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Council of Europe Working party on Refugee qualifications Slovenian experiencewith certificates from Serbia and Kosovo presentation for the seminar in Strasburg 15-16 Nov 1999 by Ms. Polona Miklavc Valencic and Ms. Eva Vilfan, Slovenian ENIC Background The State of Higher Education in Kosovo (by Elmar Pichl, WUS, Austria) According to our ‘Recognition of Foreign Certificates Act’ everyone owning a foreign certificate, who wishes to work or to study in Slovenia, has to submit a request for recognition. We have been receiving many different forms of school certificates from all parts of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in our Recognition office since 1992. This is so because Slovenia became legally independent in June 1991. From that date all the other former republics of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia became foreign countries and certificates issued after June 1991 foreign certificates. All the former republics of the Yugoslavia used to have common basis of education but every republic had right to provide its own education law. There were a lot of similarities but also a lot of differences in the school systems of former Yugoslav republics. For example language was one of the differences. There were three main languages Slovenian, Serbo-Croatian and Macedonian and also seven languages of the minorities in former Yugoslavia. There were also differences in the school programmes, however the basic structure of the school systems was the same. We had eight years of primary school, from age 7 to 14, two or three years of vocational school from age 14 to 17, and four years of technical or general school, from age 14 to 18, that enabled students to enter university. According to our experience since 1992 and further, we have not noticed many changes in the school system in Serbia. However we would like to call your attention to the fact that we have got very little official information from this country since 1992. There are also no diplomatic relations between countries, and therefore obtaining information, as you have experienced yourself, from Serbia is very hard. We assume that due to the whole situation in Serbia there were not enough means to substantially reform the education system. The change that we have certainly been informed about is according to the official document sent to us by the Ministry of Education of Republic of Serbia in May 1998, officially abolished bilingual education in Albanian and Serbian in Kosovo in the school year 1991/92. Regarding our experience with the secondary school leaving certificates from Kosovo (when the owners are of Albanian nationality) we have been receiving two kinds of school leaving certificates: 1. Certificates issued by self-named state ‘Republic of Kosovo’ (Republika Kosovo). We assume that this is due to the fact that the people of Albanian nationality have lost the right to education in their own language, so they have organised their own schools (the parallel system of education). ‘Diploma’ is a secondary school leaving certificate of a successfully completed four year secondary general school - Gimnazija. This form of certificate is issued with the permission of the Ministry of education of Republic of Kosovo (enclosure 1). The second certificate is awarded to a pupil who has successfully completed technical school. The programme lasted four years (enclosure 2). 2. Certificates issued on the old forms of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, even after the school year 1991/92 (enclosure 3). Diploma of professional education level was issued in 1994. Such form of certificates have not been officially valid since the school year 1991/92, because the Socialistic Federal Republic of Yugoslavia did not exist any more. We have also been informed that the certificates named above had no official value in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, therefore it is had to prove their authenticity as, of course, is the case with all the certificate issued in this region after 1991. As you may know, before disintegration of former the Yugoslavia education for members of national minorities in Serbia was organised in their mother tongue. After disintegration of the former Yugoslavia the Serbian language was accepted as official language in Serbia. Before 1990, both Cyrillic and Latin scripts were used in Yugoslavia. Since 1990 only Cyrillic has been used in Serbia. In general certificates issued after 1991 have some or all of the following elements:
The next certificates grant the holder access to the higher education:
This diploma is also from Kosovo, but it was issued on a officially prescribed form. On the top there is the name of the state: Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Republic of Serbia. The seal matches with the name and the place of the school. 2. We have received two kinds of forms of school leaving certificates - diploma of passed matriculation examination that are awarded to pupils who successfully end four-year vocational school or four-year general school-Gimnazija (enclosure 5 and 6). Gimnazija is a general secondary school. The programme lasts 4 years. Successfully completed programme enables pupils to enter higher education. Successfully completed technical school enables students to enter a university or the labour market. Technical programmes contain more general subjects and also more general vocational subjects and less practical training. Programmes end with "Matura" - matriculation examination. Matriculation examination is internal examination, prepared, controlled and assessed by the teachers of the respective school. The following certificates do not grant the holder admission to the higher education: 1. We have also received two kinds of forms of school leaving certificates - diploma of passed final examination that are awarded to the pupils who successfully end three -year vocational school (enclosure 7 and 8). 2. Vocational school prepares pupils for entering to the labour market. Vocational programmes have less general subjects and more special vocational subjects and practical training. The programme end with final exam which is internal. 3. the diploma of professional qualification (enclosure 9 is not a school leaving certificate awarded after three or four year general or vocational programme. A person who has such a diploma is qualified only to do specific work. This diploma does not give the right for any kind of further education. The State of Higher Education in Kosovo by Mr. Elmar Pichl, WUS-Austria After the Albanians in Kosovo had faced ten years of segregation under the dictatorship of the Serbian regime of Slobodan Milosevic, which included the expulsion of Kosovo-Albanians from the official university and school system, the changing political conditions following the cease-fire for Kosovo reached in June 1999 has provided (in addition to other important changes in the civil and administrative structure in Kosovo) the chance to create a modern, cross-ethnic school and university-system for this country. The current situation in (higher) education in Kosovo can not be understood without knowledge of the former educational system in Kosovo and its transition. Prior to the Serb political domination in Kosovo in 1991, the educational institutions were administered and maintained independently from Serbia within the general system of autonomy, with the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Kosovo as the highest organ. The educational authorities of Kosovo were fully at liberty to compile and approve the curricula and to control the whole educational system of Kosovo. At the University of Prishtina - inaugurated 1970 - the subjects were taught in two languages, Albanian and Serbian, which enabled Albanian students to study in their mother tongue what was the proper reason for establishing a university in Kosovo. This system was closely related to the comprehensive regulations regarding minority protection within the Yugoslav constitutional framework of 1974, which guaranteed the Kosovo-Albanians almost national equality among the nations of the former SFRY and included Turkish as the third official language in Kosovo as well. This educational system was very successful, as at the end of the second world war still 78% of the population were illiterate and there was only a very modest tradition of higher education, while today the percentage of those in Kosovo who are illiterate is apparently not very different from the "average" of the region and the neighbouring countries (Bulgaria 5%, Yugoslavia 7%, FYROM 11%, Albania 28%; currently, however, detailed statistics aren't available for Kosovo). Since the establishment of the University of Prishtina more than 60000 students had graduated - 38 thousand of them in Albanian language by 1996. From 1981 to 1990 the number of Albanian students was already reduced for 25%. However, with the abolition of Kosovo's autonomy by the Serbian regime in 1989/90 the effects on the educational system were disastrous. In 1991 the Serbian political regime annulled the Kosovo legislation on education, science and culture, introduced Serbian laws instead and closed down school buildings of primary and secondary education by force. Around 14500 primary and 4000 secondary school teachers and 862 university teachers of Albanian ethnicity were dismissed. The Albanian teaching staff, pupils and students were forced to find shelter in private homes so as to continue teaching. In addition, the lectures, administration and finances of the two academic communities were separated. To the international public this system became known as the "parallel educational system".
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