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[melvino]

I came to Bosnia in September 2009 as Assistant Professor. AUBiH has treated me well and I am impressed with what they have accomplished in so short a time. I am also satisfied as an employee. This does not mean that everything is perfect, there is always room for improvement. There are several former employees who were fired for good cause who chose to snipe at the university from long distance with various allegations, some based in truth, others fabricated. Any reader would do well to remember that disgruntled ex-employees make poor reporters. If you are interested in working here, there are a few things you should know.

1. Most faculty are located in Tuzla, not Sarajevo. There are satellite campuses in Sarajevo, Banja Luka, and opening soon in Mostar and Belgrade (Serbia). Tuzla is a pleasant little European town of about 100,000 people. It is not fancy, but you can get what you need here, and big cities (Sarajevo, Zagreb, Belgrade) are not far away. I have also visited Budapest, and plan to visit Italy and Austria next year. You can have a nice big city night out, if that's what you need. There are good restaurants, bakeries, and grocery stores here. No movie theater, no big American malls. For entertainment, it can be a bit dull. It can also be smoky in the winter, as most of the homes burn coal. But that aside, I have found Tuzla quite pleasant. The people are nice, crime and traffic are low, and the pace of life is quiet and simple. The cost of housing and food are low, so that offsets any salary difference with the USA. I pay about $320 a month for a nice (though small) apartment.

2. Students range widely in ability. Do not expect standard English. some students will write well, others, well, they have been speaking and writing English for less than a year. But the school is working hard to improve its composition and speech classes, and expect students to get better every year. Most have a good attitude, a few don't. Same as in the USA. I have had no major classroom problems. If I did, the university would back me up.

3. Management. This is not a typical US college. On the other hand, the President and others work hard because they want to help Bosnia rebuild. I have had no problems with the administration. In fact, they treated me very well. I was met at the airport on arrival, transportation is free and reliable, I was helped to find housing and with all the associated formalities (internet service, utilities, cell phone). In fact, the administration has been wonderful. There have been some problems to iron out regarding contracts but this is not a matter of bad intent, but rather, involves the complexities of Bosnian law and problems of communication between staff members and faculty. There have been multiple contracts to sign, but this is because our final employment has to be at the behest of the Ministry of Education, and until we receive their approval, we must work on temporary contracts, and there are two of these: one from the US and one local. Confusing? A little bit. But not malicious. And there have been a few differences between the two, but again, this is not serious nor malicious. And we, the faculty, are in the process of ironing this out with administration. We expect to see improvement next year. A few oddball (government) requirements include that we present original diplomas and original transcripts to the Ministry of Education, and original copies of books and articles to satisfy our appointment as professors. Is this unusual? Perhaps. But so is travel abroad. In the end, it is not a big deal. The money is deposited regularly in my account.

Faculty are well-qualified and as nice a bunch of people as I have ever worked with. There are no real malcontents or trouble makers, I have found no backstabbing or competition. Frankly, I like them. And the same goes for the staff.

If you are interested in working in Europe, I recommend AUBiH. You are welcome to contact me any time with additional questions. Melvin Sterne, Assistant Professor of English, American University of Bosnia in Herzegovina. msterne@aubih.edu.ba.

[alleyoxenfree]

Ones point of view always depends on how desperate one is.  It sort of helps you to believe anything and everything you're told, and then you come here and make a positive post.  For the truly desperate, AUBIH is indeed heaven.  Desperation also helps you to believe that Tuzla is a typical European town of 100,000.  I'll be laughing about that for quite some time.

What is your view of Tuzla?  Please do speak a bit from your experience.

[dabic230]

Desperation also helps you to believe that Tuzla is a typical European town of 100,000.  I'll be laughing about that for quite some time.

I am from Tuzla, Bosnian, and so far I did not care about your little discussion here, but this time you took it too far and thereby insulted me as a Tuzlan.

When you speak of Tuzla in this way, as quoted above, I can only tell you that no matter how educated you are your hatered for AUBIH makes you speak foolishnes. As a native Bosnian born and living in Tuzla, I can tell you that this town has a tradition older than the one of United States. Tuzla is a very old town, built on a salt deposits. Romans mentioned it several times in their books, and its name comes from the Turkish word for "salt". When compared to average Bosnian city this is how Tuzla rates as following:

It has lower costs of living than Sarajevo, Mostar or Banja Luka.
It has less entertainment locations that all three of these cities.
It is closer to both Zagreb and Belgrade than Sarajevo and Mostar.
It has less crime than all three of these cities.
Tuzla is the center of healthcare and power generation in BIH and region, and it has the best medical complexes in the entire BIH,

And most importantly:
Nationalistic parties have NEVER won elections in Tuzla, unlike the other three cities (including 99% of BIH), so the atmosphere is more relaxed and multiethnic.
Tuzla is perhaps the healthiest town in BIH when it comes to multiethnicity and tolerance unlike Sarajevo or Mostar or Banja Luka.

So when you write about laughing at Tuzla, please take into consideration that this town is older than your entire culture and everything you have ever known in the US.

Thank You

[smallchange]

Tuzla is OK. I actually sort of miss it. There are weekly dinners for internationals, which are quite lively and fun. It is awfully dreary in winter, but what isn't. The people are amazingly nice, and Pannonica lake is great in the summer. Lots of good sightseeing nearby. On balance, it is not the worst place I ever lived. But then I am from Modesto California, and the seventh circle of hell seems like a nice change to us.

[smallchange]

I actually did require medical care while in Tuzla, and it was fine. Places are what you make of them, and I was fortunate to know some very nice people. There is no more or less corruption in Tuzla than in the rest of Bosnia. AUBIH is a different issue, but anyone who has ever endured US flyover land would think Tuzla was not so very bad. Sarajevo is a three hour bus ride away, as is Zagreb. It is hardly a dump, and try Indiana if you want the middle of nowhere.

[promovenda]

There is no more or less corruption in Tuzla than in the rest of Bosnia.

!!?! 

I love Bosnia, and even I had to laugh at this.

[lotsoquestions]

If this university is HALF as interesting as this thread, I surely hope that one of you profs there is writing a novel about the place.  Sort of a roman a clef in the style of David Lodge.  Now which one of you forumites wants to be cast as the buxom woman with the messy footwear when they make the movie? (Not you, the guy with the bad teeth.)

[melvino]

A year ago I wrote that AUBIH was not that bad to work for, that it had problems, but that what was important was that faculty work towards solving those problems.

A year later, I resigned and took a position elsewhere, and was lucky to do so. There are no words to accurately convey how dysfunctional and hopeless AUBIH is. Without getting personal, the only thing I can say is that they have no respect for contracts, rule of law, or good business practices. [...] I have now seen, first hand, that AUBIH will not honor their contracts. Why work for someone and risk being cheated out of your pay? I was told to return in the summer of 2010 to teach summer school, but after purchasing a ticket the session was cancelled and I was neither paid nor reimbursed for travel. This summer, another professor was told to return for summer session, and upon arrival was told her services were not needed as she was being replaced by local faculty who would work for less. At the present time, they do not have a single academic at the university who has been there more than a year (and he is an adjunct living and working in Saravejo since before the school opened). Don't work here.

And, CHE, please stop removing every post that AUBIH doesn't like. Let them be responsible for their actions, and let us warn others of the potential for harm they face if they come here. Everything I have said I can document and will testify to in a court of law. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. I could write pages and pages about the problems at AUBIH. It is, literally, abusive.

Dr. Melvin Sterne

[aransadorien]

First of all I would like to introduce myself,

Till 15-20 days I was a regular student at American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and today I don't even know my name. The reason are numerous and constant headaches which are the result of both my own experience at said university, and second hand information (different newspaper articles and non-formal chats). I am a Bosnian citizen and I will try to be as objective as I can, plus I wanted to give my thoughts since I believe that it would be nice to deliver some sort of a story from a student perspective.

Let me start with a local saying "gdje ima dima ima i vatre" which literally would mean "where there is smoke there is fire too"...

When I was considering different options on which university to enroll, I tried to take in consideration as much fact as I can get in 3 months (which was the period of summer vacations before enrolling). And quite frankly it didn't take much time for me to decide, as I strongly believe in "American" style of studying which I believe is both professionally and well effective. However, I was well aware that the administration is held by local people and I was ok with that since it is supposed to be backed up by SUNY (and, that "American" presence was the reassuring fact). I somehow believed that if SUNY is sort of "sister" University which stands behind AUBiH and it's local administration, and the diplomas (You are promised to get both SUNY and BiH diploma), then none of those chit-chats I've heard don't count. Biggest mistake I ever made in my life.

I must say that I was already suspicious about some things and very well concerned about my time and money my parents and I invested in my education (let me just say that the tuition is very high for bosnian standards, but then again it would all be ok if that amount of money would be justified with the quality of service). My first contact with the Student Affairs office, and local academic department was very disappointing, because of the lack of competence and courtesy. Nevertheless, when the 1st semester began I was reassured once again, because frankly the only thing I was worried were the professors that I would encounter on a daily basis and gain knowledge from them. So the "amateur" behaviour of Student Affairs didn't frighten me too much since I didn't even need them that much on that University (most of the local staff has poor English, they are acting like they are on one of the local universities which are quite literally a joke, which is a story for itself). Once again a big mistake, I'll have to admit it.

So, on the other hand I started to really enjoy my new life on AUBiH, I've learned much from different Professors , I've had beautiful both Academic and non-formal talks with most of them. I must admit that during both semesters I really enjoyed my time spent there, and I was eager every morning to go to AUBiH and study there. So, the Faculty members (which I have to say were mostly international) impressed me in that little time I've spent there. I was concerned from time to time that they will leave or transfer somewhere else, since the stories about poor administration began to develop...


Now that my 1st academic year (two semesters) have finished and I was literally just waiting to start another one, and these "stories" began to spread even more I am really concerned and I must say that in a short time period I am struggling to transfer somewhere else. I really don't want to pay that amount of money for something that by time could disappear. All I can see, from this position, after one year spent there, is that AUBiH administration is acting like it is running a business that from time to time can have it's ups and downs (truth to be told this business is going only down). I, disagree with that, I strongly believe that UNIVERSITY should be a well established and fully transparent and legal. However, not everything is really transparent at AUBiH. [...]

To make a really, really long story short, AUBiH is not the place to work and especially not the place to get high quality education. The staff, both academic and administration is changing on a very short time basis (which I must say affects the quality of education, since the students just start to get along with the Professor and then they wave him goodbye, plus I don't have to mention all sort of difficulties for new staff to pick it up where the old one left, i.e. new books, different ways of teaching and so on).


Now, on the other hand, I don't want to sound all so pessimistic and negative. As I mentioned I am Bosnian and I would like to say that Bosnia has it's struggles, especially as a former Yugoslavian country that went through the war. Yes, the war was a long time ago but truth to be told it is far from being at peace. There is lots of different illegal acts that of course I know you wouldn't find in a very well established western or American country, but is far from the worse country to live in. It has much other in other ways, like social and cultural and geographical. I would always recommend Sarajevo as a capital city of Bosnia And Herzegovina, unfortunately the fact is that the capital of one country is most of the times more approachable to foreigners, plus Sarajevo after the war is home for lots of foreign organizations, therefore foreign people. I also know that some would disagree but of course that is the matter of taste :) (then again if you ask me now, I would never choose to live here)

I think that'll be it for now, I just wanted to mention some of my thoughts and experience, however this is far from what I wanted to achieve when I started writing, but to be honest it would take me a day or two to write everything I know from todays position. If there are any questions that I can answer I would be glad to respond.


P.S. I would like to remain anonymous, at least until I make a final decision, however I have seen many Professors here that taught me on AUBiH and I would like to say hello to all of them, and wish them luck on their future jobs. I'm really sorry that we had to meet under such awful circumstances :(

[drmau]

I kept silent up until now, though I have followed postings on the cruel joke that is AUBiH. I have many friends in Bosnia, some of whom once worked for AUBiH.  I was employed there for a mercifully brief period - I found a better job and quit after two semesters, the second of which was a nightmare. I cannot identify myself or my period of employment for fear of retaliation.
Any academic, Bosnian or American,  who takes a job there now is a candidate for the Darwin Awards - like if you are that dumb, you deserve what you get. But the students and their parents are still being taken in, and although Dr. Mau is a coward by nature, I really have to speak up before anyone else is hurt. This place is a scam, without the slightest bit of academic or financial integrity, and the real victims are the students. As the previous poster pointed out, a revolving door policy for faculty is not in the interests of the students. I was able to keep in touch with some of them, and actually write them letters of reference, on the letterhead of my current employer, because there was literally no one at AUBiH who lasted more than a year or so.
If the students are badly behaved, it is not their fault. They treat the faculty with the same degree of respect accorded to faculty by the administration. They know that Professor X will not be there much longer, and that his or her grades may be altered for favors granted. Kids will be kids, and if given no moral compass whatsoever, they will act on their lowest impulses. If given a negative moral compass, the idea that lying, cheating, and intimidation get you what you want becomes second nature to them.
Bosnia is a beautiful country full of wonderful people. It is also fragile in terms of democracy and transparency, and it is unfortunate AUBiH seem to be compromising these, and what is more unfortunate, with the complicity of SUNY Canton and the U.S. Government.
I can't believe support for AUBiH would continue if they knew the truth, and I can't believe CHE would pull threads critical of AUBiH because of pressure, though that does seem to be what has happened. I would encourage former students and faculty to continue to speak out, though for many of us, speaking of our experience there is painful, futile, and dangerous, thus one of the world's most perfectly avoidable activities.
I also note that a website critical of AUBiH has been hacked and pulled. Let's hope this posting is not. Please refrain from ad hominem attacks against a certain person, however tempting.

[aristophanies]

The stories you are hearing about this university are true. All you have to do is listen to the double-talk of the Academic Department and Student Services to figure that out. Also, look at the enrollment of 1st year students, which have been declining steadily every year. How many new first year students are enrolled for fall 2011? Another strong indication of deceit can be easily found in the new contract that students must sign: 1) The university is asking for all the money up front, and they have been calling parents about tuition for 2011/2012 since May - the last day of finals week was May 27. Plus, tuition has been raised by 500 euros. Why do they need the money so quickly? What does the extra 500 euros pay for? The school owns no buildings, vehicles, and the classroom equipment is antiquated junk. Where did the money from last year go? 2) Compare your contract for this year with the contract from last year. Is there any mention of international/western/American faculty? No. So the education you were sold last year is not the same education you are being sold this year. If you wanted local faculty, you would just go to one of the other universities and avoid paying such high tuition costs.

If I was about to begin my second year as a student at this university, I would be seriously looking elsewhere for my education.

[aransadorien]

I'm just wondering why was my post edited by the moderator yesterday and I wasn't even noticed about this, there were no rules of this forum, nor generally recognized forum rules, broken. I have a copy of the post on my computer and I know exactly which sentences were deleted (modified) since I compared the post with my original in notepad on my computer...

Regularly when forum rules are broken, moderator notifies or in the edit note mentions what was edited and the reason why it was edited of course (one of the logic reasons is to remind the poster about the rules, if they were broken so that person wouldn't break them again). However reading CHE rules I can't find no rule that I broke writing that sentences that were deleted/modified.... I am a regular moderator on 3 forums and I own one so trust me I'm in the business, but modifying it just like that is "wrong", plus as I've seen this isn't the first time that posts about AUBiH are being modified or even completely removed from the board... What the hell is happening, aren't we allowed to tell other people what's going on ???

I'm not complaining, I don't even need an explanation why this was done, but frankly I'm loosing my belief that this should be a forum where someone should be "well" informed about certain university in this case AUBiH which is obviously getting a lots of negative reviews... It would really be sad if AUBiH actually has any control or influence here so the truth can't be public...

Once again I'd like to say all the best for my former/last year professors, and hopefully we'll meet under better circumstances :)

[drmau]

Let's not give anyone any excuse to pull our posts. In your case, there was no excuse. Please do all you can, in whatever venue, to stop him taking advantage of students, who may find that their parents hard earned money has been wasted on a degree of dubious value, in either Bosnia or the US.

[aristophanies]

You did and said nothing wrong in your post, much like the professors, who believed in the deceit placed before them in their decision to work at this university, did and said nothing wrong to deserve the treatment that they got.

Here is the common ground between Bosnians and Americans: "Bosanci i Amerikanci imaju veliko srce i takodje velike loptice." 

[drmau]

AUBiH is advertising for "Tenure track" Bosnian Professors, two weeks before the start of the term. Inshallah no one will be desperate enough to take the jobs. If the Americans were abused, imagine what it will be like for Bosnians. An alternative for students might be Sarajevo School of Science and Technology. Their credits won't transfer, AUBiH being held in universally low esteem, but at least it is a real University headed by an actual academic.
International University of Sarajevo is also an excellent choice.