The sector of higher education in developed countries has been facing important structural changes over the last decade, which is now expanding to developing countries also. As the competitive landscape is changing, the trend of commercialisation of higher education has become more evident. Higher education institutions (H.E.I.s) have been developing their business strategies, with a clear focus on marketing activities, changes in organisational processes, and even changes in their priorities and missions, thus becoming more lucrative. Knowing student behaviour and criteria for choice decisions and recognising the main determinants of students’ choice is the basis for establishing an effective strategy of H.E.I.s. The aim of this article is to shed light on student choice criteria when deciding which institution in higher education to enrol, and to identify main moderating influences. Linear mixed model (L.M.M.) was used as the main methodological tool for analysing the main variation in the attitudes and expectations of students, based on several moderating variables, their socio-demographic and personal characteristics. The results reveal main institutional attributes that HEIs from a post-transitional country can use for the effective market positioning, and the influence of gender, academic aspirations and achievements on the assessment of various students’ choice criteria.

Young people?s perceptions and preferences regarding main channels of upward mobility are very important for integration in every society. After one decade of blocked post-socialist transformation, political changes in 2000 unblocked the process of transformation of Serbian society, raising young people?s expectations of the improvement of their social position. Modernization and democratization of political system, as well as market reforms of the economic system would definitely make this process more probable. These reforms, if carried out properly, would enable the activation of young people and their inclination towards modern and development-oriented ways of advancement in society. Nevertheless, empirical studies in the last ten years in Serbia have constantly shown large discrepancy in youth?s perceived and preferred factors of upward social mobility. Namely, although education and hard work have been emphasized by young people as the main preferred means of getting ahead, wealthy origin and political connections have been, in fact, perceived as the most important factors in this respect in Serbia during the last decade. Political instability, (still) uncompleted reform of political and economic system and economic growth without employment (especially of young people) are the main reasons why half of the young population has had, more or less, a constant wish to leave Serbia forever. The main thesis of this paper is that the above-mentioned discrepancy between preferred and perceived ?social order? represents one of the key basis of such a way of thinking of young people in Serbia.

The paper deals with cultural embeddedness of public administration transformations in Serbia during postsocialism. Public administration reform represents an important aspect of transformation of overall institutional framework in contemporary societies. According to institutional approach, the changes of formal institutions (including public administration) are deeply embedded in informal institutions or culture. Theoretical and methodological framework of the GLOBE research program has been used as a basis for the empirical analysis. The goal of the paper has been to identify the scores on cultural dimensions in Serbia and to analyze the correlation of these scores with expectations of the public administration reform. The expected similarity of culture in Serbia with other East European cultures has been confirmed, as well as hypothesis about its norms and values as strong informal obstacles for successful public administration reform.

Educational and work resources as well as orientations have been analyzed in the paper in the wider context of education-to-work transitions of young people in Serbia during the period of unblocked postsocialist transformation. By using the theoretical approach of social biographies and results of the research on transitional regimes the intention has been to point to social and cultural context and their influence on youth resources and orientations in creation of education-to-work social biographies. Hypothesis about the existence of elements of sub-protective and postsocialist transitional regime has been confirmed, since the results showed that the scarcity of system resources and possession of family resources to a large extent shape the individual pathways of young people in education-to-work sphere.

The influence of different characteristics of youth in Serbia (aged 19 to 35 years) on thinking and acting in the direction of emigration have been analyzed in the paper. The fact that young people?s emigration considering and/or planning is very present even one decade after the unblocked postsocialist transformation of Serbian society testifies for low legitimacy of the social order in the perception of youth, as well as their poor integration in the society. The basis for this delegitimization of the social order can be mainly found in the hardships of the transition from education to employment and losing trust in education as the key factor of youth?s social promotion.

Due to its complexity and heterogeneity, the household sector represents an essential point in energy transition policies. In the European Union, household energy consumption accounts for about 26% of final energy consumption, while in Serbia, this sector has the largest share in final consumption, accounting for about one-third of final consumption. By implementing energy efficiency measures, significant energy savings can be achieved, which, together with the reduction and substitution of the use of fossil fuels, contribute to a lesser impact on climate change and significant reduction in air pollution. The package of legislative measures "Clean Energy for All Europeans" is a comprehensive set of laws defining European climate and energy policy after 2020. This package encompasses and links a series of topics related to the household sector. Through this package, member states are required to set high goals for energy efficiency and decarbonisation in the construction and revitalization of residential buildings, while simultaneously implementing measures concerning households affected by energy poverty. The Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings, the Energy Efficiency Directive, the Renewable Energy Directive, the Regulation on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action, and the Regulation on the Establishment of a Framework for Achieving Climate Neutrality cover the main issues related to energy transition policy in households in the European Union. As a member of the Energy Community and a candidate for membership in the European Union, Serbia has committed to harmonizing its energy policy and legislation, accepting technical assistance and support in implementing reforms to adapt the national energy system to European standards. The aim of this paper is to present the regulatory and strategic framework "Clean Energy for All Europeans" in the part related to the household sector and to analyse its transposition into key legal provisions dealing with this topic in the Republic of Serbia