Is it true that most of Kosovar youngsters think going to university is the only way to get a job? While Kosovo, compared to other European countries, has a higher number of students who go on to university, something seems to be changing.
Students have an increasing interest in attending classes in professional schools, maybe as a faster way of getting “a dignity” job, which they previously thought could be achieved only by going to university.
Faik Salihu, the principal of “Shtjefën Gjeçovi” Professional High School, says that 2016 was the first year when all available spaces for attendance were full. The departments in this school are: metal worker, welder, computer control of vehicles, textile, and road and rail traffic.
Around 33,000 high school graduates have taken the national test in 2016 in Kosovo. In the application opened the very same year, the University of Prishtina enrolled 8,954 students in its first opening, whereas 9,300 students were enrolled in the other public universities of Kosovo. Around 20,000 other students were enrolled in 25 private universities in Kosovo.
According to the data of Kosovo Agency of Statistics (KAS), the overall number of students enrolled in professional high schools in the 2015/16 academic year was 42,600.
At that time Kosovo, had around 60 professional schools that offered several fields of study.
One of them, “Shtjefën Gjeçovi” Professional High School, has around 1,000 pupils. Out of them, 300 are girls and their main interest is the department of textile, but there are also those who are interested in road transport.
There are many pupils who end up employed after finishing the practical work for different companies.
“It is good that the institutions of Kosovo have now realized that we can`t do without professional schools, without underestimating the gymnasiums or other schools,” the principal Salihu says.
The pupils of this school who are in 10th and 11th grade attend classes and complete practice labs at school, whereas those who are in the 12thgrade complete practice in several businesses with which the school has an agreement.
“Since 2000, the school has had different donors and at the moment our donor is Dortmund`s Craftsman Chamber (Handwerkskammer Dortmund), which donated to our school a lot of equipment, and at the time is training 25 pupils whom after 18 months of training will get certificates that are valid in Europe,” Salihu added.
The school has done a research project with the pupils of the generation 2014-2015 who finished the 12th grade, and out of 135 graduates from this school, 95 pupils, respectively 75% of them, ended up employed.
The degree of those who are working age and are part of the working force is 37.8%. The minister of Work and Social Welfare, Arban Abrashi, stated that within the period of January-October 2015 over 15,000 new employees were employed.
Dukagjin Pupovci, executive director of Kosovar Education Center (KEC), says that despite requests in the labor market, the professional schools are not being valued that much.
“They are considered as a place where people who could not enroll in gymnasiums go. Most of them do not go to a professional school by their own will, they go there to get a job,” he says.
Pupovci says that it is schools` duty to prepare pupils of professional schools for work as welders, electricians, plumbers etc., which are needed in the labor market.
However, according to him, the quality of learning is an issue on its own.
“There are pupils who go in those departments, but do not get quality learning and are not able to do their profession. Or they might not go into those departments at all.”
According to him, the fact that most high school pupils further pursue their studies at university is a divergence from the role of the professional schools. The role of these schools is to prepare pupils for the labor market.
Vjollca Sheremetaj, who was a pupil at the professional school in Kijevë and now is a student of the Faculty of Economy at the University of Prishtina, says that enrolling at the university was easier to her because of the basic knowledge she received in high school.
She says that even though the aim of professional schools is to prepare students for the labor market, almost all those who attend professional schools go to university. She does not think that one should go to university if they achieve skills for their profession during high school studies.
But she chose to study, unlike the increasing number of youngsters who are looking forward to get quick access to the labor market.
At the moment, Kosovo has four institutions that are considered to be Competency Centers: one in Skënderaj, one in Malisheva, and two in Prizren. The High School Professional “Shtjefën Gjeçovi” in Prishtina and the Technical School “11Maji” in Prizren are also in the process of becoming Competency Centers.
Liridona Berisha
