UVOD U ISTORIJSKE STUDIJE KAO UNIVERZITETSKI PREDMET U BEOGRADU

Since 1964, the Introduction to Historical Studies has been a course at the undergraduate studies of History at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Belgrade. There was a belief that Serbian university studies of history were lagging behind the European university education and that the methodological and theoretical studies were neglected from their very beginning in the 19th century. This article argues that the methodological and theoretical organization of seminaries in German, Austrian and British universities were genuinely slow and reluctant, while the Balkan university traditions were similar to each other with limited government resources, undefined needs, and great discontinuities. A comparison of the development of theoretical, methodological, and introductory courses at the universities in Belgrade, Sofia, and Zagreb, shows striking similarities frequently instigated by direct influences. Differences appeared at the University of Zagreb only after the World War II and later during the period of transition from 1995 to 2010.