Consequences of Kosovo's ENQA exclusion isolated Kosovo students

This is seen as the biggest failure in education in the last 20 years. The same will affect the interconnection of Kosovo institutions and students into the European higher education system.

On September 19th, the European Association for the Security of Quality at Higher Education (ENQA) made a decision to exclude the Kosovar Agency of Discension. The ENQA board estimated that the Agency has not met European rules.

These include lack of broad consensus on higher education regarding the agency's role and activities, as well as lack of human and financial resources to carry out the AKA's activities.

The AKA was a member of the ECQA in 2014, for a 5-year period that ended in August of this year.

Express has contacted the European Association for High Education Quality (ENQA) to ask what the consequences will be for Kosovo students who are part of Kosovo's accredited universities to continue studies in the institutions of higher education at European universities.

The ENQA has declined to comment more than what it writes in the ENQA Board's report and in the letter sent to the Kosovar Accreditation Agency.

Thank you for your interest in ENQA. For more information on the questions you sent, we refer to the ENQA Board letter AKA and the report published on our website. We cannot comment more than what is written in the report and the letter sent AKA for revision and score. We thank you for your understanding”, says the answer to the European Association for the Security of Quality in Higher Education.

In the letter sent to the head of the Agency for Accreditation's duty director, Avni Gashi, it becomes known that AKA can apply to the ECQA in two years later.

The Express newspaper has tried to get an answer from incumbent Minister of Education Shyqi Bytyqi, but it has not been accessible until the news has been published.

An interesting answer came from the institution that Bytyqi will lead in a few days.

Through a communique to the media, August has said that he has taken the news of the expulsion of AKA from ECQA with concern, as he adds that it has been reported through the media.

“MAST has been reported by the media and has no official information. Therefore, today the ministry has officially requested information from the Kosovo Agency of Discension on the new report created between the Agency and the ENQA, and also for those found in the Association report, on which this decision has been made”, says the August communique.

Severe criticisms towards Kosovo institutions have been through a response even to the European Union Office in Kosovo. She has said she is sorry that Kosovo will no longer be a member of the ENQA.

The organisation's “being a member was not only a major achievement for Kosovo institutions, but also very important to facilitate the mobileity for Kosovo's qualified students and youth. The suspension of membership is a backlog and direct consequence of poor policies in the past, such as the Government's decision in September 2017 to dismiss the entire Agency Board without the right reasoning”, says in this response to the EU Office, until, further away, it has declared that the future government must address all issues for Kosovo to become a member again.

On the other hand, the State Council of Quality has estimated that this news is distressing, but not surprising. This, according to the KSHC, points to continued political interference in AKA.

K The US has sought to reach a nationwide consensus on improving the situation and addressing all SEE findings.

University professor, Behemman pazizi, in a response to Gazeta Express has said that what happened with exclusion from the ENQA is one of the worst news news for the country in the last 20 years.

The degradation of Kosovo's report with ENQA is one of the worst news for the country in the last 20 years. Following the EQAR exemption due to the reckless decision by Minister Bytyqi and Prime Minister Haradinaj, August has failed to eliminate the consequences caused by this decision and, as a result, Kosovo's degradation or removal from ENQA” has occurred, says Pajarizi, as long as he mentions the consequences it may have had for students.

Explorement from ECAR and ECQA may have grave consequences, including non-recognition of the state's diploma issued in Kosovo at the end of the programmes already accredited. Without ECAR and ENQA accreditation can only be applied within Kosovo, but Kosovo is not already listed in the ECAR registry and ECQA experts may not be part of accreditment”, says the university professor, as it estimates that Kosovo's young will suffer for that consequences.

“The consequences will afflict young people after the furniture and the killing of young people's dreams are worse than corruption, nepotism or theft of asphalt”, it has ended.

Education Affairs Director Dukagjin Pupovci tells Gazeta Express that exclusion from the ENQA is the second blow receiving education in the past two years. That, according to him, is due to political interference.

“The ENQA's exclusion of AKA is the second severe blow that gets higher education in Kosovo within the past two years, as the AKA was first expelled from ECUAR. All of this is a consequence of the rude political interventions in higher education, in particular the consequence of the dismissal of the AKA Board in September 2017”, Pupovci said.

The same has explained what will result for students and graduates.

Now, students from Kosovo who want to continue their studies in European countries, as well as graduates who will continue their professional career in these countries, will face more complicated procedures for recognising their qualifications. On the other hand, higher education in Kosovo remains without continued international supervision, which could encourage new political interventions, with the aim of realising customer and business interests. Therefore, even a consensus of political subjects that this will not happen is needed, and this should be one of the first topics the new government will deal with, Pupovci has said.

In February of this year The AKA was also excluded from the European Register Committee for the Security of Quality at Higher Education (EQAR), after four years of membership.

That was after the decision was made to sack members of the Accreditation Agency Management Board.