THE ROLE AND SCOPE OF INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE RESEARCH OF UNIVERSITY TEACHERS IN SERBIA

The Strategy for Higher Education System Development in Serbia up to 2020 presupposes a certain level of digital literacy of all participants in education. Knowledge and skills in the area of Information Communication Technologies (ICT) are basic requirements. University teachers (UT) are also expected to develop skills to use ICT for both teaching and scientific research because they are both lecturers and researchers. This research is based on the primary assumption that UT would apply ICT to a greater extent if they were provided with actual possibilities to do so. The aims of this paper are to enable preliminary insight into (1) how UT understand the role of ICT in their research and which aspects of the scope of ICT they are familiar with; and (2) what UT believe could facilitate their scientific research. A survey was conducted with 166 UT in Serbia based on a mixed questionnaire. The data analysis confirmed that UT are familiar with both the role and scope of ICT but they lack the objective possibilities for a broader application of ICT. The respondents clearly stated that access to data bases, referenced journals and other sources, and the application of available programs and solutions, as well as training to use them in a proper way, should be enabled. The general conclusion is that solutions are needed at all levels of the entire education system to provide UT in Serbia with a better environment for both teaching and research based on ICT.