Mića Jovanović 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.
Between 1976 and 1991, Jovanović was employed at the University of Belgrade, 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. From 1983 until 1989, Jovanović gave lectures on self-management and work motivation at various foreign universities: London School of Economics, Bradford University, Portsmouth Polytechnics, Freie Universität Berlin, Okayama University, Japan, University of Tokyo, École supérieure de commerce, Grenoble, Seoul National University. Between 1983 and 1989, he was a member of the research team of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the project called "The Future of Work in the Automotive Industry with a View to an Impact of Robotization to the Labour." Jovanović founded Megatrend University in 1989, which has since been called a "degree mill," 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. 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. Subsequently, Jovanović left Serbia in 2014, saying that he had "no intention of doing anything more in Serbia." Jovanović later returned to Megatrend, and was again elected its rector in 2019.
