Prishtina, 23 December 2021 – The Ombudsperson addressed a report to the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation with regard to the failure to effectively oversee functioning of Higher Education Providers (Holders) in the Republic of Kosovo.

The Ombudsperson has consistently admitted complaints from students and former students of private Colleges, providers of higher education in Kosovo with regard to the failure to recognize/ verify their diplomas, which are summarized in this Report. The Report addresses several aspects: in the first case, the complainants had completed study programs at Higher Education Providers in areas that did not have accreditation and license; in the second case, upon enrollment of the complainant in the College, the College has been accredit, but at the end of the studies, the College was denied the request for re-accreditation and as a result in these cases students’ diplomas were invalid, as they could not be recognized / verified and the complainants could not pursue further with their studies. In third cases, the complainants’ Diplomas failed to be recognized / verified due to non-submission of Matrix Books by Higher Education Providers and the same failed to further continue their studies abroad.

In the Report of 2 December 2021, the Ombudsperson ascertains that inactions of responsible institutions for overseeing enforcement of legal provisions, has created room for Higher Education Providers to operate in violation of legal provisions, lacking accreditation and by not submitting or saying in another way, through inappropriate administration of relevant documents as provided by legal provisions, among other things has created insecurity, financial loss and moral breakdown among students.

Since accreditation is a process that guarantees that a higher education institution and its programs meet internationally accepted quality standards and that the qualifications issued by HEP give to their holders a number of rights, the Ombudsperson states that some Higher Education Providers have issued diplomas in complete violation of accreditation and licensing procedure.

The Ombudsperson ascertains that the submission of Matrix Books within the legally determined deadline is the obligation of the Higher Education Providers, their failure to be implemented is the responsibility of each institution that exercises this activity. Administration of relevant data for students enrolled in higher education institutions is institutions’ responsibility.

It is necessary that the responsible Institutions for monitoring of law enforcement take legal action on the issue of Diploma recognition / verification, so that this issue ends and in the future students face no more problems of this nature.

For these and other issues addressed in the Report, the Ombudsperson recommended to the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation that:

1. To be committed that the Commissions established by the MESTI complete the entrusted tasks in a reasonable time and the issue of recognition / verification of Diplomas obtained the epilogue, based on applicable legal provisions and in accordance with European standards.
2. To ensure that the Education Inspectorate, as the central executive body, takes all effective actions to oversee implementation of applicable legislation by all Higher Education Providers, until the cessation of the activity, so that the cases of such nature are not repeated.

Full version of the Report can be found at: https://bit.ly/3msOk9U