Skopje, 27 October 2025 (MIA) – The future of society and the country is closely tied to the quality of higher education, which is why it is essential to take action, not just discuss, but to collectively participate in improving its quality, said Minister of Education and Science Vesna Janevska at the first annual Quality in Higher Education Forum held on Monday by the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University (UKIM) in Skopje.

The goal of the event is to present the University’s efforts in implementing a new system for monitoring quality and achievements in the field of quality assurance and enhancement, in line with national standards and those of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA). A particularly important component of the forum, according to UKIM, is strengthening cooperation between academia and the business community to create a more aligned and relevant educational system.

In a statement to the media, Minister Janevska said higher education is an important focus for the government, noting that the budget for science has been increased from Mden 380 million to Mden 680 million, and that the government has paid for free access for Macedonian researchers to two major scientific databases (Web of Science and Scopus). She also said the monitoring of universities has been increased.

“We are working on a new education strategy, and for the first time in Macedonia, there is serious commitment from both the government and the University to establish the country’s first science and technology park. I assure you that we remain partners with universities, faculties, and other institutions to improve the quality of higher education. We actively worked on two new laws on higher education and scientific research. But laws written on paper alone cannot improve quality or elevate our universities on the Shanghai Ranking. If we respect the laws, which we must adopt together with the academic community that helped draft them, we will achieve much more than what we currently have, and that is our goal for the future,” Janevska said.

The Minister called professors to jointly undertake “the difficult reforms in higher education”.

“I ask them to actively engage in everything – to write papers, help with the digitization, foster quality in their institutions, apply for Horizon projects, create dual degrees, network, work within the European research area. All of this needs to be done – not just to climb the Shanghai Ranking, which is the smaller effect – but to make a serious impact on society and help our country get where it belongs, to ensure European standards and adapt study programs to prepare students for the labor market,” Janevska said.

UKIM rector Biljana Angelova said that over the past year and a half, the University has worked intensively on this process, noting that quality management is one of their three strategic priorities, alongside digitization and internationalization.

For the current 2025/2026 academic year, Angelova said new metrics have been introduced to be tracked in the coming period – number of published papers with impact factor, number of international project applications, and mobility figures for both students and professors – as indicators for monitoring internationalization.

Photo: MIA