The Minister of Education Jeton Shaqiri In an interview with MIA, he said that good examples from other countries should be our direction in improving the quality of education in the country.

The University "St. Cyril and Methodius" in Skopje is on the 1.944th place out of a total of 2.000 Universities in the world in this year's Shanghai ranking list for 2021/2022. Is this data overwhelming and how much?

- We will all have to work in this process if we want to achieve results, starting with students, continuing with professional associates, research associates, assistants, professors, deans, and of course the Ministry of Education and Science and the National Council for Higher Education. Whoever contributes more to this great puzzle, we will have an improvement in the ranking of the world universities. The Ministry of Education and Science should find a way to get involved or pay the co-payment, to find a way where we can be accredited in quality institutions, and also to provide budget funds for that, the universities from their planned budget, which realize , we know that certain institutions have a problem with the budget, they find a way to motivate students and professors from their budget so that they can have additional contributions for who will publish the most influential scientific paper. And let them be ranked, let there be competition for students, I think that way we will have better drivers, so I see this process as a good part in which we should all cooperate.

I think we should expect progress in the coming period, but if we all cooperate, those students who are in Slovenia and those who come from the top ranked universities, who receive scholarships, they have in their contracts the period they studied twice to use for work in our country, this is how I think we will all contribute and we will have to work to be better. Let's use the strategies of other countries and the experiences of the European Union, and I will say one thing: I had the opportunity for the project that was realized in high schools with the British Embassy, ​​I attended a meeting, I used the opportunity, although I talked about other things, I mentioned that our high school students elementary school students who were in that project are creative, they have really good ideas, they are creative, those who study from our country in Slovenia, achieve maximum results, those who complete a degree in our country and continue in other countries, also achieve the best results in their master studies, we also have good students studying in the top ranked universities, and also those students come from our secondary education institutions. That is why this process is cooperation with everyone, and I think that everyone should contribute in order to have a good result.

For several years in a row, the University of Ljubljana, due to the good conditions, has the most foreign students from Northern Macedonia. What concrete steps are you taking to improve the state of education and are you following the example of Ljubljana?

- I never see the process of higher education as a process that can be realized by one party or decisions that will be made by the Ministry of Education and Science. together with him we will open a discussion to prepare a working group for the Law on Higher Education, which will include important institutions that are in the process of quality higher education, such as a quality agency with two boards, the accreditation board, and others. Together with representatives of the Student Union, we can take good examples as a good way to develop our higher education institutions, because in addition to the infrastructure we need to provide part of the budget to realize better infrastructure conditions. You know that in addition to having regular scholarships, we also have a student meal, I think we should invest more in motivating the students and the teaching staff, that way we can work together for better conditions, in terms of teaching, infrastructure projects, but also considering the possibility in different countries, good experiences not only from Slovenia but also from other countries.

We are a small country, which in the process of science should also develop as fast as other processes, but if we take it globally and if we take into account how many universities there are in the world and some of them are not even included in the Shanghai list, even we should make progress, but with mutual cooperation.

This school year, 800 Macedonian citizens enrolled in studies at the University of Ljubljana, do you consider this data a failure?

- Everyone decides for themselves where they want to enroll, I really do not consider it a failure, because our Ministry has contributed to the agreements it has in bilateral cooperation with the Republic of Slovenia. And we are in the phase of preparing staff, we are a small country, every good experience gained both inside and outside if we summarize them all together I think they will make a good contribution in the coming period in our higher education institutions to have better success, we have students coming to us, from Turkey, Albania, even Spain. Young people should decide for themselves, and we should work responsibly to create the best possible conditions. Those who enroll in Slovenia see a good opportunity, every good experience we as a country should use in the coming period.

Do you think that there is a way to bring our students back from Slovenia, in order for what they have learned and experienced to start applying in the country?

-How satisfied are we with how many return? I honestly say that there is a certain number who want and study abroad to contribute to our country, there are those students who graduate, but I will say one thing if we all want to contribute to our country to be better we all need to think, because our work and experience will be more valued if we contribute to our society. We can be 20 or 30 years out of our country to use the experience, but we will always return to our country and every good, everyone who has to contribute and we will all have to work for better conditions, for example, they graduating for IT engineers now have good conditions in our country, we will have to work for better conditions in health, I responsibly say that we will have to work for better conditions in primary, secondary and higher education, because when we have better conditions, and what is expected of us we will have room to expect more of them, to expect them to contribute to our country. I always hope that everyone can achieve the greatest success and the greatest proof in the country they come from.

According to some research, young people believe that corruption and low interest among teachers are the most important factors that negatively affect the education sector, what is your position on that?

-Corruption should not be a word in education, it should not exist, but if there are any of these bad phenomena, I use the opportunity to order students to submit documents anonymously in any sector of the Ministry. Every professor should think that in the higher education process we should give the best conditions and the best opportunities to everyone who wants to go to school, so that we can achieve that if we act responsibly starting from the Government from the Ministry, the best conditions for professors, but it is not only we need to understand things more responsibly, for example the process of realization of the exam, the process of consultation with students, I think that the student voice should come first.

Can there be free higher education in the Republic of Northern Macedonia?

-Currently I do not have the analysis of the budget or the implications, but I can say that we as a Ministry have made an effort to help students with scholarships where the value of scholarships has changed for the better, such as student meals, so we will need in the next period to think about this discussion on your part, we have certain countries where in both private and public, when the state finances when the number of finances is determined and the faculties are also foreseen. It is for a longer-term analysis that I would like to have in that strategy that I have announced several times, in which we will all be involved, we are now in the process of concept, and primary education where after a year we should see the final results , on how it is realized, the final results for the graduating students will be able to see after four or five years. Regarding secondary education, the Law on Secondary Education has not been changed for a long time, a working group has been formed that will have a meeting on the legal changes for secondary education, in addition, we also continue with the changes in higher education, as well as these budget analyzes. will be involved in that strategy, so that there are generally better conditions for students.