The chair of Bioeconomics, policy and organization of management in forestry and nature protection

In the period before 1956 there were no chairs as organizational units of the departments, so there was no chair that would bring together professional subjects of economic and organizational character. However, since the establishment of the faculty there were numerous subjects in the curricula, which later were the backbone of the chair. These subjects had the following names:

The 1930 Statute

National economy, forest administration and accounting, forest policy, forest value calculation, general fundamentals of law and forest legislation, forest trade and industry;

The 1945 Statute

Marxism-Leninism, political economy,  forest organization and planning;

The 1952 Statute

Political economy, organization and business practices in forestry, forest economics, forest-economic geography with timber trade.

With the 1956 Statute of the Faculty of Forestry departments and chairs were established as the organizational units of the Faculty. The Chair of Forest Economics and Wood Industry was established on that occasion, involving subjects such as political economy, forest economics, fundamentals of law and legislation, organization and business practice in forestry, timber trade, bookkeeping, records and industrial statistics (taught at the Department of forestry) and economics of timber industry, labor protection and organization of production in wood processing enterprises (taught at the Department of wood industry). It was a joint chair of two departments and an attempt to establish a single chair in order to organize teaching and research work in several related disciplines at two different departments.

Four years later (in 1960), when the Department of wood industry became more independent, part of the subjects moved to the appropriate chair of that department, but the concept of unification was not given up. Thus the name of the chair was changed to the Chair of Forest Economics, which was accompanied by a number of changes in the structure of the subjects (some of them were abolished and others got a new form). Instead of the subjects from the Department of wood industry related subjects from the Department of torrent and erosion control were inserted. It could not be seen from the name of the Chair, but that change could be observed in the list of subjects. Those subjects were: economy, forest economics, forest organization and business practice (Department of Forestry) and organization and economics of production in eroded areas (from the Department of torrent and erosion control).

The chair of forest economics with subjects of complex socio-economic nature was established in the 1966 Statute. In this period three already existing subjects were kept: Economy, forest economics and organization of business practice in forestry, but some new subjects were also added, such as work science, timber trade with forest-economic geography and fundamentals of society  science.

Further development involved the 1974 Statute. The Chair of Forest Economics introduced the following subjects into the program: political economy, socio-economic system of the SFRY, Fundamentals of Marxism with sociology and economics of watershed regulation, and retained the already existing subjects: forest organization and business practice, timber trade with forest-economic geography and forest economics. It is interesting that only one subject from the Department of torrent and erosion control (Economics of watershed regulation), appears to be similar to the subjects at the Department of forestry. The reason is probably that, professionally speaking, there were no related disciplines at the Department of torrent and erosion control (most of the others were of technical nature), and only one subject of economic orientation was not enough to establish an individual chair at this section.
With the 1977 Statute, the chair changed its name to the Chair of socio-economic subjects, and the subjects were: Fundamentals of Marxism, the theory and practice of self-management, political economy, organization and business practice in forestry, timber trade with forest-economic geography and forest economics.

Later, with the 1983 Statute the name of the chair was changed to the Chair of Forest Economics and Organization, while the subjects remained the same as in the previous curriculum: fundamentals of marxism, the theory and practice of self-management, political economy, forest organization and business practices, timber trade with forest-economic geography and forest economics.

Changes from the 1994 Statute lead to major changes, but the subject of Sociology was included in the Cabinet of general subjects, while other subjects were joined to the subjects of the Chair of Forest Management Planning. Thus the newly formed Chair was named the Chair of planning and organization of forest management.

Until 2002, the Chair functioned in this form, when the subjects of the former Department of Forest Economics and Organization were re-unified (fundamentals of economy and sociology,  forest organization and business practice, timber trade and forest-economic geography and forest  economics), and the chair was once again named the Chair of Forest Economics and Organization.  

With the 2008 Statute two subjects at the Chair of Forest Economics and Organization were divided into two new ones. So, instead of the subject fundamentals of economy and sociology, the subjects introduction to sociology and principles of economy were introduced, and the subject trade and forest-economic geography was divided into the subjects forest products trade and forest-economic geography. In addition to that, a new subject, forest policy and legislation,  was introduced.

With the 2012 statute the name – the Chair of Forest Economics and Organization was retained. However, further development of the “Bologna process”, improved the curricula, resulting in the emergence of some new subjects. At that time the Chair covered the following subjects: principles of economy, sociology, forest organization and business practice, forest products trade, forest economics, economic geography of forest resources, forest policy and legislation, entrepreneurship and SMEs in forestry and forest products marketing.

Taking into account the dynamics of change in the teaching curricula, which corresponds to the dynamics of scientific research and changes in socio-economic relations, it is clear that the transformation of the internal organization of the Faculty of Forestry will continue in the future. This certainly applies to the Chair of Forest Economics and Organization, so new teaching contents can be expected, in the context of both traditional and new subjects.

The Statute of the Faculty of Forestry from 2019. the name of the department was changed to the The chair of Bioeconomics, policy and organization of management in forestry and nature protection.