THE NATIONAL ACADEMY FOR PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION HOSTED THE PROFESSIONAL EVENT “TRAINERS’ MEETINGS” TODAY

The Director of the National Academy for Public Administration, Marina Dražić, emphasised the importance of continuous support for the development of competencies and various forms of professional training, stressing that without improving knowledge and skills there can be no efficient and modern state.

“Our goal is a developed Serbia that keeps pace with modern trends and implements innovative technologies in order to further develop its public administration and progress, thereby improving the quality of services provided to citizens,” said Director Dražić.

Mrs Dražić noted that, as of 1 January 2026, through the commercialisation of its services, the Academy has opened its doors to all citizens of Serbia, no longer limiting diverse professional training programmes solely to public administration employees, but offering all interested individuals the opportunity to enhance their skills and knowledge at the National Academy.

The event was also attended by Dagmar Konstantinović, Head of the Belgrade Office of the Hanns Seidel Foundation, with which the Academy has maintained long-standing cooperation. As part of the event, a panel discussion entitled “Learning from Practice: Experiences of NAPA Training Providers on the Quality of Training” was organised, where accredited trainers exchanged experiences and good practices from the delivery of training programmes.

In her address, Director Dražić also highlighted the key activities of the Academy in the previous period, including the adoption of amendments to the Law on Civil Servants in the field of professional development, introducing mandatory attendance of at least two training programmes per year for all civil servants, which will also affect the evaluation of their job performance.

She also pointed to the adoption of the Programme for the Innovative and Modernised Development of the Academy for the period 2026–2030 as an important strategic document. Mrs Dražić further emphasised that the annual training programmes for 2026 have been launched, comprising 635 programmes, 40 of which are entirely new. In addition, amendments to the Regulation on Accreditation have more precisely regulated the engagement procedure, introduced criteria for evaluating trainers in internal calls, and, importantly, increased lecturers’ fees by almost 40 per cent—one of the many concrete indicators of how much the Republic of Serbia is investing in a developed and modern public administration.

The completion of the internal call for engaging trainers, with as many as 791 applications, confirms a 25 per cent increase compared to the previous year and the continued development of the learning community. This event once again confirmed the National Academy for Public Administration’s commitment to the continuous improvement of knowledge and skills with the aim of raising quality, Director Marina Dražić concluded.