Mića Jovanović

Mića Jovanović (, born 28 January 1953) is a Serbian businessman and university professor. He is the founder and long-time head of Belgrade's Megatrend University. He resigned the position in 2014 after allegations that he had falsely claimed to have a doctorate from the London School of Economics and had supervised a plagiarized thesis. In 2019, Jovanović was once again elected as rector of Megatrend.

Early life Jovanović was born in Knjaževac, Eastern Serbia (then part of FPR Yugoslavia), on 28 January 1953. He completed high school in Bor (1972) and graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Belgrade (1976). He got his magister degree in the fields of sociology of work from the same school (1979). Jovanović stated that he gained his PhD degree at the University of Maribor (Slovenia) in 1991 in the field of organizational studies.

University career Between 1976 and 1991, Jovanović was employed at the University of Belgrade (with interruptions due to his engagements in the United Kingdom), and from 1991 at Megatrend Business School; he became a university professor there in 1996. Between 1997 and 1999, he was the Dean of the Faculty of Management in Zaječar. In 1999, he became Rector of Megatrend University of Belgrade. and is one of a number of private universities in Serbia with "reputations for quick, rather than quality, education and links to political parties." The university was funded by war profiteers from Slobodan Milošević's party and money from tuition fees was used to fund planes and yachts for Jovanović and others.

Controversy In June 2014, British-based Serbian academics criticized the doctoral dissertation of Nebojša Stefanović, Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia, and Jovanović's protégé. Jovanović responded by calling the critics "so-called scientists" who were questioning his credibility "with all that I have behind me as a scientist." In response, a law lecturer at the University of Nottingham, Dr. Marko Milanović, challenged Jovanović's claim to have a PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE). Jovanović later resigned as Rector of Megatrend University after being urged to do so by the Serbian Minister of Education. The original story in the Serbian media reported a statement by him that he had obtained his doctorate studying under the "famous professor Stephen Wood of the London School of Economics." Wood confirmed that a dissertation had been submitted but that it had been rejected. LSE and the University of London also denied that they had granted Jovanović a doctorate. Jovanović later returned to Megatrend, and was again elected its rector in 2019.

Selected bibliography

Books Sociologija samoupravljanja, Tribina, Beograd, 1982. 69 lekcija o menadžmentu, Megatrend, Beograd, 1991. Work Motivation and Self-Management, Megatrend IEC, London, 2002. Interkulturni menadžment, Megatrend univerzitet, Beograd, 2002. Biznis kao umetnost življenja, Megatrend univerzitet, Beograd, 2008. Business as Life Style, Megatrend International Expert Consortium Limited, London, 2008. Uvod u biznis, Megatrend, univerzitet, Beograd, 2008. Radna motivacija u prvim godinama sovjetske vlasti – istorijski esej iz XX veka, Megatrend univerzitet, Beograd, 2008. Um caruje – Istorija Megatrend univerziteta, Megatrend univerzitet, Beograd, 2010. Lifestyle in Globalization (ed.), Megatrend University, Belgrade, 2013.

Co-authored books What is Behind the Japanese Miracle (with Sung-Jo Park), Megatrend IEC, London–Berlin–Tokyo, 1992. Organizaciono ponašanje (with Mirjana Petković), Megatrend / Ekonomski fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu, 1992. Strategijski menadžment (with Ana Langović), Megatrend univerzitet, Beograd, 2001. Upravljanje projektima (with Ana Langović), Megatrend univerzitet, Beograd, 2001. Organizaciono ponašanje (with Momčilo Živković and Tatjana Cvetkovski), Megatrend univerzitet, Beograd, 2003. Upravljanje ljudskim resursima (with Živko Kulić and Tatjana Cvetkovski), Megatrend univerzitet, Beograd, 2004. Preduzetništvo (with Momčilo Živković and Ana Langović), Megatrend univerzitet, Beograd, 2004. Interkulturni izazovi globalizacije (with Ana Langović), Megatrend univerzitet, Beograd, 2006. Global Cultural and Economic Research (with Sung-Jo Park), Lit Verlag, Berlin, 2006. System Transformation in Comparative Perspektive (with Lee Dalgon, Oh Yeon-Cheon, Sung-Jo Parkom, Bernhard Seligerom), Lit Verlag, Berlin, 2006. Pre Velikog praska (with Igor Bogdanoff and Grichka Bogdanoff), Megatrend univerzitet, Beograd, 2006.