The accepted educational system demanded intensive preparation of textbooks and study aids. As specialized publishing firms could not publish all the necessary materials, the Faculty organized its own preparation and publishing of textbooks. ln the beginning they were temporary materials - mimeographed notes. Later, a transition was made to publishing textbooks. So the Faculty has, with the aid of the student organization, published more than 300 various textbooks of which some have had several editions. In this way the Faculty provided the students with basic study materials for common subjects in the first years of study. Textbooks for professional subjects still remained a problem due to a lack ofinterested students.
Just as the undergraduate studies initially had a common curriculum, graduate studies also started as almost uniform. The differences depended mainly on the proposed topic of the Master's thesis. Later, this concept was abandoned and the mentor system was introduced, so for each candidate a separate curriculum was determined depending on his field of interest. In this way a selection of subjects which suited the majority of proposed theses could be made. This, however, resulted in an inereased interest on the part of organizations of associated labour in specialized and graduate study programs offered by the Faculty. In spite of the considerable sucess achieved in graduate studies, the major problem, even today, is the unsolved problem of financing graduate studies. It is obvious, at least for the time being, that self-financing cannot solve all these problems successfully.
The Statute of the Faculty also provides for other forms ofgraduate studies. Nevertheless, noteworthy results have not been achieved, even though attempts have beerr made.
Although orientation toward scientific research has existed since the Division was founded, organized researeh started only recently when the Faculty was registered not only as an educational but also a research organization. This was the lacking prerquisite for the financing of such an activity to be appropriately regulated. The Faculty started forrning stronger ties with organizations of associated labour by organizing joint venture projects involving team work in which both the Faculty and the organizations in question participated. Problems to be solved by this type of collaboration often became topics for Master's or doctoral theses. This is of multiple interest: industry related problems are solved, there is organized specialization of the industrial coworkers involved and the problem of researeh financing is thus gradually solved. The success of the research efforts of the Faculty staff can be evaluated on the basis of the number of published papers, which is constantly increasing, as well as the number of Master's (418) and doctoral theses (291). Many of these results were achieved by the work of Faculty staff, which the Faculty was obliged to stimulate and did stimulate in many ways. However, the number of coworkers that have obtained degrees has also inereased considerably. An inerease of interest in further study has also been noted in younger engineers of technology and metallurgy.
The success of research efforts can also be evaluated financially. Ever since the first independent researeh work was started, its fnancial contribution to the Faculty incorne has been showing a constant increase. It has almost reached the level of the educational activity.
The first teachers of the Division of Technology obtained their degress in various sehools abroad. Experiences gained abroad were then expanded and refreshed by miaintaining direct contacts and by rneans ofjournals and literature in general. Since most of the first lecturers had graduated in Germany, the influence of the German school was doniinant in chemistry and technology. Teachers and staff, who later joined in the work of the Division and Faculty gained their first experiences at home, but later gained additional experiences in various countries so the former, mostly German influence gradually faded. By gaining their first knowledge and experiences at home, our young scientists enabled the creation of a new, original and specific work style. Experiences are still being gathered both abroad and at home, although it would now be more appropriate to call this exchanging experiences rather than gaining them. To corroborate this, one might add that more and more foreign students are studying at the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, and that some of them are also pursuing their graduate degrees here. The number of international contacts, previously only personal, is expanding and growing into institutional contacts. Organized cooperation and joint projects are becoming more common. Contacts with similar institutions in Yugoslavia were never neglected and were especially intensive when new faculties were being founded.