Mir Radio Television and Radio Television of Mitrovica organized a debate “Academic Bridges” which was attended by professors from the University of Pristina and Mitrovica North. And this time, representatives of these universities have different priorities. Thus, representatives of Serbs say that the Bologna Declaration is a failure, while the representatives of the Albanians complain about the insufficient budget.
The representatives of the faculties have discussed several issues, the deepening of academic cooperation and finding solutions to the problems they face. Professor of the University of Pristina in North Mitrovica, Aleksandar Ćorac has outlined the impact of policies on the functioning of the University.
“Most of our politicians would like to control the universities; they want the universities to be good as long as they need to, but that their children attend school somewhere abroad, and thus one cannot achieve the quality of the university. The implementation of the Bologna declaration, also, goes in this direction. I do not see significant differences in the conversation with my friends, and Serbs and Albanians. I did not notice a significant difference about what they feel about today’s level of education. You will meet a lot of people, and in one and in other group, who still remember the education we had both, back in the old Yugoslavia,” said Ćorac.
Rector of the University of Pristina, Marijan Demaj emphasizes that teaching by the Bologna began in 2002, and the biggest problem to students is funding. At the University of Pristina there is 52 000 students.
“The University of Pristina, in addition to being financed from the Kosovo budget, provides funding and by tuition fees. I hope that the visa liberalization will assist students in obtaining scholarships from other universities and that it will come to life. When it comes to the improvement of the teaching, the main objective of the University of Pristina is to fulfil the European standards,” said Demaj.
Representatives of both universities believe that a merger is still far away, but also that it would bring benefit to all.
“If opens the Department of the Albanian language in Mitrovica where would be about 1000 Serbian students, we could deploy them into institutions in Pristina and other cities, it would be profitable, because, they could deal with translations’ needs for the Serbs. Also, if Albanians would have the Slavic studies, this would show that Pristina is open to students who speak other languages, not only Albanian, but this will have to wait,” said Prof. Dr. Rada Trajkovic.
“Let’s look at the art. In this area we can easily cooperate, if it is difficult to work in science, due to limited resources, it is easier in the field of art. I have suggested the Faculties of Arts to provide studies in all languages, because the theoretical part would be in the languages of communities living in Kosovo,” said Besa Luza, a professor at the Academy of Music.
