Montenegrin Higher Education System from a Regional Perspective

Abstract

This research focuses on the current positioning of Montenegrin higher education and its performance within a regional Balkan context. The research addresses the need to assess the progress of Balkan universities that are not featured in global ranking lists, whether state or private not-for-profit, in any high-profile international university rankings.

The aim was to provide a regional perspective on Montenegrin higher education through the Academic Ranking of Balkan Universities (ARBU) platform, which is based on Google Scholar citation data. The research used a quantitative approach to evaluate the performance of 4 Montenegrin higher education institutions by comparing them with peer public institutions in the region. It also tracked their performance across academic fields and disciplines and highlighted the output of the top national researchers.

The ARBU findings showed that although Montenegro’s higher education system appears small and highly concentrated, it has a high average impact compared with peer regional flagship universities and high citation efficiency per professor. The system is strongly dependent on a single dominant university (University of Montenegro) for national research performance, while small faculty pools in private institutions limit ranking competitiveness.

In summary, this paper provides a useful situational overview of Montenegrin universities and their researchers from a regional viewpoint, helping to lay the groundwork for the future growth of Montenegro’s higher education system.