Haradinaj accused of interfering in accrediting process

The prime minister's warned actions have been deemed illegal and incompatible with the Law on Higher Education and the Law on Independent Agencies, writes today “Koha Ditore”.

The KSC at the 74th meeting held on Monday decided in favour of international experts' reports, which recommended that the institutional accreditation for the academic year 2019/2020 be withdrawn. With this decision, Mitrovica Public University, the University of Pec and Prizren University will not be able to register new students for this academic year.

International European Quality Security Association experts at Higher Education (ENQA) were engaged by the Kosovo Agency for Accreditation for institutional evaluation and public university and private college programmes.

This unacceptable decision has been called Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, who through a post on the social network Facebook has warned the measures.

“is unacceptable the State Council of Quality's decision to close three public universities; the one in Pec, Mitrovica and in Prizren” wrote Haradinaj. He said he considered denial of access to student registration unfair.

This case will act immediately, taking concrete steps to resolve this” situation, he wrote.

Prime Minister Haradinaj's reaction, according to Dukagjin Pupovci, from the Kosovar Centre for Education (KEC), could cost the Agency for Accreditation except from the European Agency for Security of Quality (ENQA). Pupovci has said of Koha.net that when the prime minister had reacted last time in 2017, regarding the process of accreditation, the Agency of Accreditation has been excluded from the ECQAR, while the status in the ENQA has been degraded by the full “enty” in “agenice under survey”.

“Now, if the Government acts in opposition to this decision, violating the independence of the Accreditation Agency, I think the exclusion from the ENQA will follow, which means a kind of full blow of higher education in Kosovo by the European space of higher education”, he said.

Pupovci finds it necessary to withdraw the prime minister and ministers from the Agency's affairs, since it considers that this is unacceptable.

“Prime Minister and other ministers would have to withdraw from these plans of their own to intervene in the work of the Agency, because this is unacceptable for any European country and the independence of this institution, which has this time even been appointed by the Kosovo Assembly”, he said.

Pupovci has said that to discuss details of the KC's decision should be expected until the expert report is published.

You'll know more when we have the expert group report, which I don't believe anyone except the Agency itself. But I am confident that it requires meeting these basic criteria involving academic staff”, he says.

According to Pupovci, neither of the country's public universities, except for Pristina, has been founded following any path of preparation, as is common in the case of the establishment of such universities. He says the establishment of these universities has become fast in time of election campaigns and with the aim of winning votes.

Even after these universities were founded, the political subjects have not taken care of them addressing these quality problems, but they have been satisfied with the fact that they have founded and won votes, the bills are now just coming for such a well-inconsidered act”, he says.

The Organisation for Quality Growth in Education (ORCA) has reacted after the prime minister's post saying he is concerned with, as they write in the statement, the prime minister's low level of information and his office regarding the issue of institutional non-recitation of three public universities.

ORCA explains that institutional non-recognition means impossible student registration only for this year, while these institutions will continue to work normally even preparing for application for accreditation again next year.

This organisation has written that Haradinaj in 2018 “has donated” Kosovo is exempting from ECAR and degrading the Kosovo Agency for Discretion in the European Association ENQA, from “entian “3> to “entiary under survey”. According to them, this has been due to the request he made to Education Minister Shyqi Bytyqi to dismiss the Agency's past board.

As a result, the Kosovo Agency for Accreditation in September of this year will make the final decision on continuing or not on membership in the ENQA. Today's intervention by the prime minister -- the second in a row, even as a statement -- already risks the Agency for exemption from European association ENQA”, writes O RCA.

ORCA declared that the prime minister's actions -- whatever they are -- will be illegal and incompatible with the Law on Higher Education and the Law on Independent Agencies.

A press conference, following the KSHC decision, has been held by Minister of Education, Science and Technology Shyqi, who has said the Council has had no right to make decisions because the Anti-corruption Agency has long ago raised doubts about irregularities over its current composition.

These are not August decisions, because the Agency of Accreditation and the State Quality Council make decisions under the law in effect. I need to explain that we've had a letter, which came from the Anti-corruption Agency, where some cases that were raised on this letter AKA and KSHC needed to clear up. The Anti-corruption Agency's letter reportedly had violations in the current composition of the KSHC and we have addressed K The SHC in order to clarify these issues and we have asked that no decision-making be made until these problems are resolved”, Bytyqi said, Koha.net reports.

Among other things, he has stressed that at Friday's meeting of July 12, 2019, which K held it. The SHC, of which August was announced only by the letter that came Sunday from the head of the KSHC, was said to have received letter from the Ministry of Education, K. The US has decided to expect additional clarifications from the Anti-corruption Agency and not make any decisions until July 22nd, 2019.

Minister Bytyqi has estimated that the decision the KSHC made on Monday, from which three public universities have been affected, conflicts with the decision this institution made Friday.

Since we have a opposition to decisions by the KSHC, either the Kosovo Agency of Adreciency, we expect this issue to be addressed in Government, to see what further steps will be”, Bytyqi said.

We remember that the KSHC today did not credit him for the 2019-2020 academic year to Mitrovica Public University, Peja University and Prizren University. The country's prime minister, Ramush Haradinaj, has reacted to this decision.