Jovanovic denies accusations, shows PhD thesis

BELGRADE - Mica Jovanovic, former rector of private Megatrend University, has publicly presented his doctoral thesis defended in late '80s before the British Council for National Academic Awards.

Jovanovic told Belgrade-based TV Pink on Sunday that the attempts at discrediting Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic's PhD thesis, which later led to the attacks on him, were actually aimed at toppling the state leadership.

In response to numerous allegations made over the last few days that he never received his doctorate in Britain, Jovanovic showed the document that he said was taken from the archives of the London School of Economics and Political Science and a confirmation that he defended his PhD in January 1989.

Recalling that the attacks on him began after the attempts at discrediting Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, when doubt was cast on the authenticity of his PhD degree received before Megatrend, he said that the whole affair was fabricated to bring down the state leadership.

A four-member committee has been set up comprising Megatrend professors tasked with examining all allegations regarding Stefanovic's thesis, Jovanovic said.

“There are over 60 witnesses that this was a brilliant PhD defence,” he said.

Jovanovic resigned on Friday as head of Megatrend University and vice president of the Conference of Universities, after Education Minister Srdjan Verbic had called on him to step down. Verbic said that an international procedure to verify that Jovanovic held a PhD from the London School of Economics had shown that he did not.

Photo Tanjug/N. Milosevic (archive)