Serbia

The Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Serbia established the Center for Simulations and Distance Learning (CS&DL) in 2010 to help transform and reform the defense system into a contemporary one, capable of performing new tasks requiring international cooperation and missions abroad, and developing new ways of collaborating with the institutions and organizations in the civilian sector.

Two early projects that were successfully realized through international military cooperation resulted in making this center fully operational. The implementation of distance learning was conducted with significant support of our Norwegian colleagues, while constructive simulations were implemented with the help of the French Ministry of Defense (MoD).

A key reason for starting the distance learning project is that members of the Ministry of Defense and the Serbian Army are required to fulfill new missions and tasks concerning defense. Another reason is the need to reform the military educational system, and the need to harmonize and integrate it into the educational system in society.

The major goal of the Serbian ADL Partnership Center is to modernize military education through the use of advanced technologies and a distance learning system. The project will become a model for the development of a distance learning system in the Serbian Army.

Distance learning could be used for vocational training for members of the Serbian Army following graduation. Another aim of the project is to define the requirements for installation of the technological infrastructure (e.g., telecommunications infrastructure, hardware, systematic, and applicable software) needed to accomplish the project. Distance learning would allow all members of the Serbian Army to continue with advanced training after they complete their formal education, and until the end of their professional military careers.

Mission

In accomplishing the vision and role of the military educational system within the process of education and development of personnel to meet the needs of the MoD and the Army, it is necessary to support the reform of military education and building of a modern military educational system in accordance with the requirements imposed by contemporary world trends as well as the reform of the educational system in our society. The mission of this project is to support development of the members of the MoD and the Serbian Army throughout their careers by means of applying modern technologies, primarily informatics.

The project also aims to create conditions that will enable or support accomplishing the following missions:

• Offer the same opportunities to all the members of the MoD and the Serbian Army for training and improving their knowledge in the course of their whole career, with minimal absence from their workplace
• Create qualified and professional personnel, trained to adapt to all the necessary changes and developments of military technology
• Provide trained personnel for applying computer technologies on the level required for engagement in a multinational environment
• Further develop the model of education in order to provide constant improvement of the officers’ knowledge and skills in the course of their entire career, following the pattern of additional quality for the next assignment, and expanding educational services in the MoD and the Serbian Army
• Upgrade methodological competence through improvement of the teachers’ knowledge and skills
• Introduce quality standards for education by upgrading the following: teaching material resources and compilation of educational literature, quality of evaluation and self-evaluation of the teaching process, further develop the scoring and evaluation system, and increase the level of success in studying and the mobility of teachers and students within the Military Academy and civilian faculty.

Leadership

Col. Goran Šimić (Shimich) is the Head of the Center for Simulations and Distance Learning at the Serbian MoD and Serbian Army. He has been the main point of contact for the Serbian MoD ADL Partnership Center since its establishment in 2010.

Col. Šimić received his B.S. degree in Electronic Warfare from the Military Academy, Belgrade, Serbia; M.S. degree in Informatics from the Department of Information Systems, FON – School of Business Administration, University of Belgrade, Serbia; and Ph.D. degree in Computer Science, FIM – Faculty of Informatics and Management, Singidunum University Belgrade, Serbia.

He is a lecturer for several courses on Java and C Programming, Algorithms and Data Structures at the Military Academy, Belgrade, Serbia. He also teaches courses on Intelligent Computer Technologies and Software Engineering in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Applied Studies, Belgrade, Serbia.

His current research interests are in the area of Web-based e-Learning interoperability between different learning resources and systems, and integration between intelligent tutoring systems and LMSs. To date, he has authored/co-authored more than 10 research papers and has contributed to three books. Col. Šimić is a member of the Group for Object Oriented Design Objective Languages Development and Artificial Intelligence (GoodOldAI) research network (https://goodoldai.org).

Contact

Visiting address:
Military Academy
Center for Simulations and Distance Learning
Ground Floor
133 Belgrade, Serbia

Postal address:
Belgrade Military Academy
Street Generala Pavla Jurisca Sturma 33
Belgrade, Serbia

Phone:
Tel: +381 113603409

Email:
goran.simic@va.mod.gov.rs