The Croatian Studies Foundation (Zaklada hrvatskih studija) currently finds itself at the crossroads, with the Sydney based organisation considering different avenues to move forward and ensure a Croatian language course remains offered at tertiary level in Australia.
According to the Foundation’s president, Anthony Gurlica, the organisation is set to make some important decisions this year, with the view of ensuring that the best outcome is achieved for the Croatian community in Australia.
“Croatian studies has been at Macquarie University since 1983,” explained Gurlica and added that the Foundation had been established in 1984 with the purpose of supporting and promoting the teaching of Croatian at the Sydney based university.
“We have remained delivering the program throughout this time, with the support of the Croatian community in Australia, as well as the Croatian Ministry of Science and Education,” explained Gurlica.
Croatian course considered an ‘administrative burden’
“In late 2023, we received a white paper outlining the suggestion to discontinue the Croatian language program, alongside other languages at Macquarie Uni such as Italian, Russian and Greek.
“The Foundation, alongside key community leaders, lobbied the university,” said Gurlica, adding that this included letters from all major community leaders around Australia, a student petition, as well as correspondence from the Foundation’s collaborators in Croatia.
“The main reason from the University was that Croatian was seen as an “administrative burden.”
According to Gurlica, the Foundation has a tripartite agreement between the University itself and the Republic of Croatia’s Ministry of Science and Education.
“Despite the Foundation providing evidence that this (Croatian language course being an ‘administrative burden’) was not the case, this did not change the University’s decision.
“According to the university it started implementing its white paper mid 2024, with the full implementation occurring in the 2025 teaching year, regardless of the existing tripartite agreement, the university is no longer taking enrolments” said Gurlica.
No new student enrolments at Macquarie in 2025
“This effectively means that, as of 2025, no new student enrolments will be accepted at the university,” he added.
Nevertheless, Gurlica was adamant that the Croatian Studies Foundation remains committed to ensuring that the language is going to be available to be taught at university level in Australia.
“The CSF has ongoing support from the Croatian Ministry of Science and Education and we would like to thank the current diplomatic corps from Croatia, namely Betty Pavelić and Ivica Glasnović, for all their hard work through this process.
“Whatever the outcome, we will strive to ensure that a Croatian language course will still be offered at tertiary level in Australia in some form,” concluded the president of the Croatian Studies Foundation.
The Foundation will continue to update the community through its website, social media and outlets like the Vjesnik to inform the community of initiatives and any changes. If you would like to support the Foundation, please head over to our website to donate or become a member.
