Dejan Vuk Stanković

The composition of Đuro Macut's cabinet was announced on 14 April 2025, with Stanković mentioned as a candidate for the minister of education.^[7] His nomination was opposed by students and professors who are supportive of the anti-corruption protests.^[3][8] The plenum and professors of the Faculty of Teacher Education and Independent Union of Educational Workers in Serbia also condemned his nomination.^[9][10][11] Stanković was elected minister of education on 16 April,^[3] succeeding Slavica Đukić Dejanović.^[12]

Shortly after he assumed office, some professors who opposed his nomination staged a protest in front of the building of the Ministry of Education.^[13] Stanković asserted that he would work on resolving the anti-corruption protests, which he described as "the greatest educational crisis in the history of Serbia", during his tenure. The dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, Vladan Bogdanović, said that any aggressive attempts to end the protests would most likely lead to a conflict within the University of Belgrade staff.^[3] When Macut initiated meetings with Vladan Đokić, the rector of University of Belgrade, to solve the education crisis started by the anti-corruption protests, Stanković was also present at the first meeting.^[14] He later accused Đokić of trying to destroy Serbia.^[15]

In May, Macut's government created a working group inside Stanković's ministry that would work on amending the Law on Higher Education. Besides Stanković, members of the working group also included Đokić, Béla Bálint, the minister of science, and Dejan Madić, the rector of University of Novi Sad.^[16] In the same month, Stanković presented changes to the Law on Textbooks, stating that the changes are based on "[preservating] national identity" (očuvanje nacionalnog identiteta) and "native language and nurturing tradition" (maternjeg jezika i negovanje tradicije).^[17] Stanković also joined the Movement for the People and the State, initiated by president of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić.^[18]

Regarding the enrollment of new students, Stanković announced that quotas would be only given to faculties who begin again holding classes.^[19] By July, most faculties resumed holding classes;^[20] however, the buildings remained occupied by students.^[21] In August, Stanković announced that the wages in education would be increased to meet the average monthly salary.^[22] With the start of a new school year in September, more than 100 teachers in schools in Serbia were fired.^[23] In the same month, Stanković's ministry gave 11 humanoid robots to schools with inclusive education resource centers.^[24] In October, Stanković announced that the new academic year would begin in November instead of October.^[25] In the same month, he proposed the creation of Faculty of Serbian Studies in Niš.^[26] A month later, he proposed the creation of the new Law on University.^[27]

In January 2026, the wages of education workers were increased by 5.1%.^[28] In the same month, he visited the State University of Novi Pazar with minister Husein Memić, meeting the rector Tanja Soldatović.^[29] Stanković also suggested that the lessons in schools should be shortened to 30 minutes, instead of the regular 45 minutes, stating diffuse attention as the reason behind the idea.^[30] At a government session on 25 January, he announced that his ministry has drafted four new laws that would reform education in Serbia. Former rector of the University of Belgrade, Ivanka Popović, stated her opposition to the changes.^[31] In March, he announced further reforms of primary education;^[32] he also said that Serbia would adopt the Code for the Application of Artificial Intelligence in Education.^[33]

In February, Danka Nešović, whose mandate as the director of the Fifth Belgrade Gymnasium expired that month, was appointed as an advisor to Vuk Stanković for six months. The political opposition opposed her appointment.^[34] Shortly before her term ended, Nešović suspended six professors from the Gymnasium.^[35] The Extended Rector's College of the University of Belgrade condemned the suspensions and blamed Stanković for the decision.^[36] In late March, the Faculty of Serbian Studies received the permit to operate.^[37]

During his tenure at the Faculty of Teacher Education, he has been accused of alleged sexual harassment from female students and of unprofessionalism.^[3][9][38] According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, no sexual harassment complaints were filed against Stanković. Shortly before he became a government minister, he filed a criminal complaint against anonymous individuals who accused him of sexual harassment.^[39] In May 2025, a group of professors of University of Belgrade accused Stanković of autoplagiarism and filed an official report against him.^[40] The report was dismissed in July.^[41] However, in December, it was announced that the Ethical Committee of the Faculty of Teacher Education would review the accusations.^[42]