Skopje, 22 February 2025 (MIA) — Despite state scholarships for physics students of Mden 18,000 per month, the state university's Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics enrolls so few first-year students in its Geophysics and Meteorology Program that there are not enough meteorologists in the country to replace those who are retiring. 

According to Vlado Spiridonov, a full professor of meteorology at the Institute of Physics and currently the only professor who teaches meteorological subjects at the undergraduate and postgraduate level, the country is facing a serious shortage of meteorology experts. 

"Many experienced staff are about to retire," Spiridonov told MIA. "We need to urgently increase interest in these studies and create new employment opportunities for young staff."

Between 2021 and 2024, he said, only two students graduated and one student completed their postgraduate studies, receiving a master's degree in Physics and Meteorology. 

In the current 2024-25 academic year, only one first-year student enrolled in the Geophysics and Meteorology Program, despite the student quota being 15, with five of them offered co-financing.

Spiridonov said it was concerning that the interest in studying meteorology was this low.

Currently, he said, the program had only three undergraduates; and five postgraduates were enrolled in the new master's program in Atmospheric Physics and Meteorology. 

That not many are interested in studying meteorology is related to the few employment options, he said, noting that even institutions that need meteorologists were not hiring them.

"In the past, a large number of meteorology graduates used to be hired by the relevant institutions immediately after graduation. However, there was also a generation of graduates who had difficulties in finding employment, because there were no open positions at the time of their graduation. This forced them to look for alternative professional opportunities outside of meteorology," Spiridonov said.

As the only university professor of meteorology in the country, Spiridonov has been making efforts, especially through social networks and media appearances, to promote meteorology studies.

To make the study program more attractive to new students, he said, besides introducing interdisciplinary subjects, the classrooms and labs needed modernizing. Also, the program needed funding for its scientific research projects.

Asked for comment, the Ministry of Education and Science told MIA that, in line with their competences, the incentive they were able to provide was the state scholarship for physics students, which is Mden 18,000 given over the nine months of the academic year.

"But it is obvious that changes in the study programs are also needed," the Ministry of Education said.

"Of course, we expect a proposal from the higher education institutions, which are autonomous and decide their curricula." mr/