Brief history of the department

The Forestry department of the Faculty of Agriculture in Belgrade was founded on 5th December 1920. Until 1949 there was only one subject entitled “Torrent control”  in the curriculum of the Department whose lectures dealt with  the problems of erosion and torrential flows. According to the curriculum, the subject was in the fourth year of study. During World War II the Faculty of Forestry was closed.

After the war teaching began in the academic year 1945/46. The subject “Torrent control”  was taught by prof. Sreten Rosić. In 1949 the Faculty of Forestry separated from the Faculty of Agriculture. Until the academic year 1954/55 the Faculty of Forestry remained in the same building with the Faculty of Agriculture in Zemun, when it  moved into the building where it is today.
From the academic year 1952/53 the issues of torrential flows and erosion control were studied within the subject  “Torrent control and protection against erosion” in the fourth year of study. In 1960, 5 departments were formed at the Faculty of Forestry, including the Department of erosion and torrent control. At the Department of erosion and torrent control the subjects were arranged in two chairs: the Chair of erosion and torent control and the Chair of forest ameliorations. In 1961 the Department changed its name to the Department of erosion control and ameliorations.
The new reorganization of the Faculty of Forestry was conducted in 1973. The Departments became institutes and all but forestry changed their names. The former Department of erosion control and ameliorations became the Institute for water management of erodible areas.
Significant changes in the organization of the Faculty of Forestry took place in 1988. The existing institutes were reorganized into departments and each department represented an educational profile of the Faculty. The Department then obtained the name Department for protection against erosion and its graduates received  the title Graduate forestry engineer for protection against erosion. The work of the Department was still organized in two chairs: the Chair of erosion and torrent control and the Chair of ameliorations.

Based on the controversial 1998 Law on Higher Education a new reorganization of the Faculty was conducted. In addition to the existing two chairs another chair was formed at the Department of protection against erosion: the Chair of Geotechnical erosion. The subjects Fundamentals of geotechnics in torrent control, Hydrogeology with geomorphology, Hydrology with hydraulics and Organization of construction and mechanization of control works become subjects of this new chair. Then formed Chair of Geotechnical erosion was now part of the Department, with the change that occurred in 2000, when the subjects of this chair Hydraulics with hydrology,  Organization of construction and machinery in erosion control works once again became subjects of the Chair of torrent and erosion control. The subject Materials in erosion control works was transferred from the Chair of torrent and erosion control to the Chair of Geotechnical erosion.

After the adoption of the 2005 Law on Higher Education the Faculty adopted amendments to the Statute and new curricula for all educational profiles based on the principles of the Bologna Declaration. One significant change was the new name of the Department, which remained to date – the Department of Ecological engineering for soil and water resources protection. The name of the Department was derived from the name of the study program of undergraduate studies and master studies. Elective subjects were introduced to all years of study. The study program of undergraduate studies Ecological engineering for soil and water resources protection was first accredited in 2009. The study program of master studies was accreditted at the same time as a joint program, in which the Department had two modules. In the 2013 accreditation, study programs of undergraduate and master studies of Ecological engineering for soil and water resources protection were accredited and the study program of doctoral studies remained the same for all four departments of the Faculty of Forestry.

A total of 739 students have graduated at the Department, of which 652 students in the old program, which was in force until 2006. Since the establishment of the Department a total of 51 students graduated from master of science  studies of the old study program and 37 candidates acquired the PhD degree. Since 2006, the total number of graduates at the undergraduate level in the new program in accorrdance with the Bologna process is 87, in master studies 64 and in doctoral studies 7, since 2019, the Department has accredited the study program of doctoral studies in Ecological engineering for soil and water resources protection.

Deans of the Faculty of Forestry were the following members of this Department:
prof. Sreten Rosić, the first dean of the Faculty of Forestry (1949-1951)
prof. Velizar Velašević (1975-1977)
prof. Ljubiša Jevtić (1983-1985)
prof. Ratko Kadović (2004-2009)
prof. Ratko Ristić (2015-2021)