On Tuesday, Kosovo Accreditation Agency (KAA) and WUS Kosova held a Virtual Conference on “Challenges of implementing ESG standards by higher education institutions in Kosovo”, funded by the U.S. Embassy in Pristina, through the University Support Grants Program.

Professor Dukagjin Zeka, a member of the State Quality of Council, highlighted that “the return of KAA to ENQA is one of our main priorities”. “Kosovo Accreditation Agency in the last year has approved a dynamic plan for the implementation of all criteria that enable a return to ENQA. Much work has been done to achieve these objectives. We hope that very soon new institutions will be created, which will approve the Law on KAA, as one of the main criteria for meeting these standards “, said SQC member.

Gashi expressed his acknowledgement to the project donor – the U.S. Embassy in Prishtina for funding this and additional running projects, aimed at building the capacity of the KAA for increasing transparency and institutional independence. He mentioned that implementing partner of this this project, WUS Kosova has done a very professional job to support the KAA to meet one of the most difficult criteria of ENQA, development of a methodology for thematic analysis.

Luljeta Aliu from WUS Kosova said that guaranteeing the independence of KAA is one of the main criteria, based on the “Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area”.

She highlighted that distinguished local and international experts are engaged for the implementation of this project, while this conference will enable obtaining the opinions of all actors in higher education in Kosovo.

The aim of the Conference is to discuss with representatives of higher education institutions, local and international experts, the challenges of implementing quality assurance processes in Kosovo based on the “Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area”

Participants of the Conference were: rectors, vice-rectors, professors, students, representatives of the Student Union of Kosovo, leaders of study programs, staff of quality assurance offices of HEIs in Kosovo, students and renowned international experts from Europe and the United States. The Virtual Conference is organized within the project, “Supporting Kosovo Accreditation Agency on achieving some of the ENQA’s recommendations”, funded by the US Embassy in Pristina.

Sincerely,

Kosovo Accreditation Agency and implementing partner WUS Kosova