American ambassador reacts: Politics does not belong in education!

The number one US in Kosovo, Ambassador Philip Costnet, has joined the EU call, through Kosovo representative Nataliya Apostolova, so that no interference in the work of the State Council of Quality is required.

Costett has said that politics has room in the education system.

Policy has no place in the education sector. I strongly support Apostolova's statement that Kosovo's Accreditation Agency must be independent to provide quality in education”, wrote in Titter, the US ambassador to Kosovo, Philip Costnett.

We remember that from yesterday, all public universities in Kosovo are on a general strike, following the ultimatum a week they gave to the Parliament and the Government of Kosovo to dismiss members of the State Council of Quality. Their request came after the suspension of 42 programmes in all universities, and for what they claimed was done for political purposes.

Meanwhile, yesterday, the chief of the EU Office in Kosovo, Nataliya Apostolova, through a media report, has announced that she has met today members of the Kosovo Agency for Accession (AKK) and has been informed of their efforts to secure quality in Kosovo's higher education institutions. Their vow, Apostolvoa, is impressive.

The European Union expresses regret over the reactions of some public university heads against the Agency's independent decisions. Such decisions have yet to be finalised, and some of them may be further reviewed by the Ankes Commission. Never should political interference in the work of independent agencies. It was the intervention of authorities that resulted in the expulsion of AAK from the European Quality Security Register and has questioned its membership in the European Association for the Security of Quality in Higher Education. This has serious consequences for Kosovo students, damaging their ability to attend studies or to seek work abroad”, Apostolova said in her letter.

“The EU over the years has invested a lot in education reforms in Kosovo, politically and financially, to help secure quality education for Kosovo youth. Determining Kosovo's Accreditation Agency to implement this in practice is an encouragement for the European Union to increase engagement in this sector”, the Apostolova statement was further said.

On the other hand, the chief of the EU office has called on Kosovo authorities and political parties “to fully support our continued work of reforms in education. Kosovo's Accreditation Agency and their work to ensure quality education for their young citizens is also crucial and requires political support”.