Die Neuausrichtung des Bildungswesens im Kosovo
Re-orientation of the Educational System in Kosovo

More Division instead of Integration

Summary/Abstract: Kosovo’s education system remains divided to this day. The implementation of a universally valid Serbian curriculum under Slobodan Milošević by the end of the 1980s was counterbalanced by the creation of private Kosovo-Albanian educational structures. When the United Nations Interim Administration Mission (UNMIK) entered Kosovo in June 1999 (UNSC Res. 1244), it was responsible inter alia for rebuilding the education system. Its biggest challenge was the establishment of a unified and common education for both Kosovo-Serbs and Kosovo-Albanians. From the very start though, it was evident that such an outcome was not to be taken for granted. The UN mission de facto reinforced ethnic separation in the education system. To start with, it recognized de jure (2003) the creation of the University of Northern Mitrovica attended only by Kosovo-Serbs. Belatedly, in 2015 a procedure was introduced under the auspices of the so-called ‘EU Dialogue’ which sought a pragmatic way of enabling the integration of Kosovo-Serbs into Kosovo’s educational institutions. However, the only outcome has been the introduction of a mechanism recognizing diplomas issued by the University of Northern Mitrovica for Kosovo-Serbs willing to study at the University of Pristina. At present its impact remains doubtful. – Twenty years after the end of the conflict, the international communityhas failed to establish a unified and common education system in Kosovo.

• Details
• Contents