Chair of Forest Utilization

 

Development of the Chair of Forest Utilization

The field of activity that the Chair of Forest Utilization is focused on has been an integral part of the curriculum for future forestry engineers at the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry of the University of Belgrade since its establishment. Credits for the promotion of this teaching and scientific discipline belong to Dr. Đoko Jovanović, graduate and PhD of the Faculty of Forestry in Tübingen (Germany) and founder of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry of the University of Belgrade. After ten years of work, during the thirties of the last century the Faculty was reorganized and first institutes and cabinets were established. One of four forestry institutes was the Institute of forest utilization, and one of five Cabinets was the Cabinet of forest transport vehicles and agricultural and forest machinery. The establishment of the Institute of forest utilization and the Cabinet of forest transport vehicles and agricultural and forest machinery is regarded as the official beginning of work at this Chair.

After World War II there was a separation between forestry and agricultural disciplines, which resulted in the establishment of the independent Faculty of Forestry of the University of Belgrade. In the 1949 founding act of the independent Faculty of Forestry, it was decided that the related educational and scientific disciplines are organized into chairs, and thus, among other chairs, the Chair of Forest Utilization was formed with the following subjects: Forest utilization, mechanical wood processing, technology of wood, general and forest mechanical engineering and wildlife economy. In addition, the Chair of Transport and Construction was formed with the following subjects: forest transport vehicles, forest construction, technical mechanics, descriptive geometry and advanced mathematics. In the years that followed these two chairs were unified or separated, while the number of subjects increased or decreased depending on a variety of reasons.

Many teachers, associates and support technical staff contributed to the establishment and work of the Faculty of Forestry and its chairs. From the very beginning and professor Dr. Đoko Jovanović, one of the founders of the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, until today and the teachers and staff continue and build on what their predecessors started. The basic motto of the Chair of Forest Utilization is to improve the educational process and the forestry profession in general.