculty of Philosophy had three female deans in a row. Therefore women have the power to succeed, although we should also keep in mind, that all of the women deans were from the Department for Serbian Language and Literature. Although the same interviewee held that there is a chance for national minority women to reach decision-making positions, she also mentioned the language barrier, claiming that women with a language difficulty have no chance of getting into a decision-making position

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within academia. They have to be equal with the women members of the majority community in every sense. This was a common issue mentioned by majority women, where they used their majority privilege and talked about the less privileged or minority women. The women interviewees did not talk about how they could change something in the system by working together, rather they were adhering to fate and trying to make sense of their positions through various strategies. This lack of solidarity might be attributed to neoliberalism, which crept into academia, making the individual the most important. None of the women mentioned that having a decision-making position might help other women. When it comes to the analysis of the answers of the male professors, they were in their narratives almost all sure that for minority women it is more difficult to build a career in academia. Importantly, all five respondents were employed in STEM fields, in which women were underrepresented among faculty staff members and students as well. Although there were male professors from national minority communities employed at the faculty, their female peers were seriously underrepresented. Minority women in STEM narrated how they have to have a brilliant career in order to be accepted. When it comes to attaining positions, the analysis showed that women, regardless of their nationality or their field of research, were less motivated in achieving power positions within the academic hierarchy. They used a range of strategies to back up their standpoints, the most frequent of which were politics in academia and devotion to teaching/research. The more experienced researchers spoke of obtaining (or having the opportunity to obtain) decision-making positions during state socialism. Before 1991 national minority women in positions of power were a relatively common phenomenon because of the so-called “national key criterion” (Miladinovi´c, 2003: 39), i.e. quotas ensuring that every nationality is proportionately represented in all hierarchic structures. Only two female respondents were explicitly motivated to reach high positions. One said that her emphasis would be on research development, while the other talked about the necessity of every generation putting their ideas in the managerial structure. None of the women mentioned

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reaching high positions as a possibility to promote the advancement of women. Some even had negative attitudes towards gender equality in research, because of its ostensible negative affect on scientific excellence. I found that contrary to expectations national minority women more easily reach decision-making positions. The Slovak, Romanian, and Hungarian language and literature departments employ relatively small numbers of teaching staff, and because of their internal policies all the members will get into the deputy head and/or head of the department position at one point. These departments are national minority only and usually predominantly employ women. Unfortunately, the career path to reaching higher positions (e.g. dean, rector) is hardly open, as national minority women face a glass ceiling on departmental levels. Nevertheless, it should be noted, that being a minority in this sense is an advantage for them, rather than a disadvantage. The fact that none of the Serbian female respondents had a decision-making position before, also backed up this theory. Men were more interested in reaching decision-making positions compared to women, regardless of their nationality or field of research. Three out of five male interviewees stated that they were interested in reaching decision-making positions and one was vice-dean in two terms. Most connected decision-making positions to politics and this aspect was estranging them from the above-mentioned positions. Politics as an aspect and a strategy was also present in the responses of women professors. A significant gender difference could be detected in the respondents’ other reasons for their lack of motivation to take decision-making positions. None of the men thought that their job was primarily teaching, while a significant number of the female professors explicitly referred to teaching as their primary role. Work with students can be very time-consuming and leaves little options for extra earnings, as it is not limited to classes, but to office hours reserved for students’ questions and mentorship as well. In general men were more decisive when asked about decision-making positions. Almost all of them, regardless of their nationality, said that they are interested in reaching a decision-making position at some point in their career. They saw this as a natural further step in one’s career.

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Maran, M. (2013). Rumuni u Banatu. Osobenosti identiteta. Zbornik radova Etnografskog instituta SANU–Kulturna prožimanja: antropološke perspektive, 28, 229–238. UDK:323.15(=135.1)(497.113) Miladinovi´c, S. (2003). Obrasci formiranja i reprodukcije vladaju´cih elita u bivšoj Jugoslaviji: I Vertikalna pokretljivost. Sociologija, 45 (1), 33–60. Miši´c Andri´c, M., & Markov, S. (2018). Challenges (obstacles) in reaching leadership positions: Experiences of women professors at Novi Sad University Serbia. Gender Studies, 16 (1), 115–133. Morrison, A. M., White, R. P., & Van Velsor, E. (1987). Breaking the glass ceiling. Addison-Wesley. Pet˝o, A. (2006). Redefinition of “Statist Feminism” and contemporary conservative and extreme rightist Hungarian female politicians. In E. Saurer, M. Lanzinger, & E. Frysak (Eds.), Women’s movements: Networks and debates in post-communist countries in the 19th and 20th centuries (pp. 317–334). Böhlau. Reay, D., Davies, J., David, M., & Ball, S. J. (2001). Choices of degree or degrees of choice? Class, ‘race’ and the higher education choice process. Sociology, 35 (4), 855–874. Russo, M., Islam, G., & Koyuncu, B. (2017). Non-native accents and stigma: How self-fulfilling prophesies can affect career outcomes. Human Resource Management Review, 27 (3), 507–520. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2016. 12.001 Thomas, R., & Davies, A. (2002). Gender and new public management, reconstituting academic subjectivities. Gender, Work and Organization, 9 (4), 372–397. Tierney, W. G., & Bensimon, E. M. (1996). Promotion and tenure: Community and socialization in academe. Suny Press. Williams, P., & Chrisman, L. (eds.). (1994). Colonial discourse and post-colonial theory: A reader (pp. 196–220). Columbia University Press. Žarkov, D. (2015). On intellectual labour and neoliberalism in academia—Or, in praise of reviewers. European Journal of Women’s Studies, 22(3), 269–273.

7 Conclusions

The goal of this book was to assess the status of national minority women in the higher education system in Serbia through the analysis of three ethnic minorities, namely the Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian, living in Vojvodina, the multi-ethnic northern province of Serbia. In the book I presented the state of the art results concerning national minority communities, language learning, gender relations in the academic sphere, the minority-specific, educational solutions offered by the kin-states of the minorities analysed (i.e. Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania), the national councils and non-government organizations (NGOs). My data collection consisted of two phases. Namely, in the first phase, I reached out to high school students via a purpose-built questionnaire, which was filled in by 2192 Hungarian, Slovak and Romanian high school graduates studying in their vernaculars across Vojvodina. Based on the questionnaire data I was able to analyse language skills in the majority (Serbian) language and career choices of the respondents. In the second phase, I collected 45 semi-structured interviews with national minority women (Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian) studying or being employed as teaching or research staff in the higher education system of Serbia, and with majority (Serb) women and with men from ethnic © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 K. Lendák-Kabók, National Minorities in Serbian Academia, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02367-5_7

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communities and from the majority community as well. The interviews enabled me to find out what are the possibilities, advantages, and disadvantages of being a national minority woman in the Serbian academic arena. In order to discuss and summarize my findings relating to language, I analysed both quantitative and qualitative data. By assessing the effects of Serbian language skills on the career choices of Hungarian, Slovak, and Romanian high school students (i.e. which college or university they would choose), I argued that it is possible for national minority students to graduate from high school with a very low level of Serbian language proficiency, especially in those municipalities in Vojvodina where they constitute a majority. Later this lack of language skills puts them in an unfavourable position compared to the members of the Serbian majority, both when entering the higher education system in Serbia and, subsequently, on the job market. To elevate this problem, 40% of national minority high school graduates leave the county of their origin and continue their studies in their kin-states, (Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania), which are members of the European Union, whereas Serbia is not. Because of that fact/On account of that fact, the most common answer in the questionnaire by national minority high school graduates leaving their country of origin was that they could obtain a more prestigious EU diploma. This meant, that even high school students with solid Serbian language skills, usually, choose to study in an EU-member state. An alternative solution chosen by many is to take entrance exams both in an EU-member state and in Serbia as well, but they commonly/on the whole prefer the first option, due to future career prospects offered by college/university degree from an EU-based higher education institution. Thus, contrary to previous researches, my research demonstrated, that the reason why national minority students study abroad is not the language barrier anymore (i.e. lack of Serbian language skills), but the future prospects offered by the EU. There were also some gender differences in choosing university education. In this sense, the students seem to reverse the concept of otherness in their country of origin by being in a (slightly) better position in the transition to the education and job market of the EU (compared to Serbian high school graduates).

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I used the interviews to obtain and analyse the position of minority and majority female and male students and professors, who stayed in Serbia and entered the Serbian higher education system. By adopting an intersectional perspective, an inequality emerged in the intersection of gender and nationality. Namely, Hungarian female students when starting their studies in the Serbian higher education system in majority (Serbian) language see their imperfect majority language skills as a source of inequality and discrimination. This is more significant in languageintensive SSH fields of study, than in STEM. National minority women are even more attracted to SSH studies, because of: (1) gender stereotypes and because (2) women are those who should keep up cherishing their community values, i.e. they are the gatekeepers of their ethnic walls, that is why they need to become the future educators, librarians, museum curators, etc. All these professions are regarded as necessary to maintain the national minority communities. Additionally, these professions and the related (SSH) fields of study are recognized by the minorities’ kin-states and receive considerable financial support. My findings indicate that women are unconsciously complying with these invisible expectations of their communities. National minority female teaching staff spoke about language-related challenges, but, in contrast to the female students, they pointed out, that their bilingual skills, in fact, are useful tools in building links with their colleagues from their respective kin-states. National minority male students were overall more confident and saw learning and perfecting the Serbian language as an additional opportunity. This attitude deviated from the opinions of their female peers, which illustrates gender difference. Serb female professors in their narratives acknowledge ethnic diversity and language-related difficulties during studies, but they shift the responsibility to the “system,” i.e. the state, and advocate maintaining the ethnic language schooling system. They usually explain that limited Serbian language skills are the root cause for some minority students to lag behind their peers from the majority community. Male professors shared this opinion, emphasizing the importance of language skills as a key entry criterion. Speaking of reaching decision-making positions, we observed that, generally, women, regardless of their nationality, are seldom interested in such an endeavour. They explain this by not wanting to get involved

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in politics, devotion to teaching and devotion to research. They assign more importance to teaching and research, finding political involvement less acceptable. Even though a few female respondents do mention that they hold or strive to reach high positions, none of them stated that they would use their high position to act as role models or be a source of encouragement for other women. The reason behind this stance might be academic neoliberalism, which is gender-blind and puts individualism and success first. Another very important point where a gender difference can be noticed lies in the fact that men have a clear set goal in their career that they are striving to achieve, i.e. eventually reaching a decision-making position. The only strategy they employ when explaining why they avoid decision-making positions is politics, i.e. the fact that they would need to drum up support both within their institutions and outside it. It should be noted that it is significantly easier to reach decisionmaking position within the minority language departments for the Hungarian, Slovak or Romanian language and literature, as they constitute “small islands” where relatively few professors and researchers work and rotate on the decision-making positions (e.g. head of department). In these organizations, everyone gets a chance to obtain experience in a decision-making position. Men are more interested in reaching decision-making positions or are already holding them. While the notion of the involvement of politics reappears in this case as well, other strategies widely differ. Most importantly, women usually saw their roles as educators, not researchers or managers in the higher education system. They are comfortable with teaching and mentoring. Our findings indicated that men were significantly more interested in research and/or managerial positions. Based on the analysis of the interviews conducted with national minority and majority female and male professors, we concluded that there is a strong hierarchy in the higher education system, which is defined by nationality and gender as well. This hierarchy usually succeeds in keeping women away from decision-making positions, and keeping ethnic women in marginal positions, in their own isolated islands of minority language and literature departments. When it comes to the legacy of communism, national minority women in the Serbian higher

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education system are aware that during the state socialist era, they had more possibilities if they followed the unwritten rules of the communist regime imposed on higher education and research. It seems however, that although they were more easily accepted in academia during the state socialist era, they still got marginalized and were unable to climb up the ladder of the academic hierarchy. When speaking of the current situation in the Serbian academic society, it could be sensed from the narratives of the female professors and/or researchers, that neoliberalism crept into research and higher education, which, in the case of national minority staff members, means that they have to perform and be present in more than one academic community. National minority scholars working in Vojvodina often have to deal with the sense of dividedness between the three academic worlds they belong to: (1) the Serbian academic society in which they are embedded through their everyday work and employment contracts, (2) the Hungarian academic society in Hungary (or in Romania and Slovakia), which is a rich source of collaboration and funding opportunities, and (3) the (small) national minority academic society in Vojvodina. Both national minority women and men need to work hard to be recognized in one, two, or in exceptional cases, in all three of these separate ivory towers. This type of Otherness has its distinct advantages, opening up additional networking and project opportunities. This setup has its pitfalls as well, as they can be caught on “a no women’s land,” especially those who are not strongly embedded in any of the three academic societies. Discussing the academic context is never an easy task. Higher education institutions still remain ivory towers, which can easily camouflage the inequalities within their walls. By applying an intersectional analysis my goal was to shed light on the intersection of nationality and gender in Serbia, the two categories not discussed earlier/so far. Giving voice to national minority women, but also to majority women and men from both categories was a privilege, but a big responsibility as well. The analysis of the narratives of my respondents leads to a conclusion that national minority women are discouraged to stand out, they accept their position of being an Other in the academic community and also

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the invisible biases which are surrounding them through their academic careers. At the very end of this book, I hope that the significance of this research was to raise important issues relating to research into gender and ethnic spaces of higher education systems in Central and Eastern Europe. Finally, I hope that this research significantly contributes to raising important issues relating to studies in gender and minority representation in higher education systems in Central and Eastern Europe.

References

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Index

A

D

Academia 10, 13, 16, 17, 24–26, 28, 29, 35, 36, 139, 140, 142–145, 147, 150, 151, 155–157, 159, 161, 162, 166, 167, 175 Agency 105, 121

Decision-making positions 8, 10, 14, 16, 35, 36, 138, 141, 143–145, 147–156, 158–168, 173, 174 Devotion to teaching 145, 151, 174

E B

Bilingualism 102 Brain drain 7, 32, 33, 49, 96, 128

Educational migration 7, 8, 32, 34, 59, 84, 89, 95, 96 Ethnic enclaves 139, 165, 166 Ethnicity 5 Ethnic walls 165, 173

C

Career advancement 25, 29, 158 Continued studies 96

F

Female academic staff 37, 139, 153

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022 K. Lendák-Kabók, National Minorities in Serbian Academia, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-02367-5

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Index

G

L

Gatekeepers 127, 165, 173 Gender 2, 6, 9, 10, 12–14, 17, 25, 27, 28, 35, 36, 48, 52, 54, 55, 57, 58, 83, 90, 97, 105, 137, 151, 154, 156, 162, 164–166, 168, 171, 174–176 Gender differences 15, 34, 88–90, 96, 168, 172–174 Glass ceiling 126, 166, 168

Language 15, 83, 94, 102, 103, 109–116, 120–122, 125, 127–129, 143–145, 150, 155, 168, 174 Language barrier 7, 14, 16, 24, 28, 29, 31, 62, 84, 88, 91–93, 95–97, 102, 104, 106–108, 114, 115, 118, 122–124, 139, 142, 143, 158, 165, 166, 172 Language difficulty 54, 64, 104, 109, 110, 113, 114, 116, 118, 120, 121, 123–126, 129, 158, 166 Language skill 16, 24, 33, 34, 84, 87, 88, 94, 96, 97, 101–105, 109–111, 126, 127, 129, 171–173

H

Hierarchy 158, 163, 167, 174, 175 Higher education 10, 15, 24, 25, 28, 32, 33, 36, 48, 50, 52, 53, 58, 59, 61, 68, 83, 85, 88, 89, 92–97, 111, 137, 154, 172, 175, 176 Higher education system of Serbia 101, 102, 138, 171 High school graduates 16, 33, 59, 83, 85, 94, 95, 171, 172 Hungarian 2–4, 6–8, 15, 16, 28, 33, 47, 49, 56–58, 62, 65, 71, 72, 83–85, 88, 92, 95, 101–104, 106, 108–111, 114, 119–121, 124–126, 128, 131, 132, 135, 140, 141, 155, 157, 161, 171, 172, 174

M

Minority complex 36, 139, 142 Minority education 15, 48, 60, 68 Mother tongue 7, 10, 28–30, 47–51, 53, 56, 62, 65, 83, 84, 87, 92–94, 103, 104, 106, 108–113, 117–119, 126, 128, 141, 143, 150

N I

Intersectionality 2, 3, 10–15, 35 Interviews 17, 59, 101–103, 106–109, 111, 112, 115, 117, 119, 120, 129, 139–142, 144, 150, 151, 155, 159, 161, 171, 173, 174

Narrative strategy 139, 142 National Council 15, 47, 60, 61, 171 National minority communities 15, 28, 32, 68, 92, 96, 137, 142, 143, 157, 162, 163, 167, 171, 173

Index

National minority women 10–17, 23, 35, 36, 52, 83, 101, 114, 138, 139, 141, 143, 151, 155, 156, 158, 161, 164–168, 171, 173–175 Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) 15, 47, 60, 68, 70, 171

O

Othering 112, 119, 127–129

P

Patriarchal bargain 27, 37 Patriarchy 163 Politics in academia 144, 167

Q

183

27, 34, 69, 103, 104, 106–109, 111, 113, 115, 116, 120, 124–127, 129–132, 134, 135, 140, 142, 146, 147, 151, 153, 160, 162, 164, 165, 167, 173 Secondary education 7, 28, 31, 85, 87, 93, 96, 109, 113, 117, 124, 128 Serbian academic community 166 Slovak 3, 4, 6, 15, 16, 33, 47, 48, 50, 56–58, 67, 68, 72, 83–85, 92, 95, 101–103, 112–114, 119, 124, 140, 142, 155, 157, 161, 168, 171, 172, 174 Social sciences and humanities (SSH) 69, 90, 103, 104, 106–109, 112, 113, 115, 116, 118–120, 122, 124, 126, 129–132, 134, 135, 140, 141, 143, 146, 147, 151, 165, 173

Questionnaire 84–86, 90, 93, 94, 129, 171, 172 U R

Romanian 3, 4, 6, 7, 15, 16, 33, 47, 48, 50, 51, 56–58, 72, 83–85, 102, 103, 112–115, 119, 128, 133, 140, 142–144, 151, 155, 161, 168, 171

S

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) 26,

University of Novi Sad (UNS) 1, 8, 17, 35, 47–55, 57–59, 62, 70, 79, 92, 102, 106, 117, 118, 150, 166

V

Vernacular language 3 Vojvodina 3–5, 7, 8, 13, 17, 33, 37, 48–51, 54, 58, 59, 62, 68, 69, 85, 87, 89, 92, 95, 96, 103, 112, 120, 138, 171, 172, 175