How can the University Student Assembly of the University "Sts. Cyril and Methodius" help the university to be on the Shanghai List? Is the reconstruction of the student dormitories "Kuzman Josifovski - Pitu" and "Stiv Naumov" expected to improve student standards? How can USS UKIM help solve student problems? We talk to Aleksandar Nikolovski, president of the University Student Assembly, at the University "Sts. Cyril and Methodius".

According to UNESCO, January 24 is a day dedicated to education, or World Education Day. With the president of USS UKIM, we made a comparison between state and private universities.

– I would say that private universities are more organized in terms of teaching and the system because they are much smaller, digitalization and internationalization, as is the case with the "International Balkan University" and the "Slavic University". However, according to the rankings from the Ministry of Education, they lag behind the quality provided by state universities – said Nikolovski, adding that UKIM could improve in the field of digitalization and internationalization.

When asked how prepared our education system is to include regular practical classes in the academic program, the President of USS UKIM responded that in his opinion, they should have mandatory practical classes.

-Certain faculties already have practical teaching, such as the Medical and Biotechnical Faculties, within the framework of the study program itself. But practical teaching, such as visits to companies or a whole semester of practice, is still missing. I believe that this should be included as a mandatory requirement - he added.

We also discussed student problems such as the phenomenon of "losing exam applications" by student services, as well as the failure of professors to show up for exams or colloquiums. Nikolovski stated that the student education department was not notified of such cases, that is, they did not receive such applications.

– No such complaint has reached the USS UKIM, nor has the student ombudsman, and often when there are problems in studies, they do not contact us on a daily basis. I am not familiar with such a case, but I am not sure that it is very common and that among many students at many faculties out of 22 thousand students, a large percentage of applications are lost, because we have not received such reports – he said.