Monday, January 2, 2006

Reforms & University

REFORMS AND A CUP OF COFFE IN THE UNIVERSITY OF PRISHTINA

Being trapped in the irony of the massive row of students waiting in the buffet to capture a table and to sit may be for a whole day, Bedri Berisha, student of English and political science departments said “One coffee before the lectures became routine. If the professors will not show up, probably we will continue to have more cups of coffee”.

There are no better places inside this institution, where they can feel more comfort. They spend hours waiting for professors to come and attend as they say “any of these old fashioned lectures”.
Describing the atmosphere in the corridors and buffet of faculties, he added that it’s astonishing to see huge waste of time of students, who are the victims inside this process that doesn’t understand the modern reforms.

University of Pishtina, is the most important institution of higher education in Kosova which involves more than 20,000 students. If these reforms face obstacles constantly than the implementation itself tend to become waste process.

The implementation of reforms in the University of Prishtina are developing slowly by facing constant obstacles, students’ waste of time is the only issue which is moving rapidly and tends to become part of these reforms.
University of Prishtina, in order to receive an endorsement that meets requirements set down in the Bologna Agreement on European Higher Education Area, an agreement to promote the integration, it needs to have successfully implemented educational reforms.

The classrooms are almost every time empty while the buffet is full of students who find this place much more interesting than any other place within the University.
One of the most value elements of our academic institution could have been the images of activities in the first sight of every individual. Unfortunately, every day we see images of students who wonder around, wasting time, because there’s nothing interesting to attract or to engage them in modern studies. This looks like as they are a sort of “The club of American post-war patriots”, Bedri said.

The styles of classrooms have not changed for decades in the sense of providing creative lessons. The only reforms successfully accomplished are new windows, doors and new faces of students that seem to come here for sightseeing. The color of walls is not different from that of the hospitals corridors and the fear is also the same when you happen to see students waiting in front of the professors’ office in order to have an exam. Not a surgical operation!

“This kind of frustration happens very often among the students. I can’t understand this kind of creative methodology of our professors”, said Bedri, after he returned to his flat on the late afternoon. At least he hopes to get some reading lists from their lecturers, so, he can make the study research by himself. He said that he would be satisfied if he can reach and ask his lecturer about any kind of information regarding to the subjects, because most of time the lecturers are not in their working place the University, where they belong. Today he came back from the University with the hope that one day he will meet the professor who was supposed to sign an exam form but haven’t conducted it for three weeks because of unspecified reasons

“They became supermen. They have at least five jobs at the same time. The University is less prior place for them. The reforms should be changed by the people who are involved in Teaching and in Education Institutions. There is only one projector quite old regarding to modern technology. And if it happens to have classes with the help of this equipment in order to present the lectures, they lose at least half of the lecture’s time just to make it function,” he added.

“I’m trying to escape from this reality. I think that it is the University’s responsibility to replace such images with different lectures and exams method, modern classrooms and computers rooms where student can have an access to study and explore more on science knowledge”, he said. “Time consuming in these environment can happen if the University authorities establish a coffee machines in every corner, so, it will prevent a huge crowd of students who eagerly wait in faculties buffet “.

Mr. Berisha wakes up every morning at ten o’clock in the morning and than goes to University, where he can meet friends and sometimes of course attend the lectures. He often comes back at his rented flat saying to his roommates that today he had five coffees and a nice time in faculty.

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