PUBLIC UNIVERSITY OF MITROVICA “ISA BOLETINI

Transcription

PUBLIC UNIVERSITY OF MITROVICA
“ISA BOLETINI”
INSTITUTIONAL AND PROGRAM
EVALUATION
REPORT OF THE REVIEW PANEL
PREPARED FOR THE
KOSOVO ACCREDITATION AGENCY
13-14 MAY 2014, MITROVICA
FORWORD
This Institutional and Programs Evaluation Report of Public University of
Mitrovica “Isa Boletini” (PUM) is prepared by the Experts Team (ET)
selected by the Kosovo Accreditation Agency (KAA). It is based on the
information obtained from the Self Evaluation Report submitted by PUM
in 2013, interviews made with the Rector, Vice Rectors, academic and
administrative staffs and students and the additional documents and
information provided by PUM.
ET members shared the institutional standards and the programs to be
evaluated among themselves with respect to their expertise. Programs
in concern were evaluated by the two members of the ET last year while
they were operating as branch Faculties of the University of Pristina.
Now, as they are part of the newly established PUM, they are reevaluated and thus held accountable of the recommendations made last
year when they were evaluated for the first time.
On the first day of the site visit program, ET was hosted by the KAA and
the site visit to PUM took place on the second day, 14 May 2014. ET
would like to thank for the hospitality provided by both institutions and
also the cooperation and sincere answers given by the PUM authorities
during the interviews.
Experts Team
Prof. Dr. Hasan Ali Bicak (Chair)
Prof. Dr. Andreas Mehrle
Prof. Dr. Erwin Bratengeyer
Ms. Anca Prisacariu
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FORWORD ............................................................................................................2
1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................4
1.1 Context .......................................................................................................4
1.2. A Brief Overview of PUM .........................................................................5
2. INSTITUTIONAL EVALUATION .........................................................................6
2.1 Mission Statement .....................................................................................6
2.2 Academic Freedom ....................................................................................7
2.3 Academic Programs and Student Management ........................................8
2.4 Research...................................................................................................14
2.5 International Cooperation .......................................................................15
2.6 Staff ..........................................................................................................16
2.7 Organization, Management and Planning ...............................................18
2.8 Finances and Infrastructure/Space and Equipment ................................19
2.9 Quality Management ...............................................................................20
3. PROGRAM EVALUATIONS............................................................................21
3.1 General.....................................................................................................22
3.1.1. Academic Program and Student Management................................22
3.1.2. Staff ..................................................................................................25
3.1.3. Research and International Co-operation .......................................26
3.1.4. Finances and Infrastructure/Space and Equipment ........................26
3.1.5. Quality Management .......................................................................27
3.2. BSc. Engineering Informatics (re-accreditation) .....................................27
3.3. MSc. Engineering Informatics (re-accreditation) ....................................28
3.4. BSc. Economic Engineering (re-accreditation) ........................................28
3.5. BSc. Industrial Machinery (re-accreditation) ..........................................30
3.6. MSc. Production Technology (re-accreditation) .....................................31
4. OVERALL EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATION TO KAA ...........................32
APPENDIX ...........................................................................................................34
1. List of Documents and Information Requested from PUM .......................34
2. List of Recommendations (Institutional)....................................................36
3. List of Recommendations (Programs) ........................................................39
INSTITUTIONAL AND PROGRAM EVALUATION REPORT OF
THE
PUBLIC UNIVERSITY OF MITROVICA
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Context
Institutional and Program Evaluation of the Public University of
Mitrovica (PUM) carried out by the Expert Team has the following basic
information.
Date of site visit: 14 May 2014
Expert Team (ET) members




Prof. Dr. Hasan Ali Bicak, Cyprus International University, (Chair of ET)
Prof. Dr. Erwin Bratengeyer, Danube University, Krems
Prof. Dr. Andreas Mehrle, MCI Management Centre, Innsbruck
Ms. Anca Prisacariu, University of Bucharest.
Coordinators from Kosovo Accreditation Agency (KAA)
Mag. Basri Muja, Director, KAA
Mr. Fisnik Gashi, Officer for Evaluation and Monitoring, KAA
Sources of information for the Report


Self-Evaluation Report (SER) submitted by the PUM
Information obtained during the site visit
Meetings with Rector, Vice Rectors, academic and administrative
staff, and students
 Additional documents and information requested by the ET from
PUM. The list of the requested documents and information is given
in the Appendix.
Criteria used for institutional and program evaluations


Guidelines for experts for institutional evaluation (KAA)
Guidelines for experts for academic programs evaluation (KAA)
Academic Programs of PUM evaluated (re – accredited)
Faculty of Mechanical and Computer Engineering Programs
Department of Engineering Informatics
Engineering Informatics (Bachelor)
Engineering Informatics (Master)
Department of Industrial Machinery
Industrial Machinery (Bachelor)
Economic Engineering (Bachelor)
Production Technology (Master)
In its institutional and programs evaluation of PUM, ET made a division
of labour among themselves and shared the standards of institutional
evaluation and the programs to be evaluated with regard to their areas
of expertise. Prof. Bratengeyer, and Prof. Mehrle evaluated the programs
at the Faculty of Mechanical and Computer Engineering, while
Bratengeyer was focusing at the two programs of the Department of
Engineering Informatics and Mehrle was focusing at the three programs
of the Department of Industrial Machinery. Prof. Bicak and Ms. Prisacariu
shared the standards involving the institutional evaluation with Prof.
Bicak taking 2.1, 2.2, 2.4, 2.6, and 2.8 as listed in the Table of Contents,
while Ms. Prisacariu addressed issues involving 2.3, 2.5, 2.7, and 2.9.
Programs at the , Faculty of Mechanical and Computer Engineering were
evaluated by Prof. Bratengeyer and Prof. Mehrle last year, respectively,
when they were operating as branch Faculties of the University of Pristina
in Mitrovica. With the establishment of the PUM and starting education
at the beginning of 2013-2014 Academic Year, these Faculties formed the
main pillars of the newly established University. Thus, in this sense they
are re-evaluated and are held accountable for implementing the
recommendations made by the ET in their previous evaluations, last year.
1.2. A Brief Overview of PUM
The first education on mining, technology and metallurgy had started
with the Technical High School of Mitrovica 1961 and continued with
setting up the Technical Faculty and Faculty of Mining and Metallurgy in
1974 within the University of Pristina. Assembly of Kosovo decided to
have the Faculty of Mining and Metallurgy (FMM) in Mitrovica in 1974
and also added the Geology Programs in 1981. In 1991, the Albanian
academic staff and students expelled from FMM in Mitrovica continued
their education in the Elementary School of Mitrovica with 1,299
students with the same programs as FMM. During the war in Kosovo
(1990 – 1999) they had very difficult times.
In years 2001, 2004 and 2007 Senate of the University of Pristina
approved the curriculum revisions and renaming of the FMM as Faculty
of Geosciences and Technology in 2011. The land allocated by the Kosovo
Government in 2010 was the main step in the establishment of the new
Public University of Mitrovica “Isa Boletini” (PUM) in 2012. The Faculty of
Geosciences and Technology offering education as a branch Faculty of
University of Pristina, is organized under 3 Faculties and started offering
education within the new PUM, from 2013-2014 academic year onwards.
These 3 Faculties are the Faculty of Food Technology offering 3
undergraduate and 3 masters programs, Faculty of Geosciences offering
5 undergraduate and 6 masters programs and Faculty of Mechanical and
Engineering offering 3 undergraduate and 2 masters programs. Apart
from these programs, PUM is offering Law, Banking Finance and
Accounting, Management and Informatics, Pre-School Education, and
Elementary School Education programs as well. Currently, PMU is
offering 16 undergraduate and 11 master’s program in total.
2. INSTITUTIONAL EVALUATION
Institutional evaluation considers 9 sub headings through which the
administration, organization and management of the university, and
teaching and education are assessed. For every standard and substandard guideline are given in order to assure the consistency of the
evaluations by different Experts Team members.
2.1 Mission Statement
All of the stakeholders, internal and external are aware of the strategic
importance of the Public University of Mitrovica “Isa Boletini” and the
mission attached to it. PUM is expected to fulfil the mission of “teaching
and learning”, “research” and “contribute to the economy and the
society” as stated in the SER and in the interviews by the Rector of the
University. It is said that this mission is assigned in the Laws Establishing
the PUM. Their activities are in line to fulfil this mission.
As the main stakeholder, the Government and the Minister of Education
both attaches great importance to PUM and they allocated 1.6 m. Euros
to initiate a new Campus on 15 hectares of land for the University with a
total budget of 14 m Euros for the whole project, to be completed within
2-3 years. Independent Commission for Mines and Minerals (ICMM) who
has donated all of their equipment to Geosciences Faculty is another
important stakeholder of the University together with the other
employers. University of Pristina is supporting PUM in all respects and
provides academic staff for disciplines that PUM is in need. All of the
external stakeholders have great expectations from the University and
together with the internal stakeholders are well aware of the aims and
the objectives of the new PUM.
In spite of the awareness of the aims, objectives and mission of the PUM
in a broad sense, PUM lacks a well written aims, objectives and any
mission or a vision statement for the PUM. Faculties and Departments
also do not have any mission statement which is expected to be
consistent with the mission statement of the University. Three pages of
“Mission and Strategic Planning” document submitted to ET, upon the
request of ET is far from meeting the requirements of a decent strategic
plan both in content and process. There is no mention of how this 3 page
Strategic Plan is formed, whether the stakeholders’ inputs were taken
and if it made use of an SWAT analysis. Furthermore, the content does
not list any major goals with objectives as how to achieve them. There
are no key performance indicators to assess the implementations and
also no action plan supported by the required budget.
The mission statement to be formed for PUM must consult to all of its
external stakeholders and after the process is completed should be
communicated to all of its stakeholders. The mission statement is
expected to be written in such a care that it should guide all of the
decisions concerning teaching and learning, research and community
engagement. It must guide upper administration in their decisions in
making choices among alternatives.
ET recommends PUM to:
1. Write its mission and vision statements through a proper process
mainly consulting the external and internal stakeholders and
disseminating them appropriately.
2. Make a strategic plan through incorporating the views of all
stakeholders, making use of its SWAT analysis and making sure that it
contains the key performance indicators and an action plan supported
by a budget.
3. Ensure that Faculties and Departments make their own strategic plans
and write mission and vision statements that should be consistent
with those of the University.
2.2 Academic Freedom
PUM is established with the decision of the Government of Kosovo and
the approval of the Parliament on 6th March 2013 and it had its first
cohort of students on 1st September of the same year. It is established by
Law and it has its own Statute. However, as it was not in English, it was
not made available to the ET and also s summary was not made available
either, in spite it was asked among the documents/information
requested through KAA.
Considering that University of Pristina is supporting and assisting the
establishment process of the PUM, ET expects that the Statutes of PUM
has all the relevant structures of a university and defines the duties and
responsibilities of all academic and administrative units and their
positions.
The Interim Governing Council of PUM with a total 9 member appointed
by the Minister of Education Science and Technology (MEST) will select
the Rector and vice Rectors (listed by the Rector) in consultation with the
MEST. Currently, the Rector and vice Rectors are interim operating as
Acting Rector and Acting vice Rectors.
The revised organization chart provided by the University is unexpectedly
does not quite fit to the information provided during the interviews. The
University Senate reporting directly to Interim Governing Council cannot
be accepted. University Senate being an academic organ must report to
the Rector. Deans are directly attached to the Rector and not through the
vice Rectors. This is expected to take a substantial amount time of the
Rector and result in inefficiencies in the administration of the University,
especially as the number of students, academic staff with new programs
and department heads and deans increase. Furthermore, it is not
appropriate that the Office for Academic Development and Quality
reporting to Secretary General rather than the Vice Rector Responsible
from Quality Assurance.
During the interviews ET did not have any impression of any restriction
on academic research that academic staffs are interested in carrying out.
Apart from the academic freedom, the process of employing academic
staff starts at the Department and ends at the University Senate without
any intervention by external stakeholders.
1. Revise its Organization Chart to reflect the structures of the PUM as
indicated in its Statute.
2.3 Academic Programs and Student Management
Academic Programs
In its Mission and Strategic Plan document, PUM states its mission as
“University of Mitrovica "Isa Boletini" (UMIB) shall create prepared cadre
for the labour market, respectively for technical sciences, education,
economics, juristic for the fields through which Kosovo even the region
will increase the competitiveness abilities, level of education as well as
other aspects.” Even though this mission implies strong connections and
dialogue of the university with the labour market, the ET found no
evidence of formal external stakeholders’ consultation regarding the
programmes management. We therefore underline the importance of
formal procedures as a background for the consultations between the
university and external stakeholders; such dialogue is of crucial
importance when referring to the level to which academic programs are
responding to societal needs.
If the additional documents related to the academic programs that the
ET requested from PUM would have been complete, approved official
documents, translated in English or not completely missing, the review
report could have been more useful in enhancing the quality of teaching
and learning.
After the interviews during the site visit and after consulting the
programs’ documents the ET could notice that the institution does not
have a formalised policy/background for ECTS calculation while
individuals do not know how the credits are correlated with workload
and how does a discipline end with a certain number of credits.
Therefore, the ET believes that it is difficult even for the institution itself
and teachers as individuals to judge if the ECTS points are allocated in an
appropriate and comprehensive way.
Another observation that the ET can make related to the study
programmes management is that learning outcomes were not available
in the self-evaluation documentation and they were not provided to ET
among the supplementary documents. ET recommends PUM to
formulate learning outcomes for the programme level as well, as a big
picture of the learning outcomes is crucial, providing the view of the
training a student gets as a whole, not broken down by disciplines.
Regarding the learning outcomes formulated at subject level (ex. 96, 104,
107, 108, 109, etc), the ET could notice that they are merely technical,
while the view of education as a means of building citizens and characters
for a democratic society is completely ignored. Therefore, ET
recommends PUM to consider including learning outcomes aiming at
transversal competencies for students: team work, critical spirit, time
management, etc.
Bearing this in mind, next to the lack of ECTS calculations and
implementation and other shortcomings the ET could observe, ET
recommends PUM to establish a teacher training department at
university level, instrument that will undoubtedly support PUM enhance
the quality of its education, which was also an expressed wish by some
of the interviewees during the site visit. Secondly, the teacher training
department would also provide for a capacity building instrument in ECTS
implementation.
Student Management
a. Scholarships
Even though the SER states that “PUM has awarded scholarships to
students who have achieved GPA of over 8.5”, no further details about
the existence of a fully working scholarship system inside PUM were
provided (criteria, number of scholarships, number of beneficiaries,
amount of scholarship, methodology etc.). Therefore, ET recommends
PUM to establish a consistent scholarship system which will equally take
into account two categories of scholarships: first type – academic
scholarships – have the objective to support and encourage excellence
and social performance and therefore should be offered taking into
account academic results. The second type – social scholarships – should
not take into account academic performance since their purpose is to
facilitate the access, progress and completion of higher education studies
for students coming from fragile groups and should therefore be offered
to students who need them from the socio-economical background point
of view. Even if study fees are somehow accessible, there is a whole list
of other expenses that a student from rural areas, for example, would
need to cover in order to come to study in Mitrovica.
b. Social dimension
Except for the scholarship system, further discussion is needed on the
way in which the institution takes into account equality regarding the
access and progression of studies.
However, there are some inconsistencies in institutions practices when
we talk about equity and equality, therefore ET recommends PUM to:
 Take into account in its policies, regulations and practices that not all
students have the same academic level by designing supportive
instruments for students with special learning needs (both for
excellent students, as well as for underperforming). According to PISA
results that consistently show that socio-economic disadvantage is
linked to poor student performance1 the social background students
have is of great importance.
1
http://oecdeducationtoday.blogspot.ro/2013/02/making-education-moreequitable.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed
%3A+EducationtodayBlog+%28educationtoday+blog%29
 Provide a student counselling service organized in a specialized centre
with personnel trained for this purpose. This centre should also be
prepared to socially assist/guide students during their studies, not
only provide career advice
 Assure access in all the buildings of the institution for students with
disabilities
ET recommends PUM to also take a close look into the segment of the
population that faces socio - economic barriers and cannot enter or
graduate higher education by firstly collecting data about the social
profile of its students; secondly, the data will be later on used as a
background for decision in designing instruments that facilitate access,
progress and completion of higher education studies for students coming
from disadvantaged groups.
c. Participation in the decision making process
Students are generally members of institution’s decision making bodies,
as stated in the SER. However, when asking about this election process,
1 out of 8 students knew some details about the student representation
process. Moreover, it is the impression of the ET that it is the Students
office (see organisation chart) the main body in charge of student
activities and representation.
Given the need of involving students in all institution’s processes and
also considering that there is a national statement that there is need for
improvement of the student movement in Kosovo, ET recommends
PUM to:

Organise an independent election process for all decision making
bodies by a structure that is not part of the university
organogram, but a separate student body, preferably having their
own legal entity. Students, as partners and equal members of the
academic community can responsibly organise and represent
themselves.

Drafting the exact rights, responsibilities and obligations for
students’ representatives which would include forms of
consultation as well as dissemination processes. This part should
also include the specifications according to which the elections
deploy and the students’ representatives’ mandates can end.

Organising the election process in such a matter that every
student that holds a position in a structure (no matter its type)
would be elected by all the students according to the level of that
certain structure (e.g. Students in the Senate and Senate
Committees would be elected by all the students at institution
level; the same rule is applied for lower levels). We mention that
this mechanism will increase the legitimacy of the elected
representatives. An independent student body can organise this
process every university year and promote the possibility to vote
and to be voted to the general public.

Defining the length of the mandate for each one of these
positions.

Mentioning the exact percentage students have in all decision
making bodies, as general rule. An independent student body can
organise a desk research and notice that general practice across
Europe is for students to have 25% - 30% - 33% - 50% in decision
making bodies and committees, depending on their level and
profile.

Drafting an elections regulation that contains all the stated above.
The document should be drafted by the an independent student
body and, if they consider necessary, adopted as internal
document of the institution
d. Students’ feedback
There are two types of questionnaires that the institution applies:
questionnaire for course and faculty evaluation and a second one for
student satisfaction:
Regarding the course and faculty evaluation ET recommends PUM to go
through a reform in regards to the methodology of course evaluation and
faculty so that this process can actually reach a part of the purpose
defined by in the strategic plan “Creating a comprehensive system on
monitoring and assuring quality”. Among other aspects, this
recommendation should be achieved through:
 Better promoting the instrument so that all the students know about
it and consider it a quality enhancing mechanism
 Rephrasing the questions/adding new questions that refer to student
feedback and contribution in classrooms. When we say that we refer
to questions like: are the students given the chance to contribute to
course objectives/general themes? Can students influence the
calendar and assessment form? Are students asked for feedback at the
end of the class/semester? Are students offered feedback about their
results, grades, evolution at the course?
 It was not clear to the ET if and how (or who) analyses the data
obtained after distributing the questionnaire. Anyway, the ET would
recommend publishing the results in a form that the institution can
decide later on, that can be individual or a centralized report. The fact
that the results are not public, may affect students’ motivation to
participate and actively contribute to the process again.
 Rethink the methodology as a whole in terms of completion of a PDCA
cycle: plan the complex instructions of the instrument’s use, apply the
questionnaire, check the results obtained and finally integrate the
improvement suggestions. Moreover, we recommend the Quality
Assurance Office to design this tool in a way that allows checking to
which level individual teachers have integrated the recommendations
that were discussed in the previous course evaluation round in their
own teaching practice. This would again enhance students’ trust in the
efficiency of the process.
Under student management title we would also like to integrate some of
the experts’ findings during the site visit or consulting the documents of
the institution:
-
When analysing the optional disciplines percentage in the
curriculums, we could notice that students only have too few
disciplines to choose from. We consider this approach a very
narrow one and therefore ET recommends PUM to provide a
wider range of electives that students can choose from in order
to provide them a diverse number of choices. We recommend the
institution to allow and promote the internal mobility instrument
so that students can select courses that are already organized in
the other faculties. For example, in the curriculum situation,
students would choose courses from any of the study
programmes and then get them recognized via ECTS system.
-
Anti-plagiarism measures
During the site visit, the ET learned that there are no measures to
prevent plagiarism for bachelor and master thesis. ET
recommends PUM to implement a software mechanism in order
to prevent theft of intellectual property for all the bachelor and
master thesis; on a short term, the institution can implement an
instrument like a statement of authenticity that every student will
have to fill in and sign when submitting the paper to the
institution. This instrument implies that the student declares on
his/her responsibility that the paper is original, under the laws of
Kosovo against intellectual theft and plagiarism.
-
Diploma supplement as well as many other documents and
regulations of the institution still belong to the University of
Pristina. Therefore, ET recommends PUM to act according to its
new statute, which is an independent legal entity. Moreover, it
was even expressed by the interviewees during the site visit that
PUM should more rapidly head towards their autonomy from
University of Pristina and act responsibly as university.
-
Looking again in the data collection sector, the ET recommends
PUM to establish an instrument of graduates tracking which
would analyse if the graduates get employed in their field of
study, if their salary expectations were met, time necessary for
graduates to get employed after finishing the studies. Secondly,
the institution will also use collecting some data regarding the
number of students that graduate in normal time and those who
need additional time. Thirdly, when talking about the relationship
with the labour market, the university would use implementing a
survey for external stakeholders that will provide data regarding
the usefulness of the study programmes. All these data collection
processes will, of course be fed back into the system and will allow
for an in depth analysis on whether the programmes successfully
respond to societal changes, students’ and labour market’s needs
and diversity.
2.4 Research
As noted earlier in section 2.1 the PUM does not have a mission
statement that would enlighten the ET as to what level of research the
academic staff are expected to carry out. Are they expected to contribute
to the literature by publishing in top journals or are they going to do
research just to be current in they teach in the classes?
Furthermore, PUM does not have any policy document on research that
would outline the expectations of the upper administration and would
outline the incentives to carry out research. From the interviews, ET was
told that there were no clear, consistent incentives for carrying out
research. Those who carry out research and publish are not entitled to
have reduced teaching workload and the compensation for attending to
a conference abroad was not guaranteed. From time to time academic
staff attending to conferences abroad could be financed partially.
The only incentive for carrying out research is to promote. An academic
staff is expected to publish and promote in 3 years’ time, otherwise
there is the possibility that his contract may not be renewed.
There is no incentive for academic staff to carry out research or provide
services to an external organization (firm) as the payment accrued goes
to the Ministry of Education. There is no revolving fund through which an
academic staff would be paid at least partially for his services (research
as well) to the external organizations irrespective whether it is a public or
private organization. Academic staff providing services to the
Independent Commission for Mines and Minerals is not paid for their
services some of which may involve research. Academic staff integrates
such research to their courses and get students involved as well.
ET could assess neither the quality nor the quantity of the research and
publications carried out by the academic staff at the PUM. A list of
publications was submitted to the ET among the requested documents
and information, but there were no indication whether such publications
were owned by the academic staff of PUM or the University of Pristina.
1. Write a policy document for research that would outline the
incentives for carrying out research by the academic staff.
2. Put every effort to change the Law on Revolving Fund in order to
enable academic staff to have part of the revenue accrued from the
services provided to external organizations.
2.5 International Cooperation
Taking into account the data presented in the self-evaluation as well as
information obtained during the site visit, the ET can state that PUM has
been increasingly developing actions in the field of internationalization:
scientific publications and exchange of experiences and cooperation with
researchers at abroad, international agreements and cooperation, USAID
funded projects, memorandums of cooperation, publications in scientific
international journals, projects for international cooperation in the area
of teaching and research (Tempus, Erasmus), as well as some other
international initiatives.
However, mobility segment seems to be quite low. The ET cannot fully
assess the international cooperation in teaching and research given the
fact that a list of students and academic staff involved in international
exchange for the past 3 years (incoming and outgoing) that the ET
requested and was not provided. We recommend the institution to
strongly intensify its efforts on this emerging issue taking into account
the effort the entire Europe is making in regard to the
internationalization of higher education. We would like to remind PUM
that there are a large series of projects that can be accessed by the
institution in order to increase student and staff mobility, as long as there
is a serious intention in this regard and also continuous effort for
improvement. The institution should also take into account the fact that
the academic community inside PUM would also see the institution
focused on a more European direction, as expressed by the interviewees
during the site visit.
1. Raise the level of mandatory English courses.
2. Offer the possibility for students to attend regular courses of the
curriculum but thought in English, which would have more ECTS
credits. This might probably stimulate students to learn the same
disciplines they normally have in the curriculum but with a greater
workload due to English difficulty.
3. Encourage intensive English courses for the teaching staff
4. Increase international cooperation of all types not only in the region,
but on a larger scale across the globe, especially given the focus that
the internalisation segment has in PUM mission, vision and strategic
plan.
2.6 Staff
During the interviews with the Rector, ET was told that currently, for the
2013-2014 academic year, PUM has 70 regular academic staff and 40
part-time while the number of administrative staff was 36 and the total
number of registered students was 2,400. Student number in the
previous academic year was 1,800. The statistics provided in SER and in
the documents given to ET later, did not enable ET to have a better
understanding of the number of student and academic staff when the
Faculties were branches of the University of Pristina and the current year.
There is no formal induction process for the new academic staff
employed and there is no handbook for the academic staff. When new
academic staffs is recruited he is expected to read the Statute and other
relevant Rules and Regulations in order to familiarize himself/herself
about his duties, responsibilities and rights at the University. Sometimes
this process is carried out informally by the Head of Department and
peers.
It is noted by the academic staff that the 70 regular academic staff at
PUM is composed of 16 full professors, 15 associate professors and 19
assistant professors while the rest (20) are the teaching assistants. A
regular professor is expected to teach 6 hrs./week, while the teaching
assistants would teach 10 hrs./week. An academic staff having excess
teaching workload is paid for the excess workload up to the 5 hrs./week.
Vice Rectors, and Deans have no teaching responsibility. This amount of
teaching workloads could only be seen at the research universities. PUM
being more of a teaching university with limited research capacity must
assign more teaching workload to its academic staff. Vice Rectors and
Deans are also expected to teach with a reduced teaching workload.
In spite of the low teaching workloads of the regular academic staff at the
PUM, University of Pristina is supporting the PUM in providing academic
staff in the fields that PUM has deficiencies. This is a great opportunity
for PUM in assuring the sustainability of its academic staff requirements.
PUM carries out surveys among its students in order to assess their
satisfaction from the institution in various aspects, such as the services
given to them, infrastructure, and social activities provided etc.
Unfortunately there is no evidence that PUM giving surveys to students
at the end of the semesters for each course being thought in order to
assess the course and the academic staff. PUM supplied a blank student
survey assessing the course and the academic staff when requested
through the KAA, but still no evidence of its being implemented was
communicated. This is a great opportunity missed through which, the
course could be improved and also the teaching effectiveness of the
academic staff could be enhanced with the right policies and their
implementations.
From time to time Ministry of Education is giving pedagogical courses to
mainly the new academic staff of the Universities. This implementation
has very limited impact as the topic is limited to introductory issues.
Universities must have their own “Instructional Development Centres” to
provide workshops and seminars in specified areas to enhance the
teaching effectiveness of their academic staff who are rated relatively
lower in the students’ surveys.
PUM does not have a written and shared “criteria for academic
performance assessment”. Upper administrators assess their academic
staff but this assessment appears to be not based on any set criteria and
the assessment is not transparent.
Recruitment of the academic staff starts at the Department through
identifying the need and the specific field of study of the academic staff
to be recruited. The Department selecting the right candidate among the
applicants, makes its proposal to the Senate where it is decided which
candidate is to be recruited.
1. Develop a formal induction process and a handbook for the academic
staff recruited.
2. Reconsider its academic staffs’ workload policies as to increase the
teaching workloads of its academic staff and assign teaching
workloads to all academic administrative staff with the exception of
the Rector.
3. Carry out student surveys at the end of each course in order to
assess the course and the teaching effectiveness of academic staff.
4. Establish an Instructional Developments Centre to organize
workshops and seminars in order to increase the teaching
effectiveness of the academic staff.
5. Introduce criteria for the assessment of academic staff performance.
2.7 Organization, Management and Planning
The decision-making structures for governance, management and
administration matters seem to work transparently and close to the rest
of the academic community. However, confusing information comes
from the quality assurance related structures and regulations.
The initial self – evaluation documents that ET was provided did not
include a mission, vision and strategic plan as the ET could also notice the
difficulty the university management had in giving clarifications about
these concepts. Even though PUM has put together a Strategic Plan
which was also distributed to the ET members as additional document
after the site visit, it is not yet clear how and when exactly was this
document produced: if it did imply an in depth consultation of the
academic community, if it was adopted by a management body, if it is
based on the current actions, funding and plans of the management
bodies, if it was internally communicated to all the interested parties
inside the institution, if it involved a SWOT analysis of the internal and
external environment and a PEST analysis, if it is based on former version
of a development plan (even as a branch of University of Pristina) etc.
Our impression after consulting the institution’s documents and
interviewing the management of PUM is that the Strategic Plan provided
does not completely correspond to the institution's overall aims and
funding plans, but rather fits the purposes of the evaluation procedure
and the areas the experts team showed interest in. ON the other hand,
PUM seems to have difficulties in designing appropriate tools and
mechanisms that would help the institution reach its aims and finally
develop the areas in need for improvement as defined in the Strategic
Plan, as well as identifying new areas in need of improvement.
As expressed in other parts of the report, it is the impression of the ET
that the institution has a difficult time in finding its responsibility as an
independent institution. This conclusion was also suggested by some of
the interviewees which considered that PUM does not act and feel
autonomous; this can also be concluded when analysing the documents
and policies of the institution, some of the structure and even the image
identity of PUM.
1. Disseminate the mission and the vision of the institution to the entire
academic community
2. Adapt the current strategic plan to institution's overall aims and
funding plans, as well as to areas in need of improvement, as
suggested by the ET. The revision process of the strategic plan is to be
done in cooperation with the academic community, students and
external stakeholders.
3. Accelerate the adaptation process to the independent institution
status PUM currently has, including decision making, regulations,
image identity etc.
2.8 Finances and Infrastructure/Space and Equipment
As mentioned in the previous section, Government of Kosovo has
reserved 14 m. Euro in order to cover all the infrastructure and
equipment expenditures of PUM. The new Campus building is going to
have a 25,000 sq. m. closed area, while currently they have only 6,000 sq.
m. They charge negligible amount of tuition fees to the students which
does not add up to cover the budget of the PUM. PUM being a “public
university” its budget is guaranteed by the Government.
Current building appears to serve to 2,400 students at its capacity limits
with small and big classes serving up to 80 and 120 students. Students
complained about the classes as being cold in winter and hot in summer.
Sometimes in winter when it gets very cold, academic staff offers tea to
the students.
They have two very small libraries with very limited number of
publications on the 2rd and 3rd floors. It is open between 8.00 and 20.00
and free space for students to study is very small. The librarian is not a
professional librarian and assistants are also inexperienced in library
activities.
The laboratories were equipped with new computers and other
instruments and well organized. The equipment donated by the
Independent Commission of Mines and Minerals were fully utilized by the
academic staff and students. However, the safety standards of the
laboratories, specially the electric and electronic laboratory, are not a
priority for the University. Wi-Fi, on the other hand is said to be
satisfactory.
1. Accelerate the construction of the new Campus for better
classrooms, laboratories, library and other administrative buildings.
2. Establish a descent library run by a professional librarian with
enough number of publications and free spaces for students and
having longer open hours.
3. Ensure the safety measures in laboratories are at internationally
accepted levels.
2.9 Quality Management
Both in the SER, as well as in the additional documents provided after the
site visit, the ET could notice that there is a Guideline for quality
assessment in place. However, these procedures, as well as the Quality
Assurance Committee/Quality Assurance Unit seem to belong to
University of Pristina, and not to PUM which is now a fully independent
legal entity. The ET would like to encourage PUM to establish its own
structures responsible for quality assurance, which would of course, later
own adapt the Guidelines for quality assessment to their own now
independent institution. The ET is therefore not convinced to which
extent can the team commend and give recommendations on the
Guidelines for quality assessment as the procedures seem to be drafted
by and for another institution, which makes the ET believe that these
procedures are actually not implemented at PUM. The organisation chart
encompasses an Office for Academic Development and Quality, which is
not referred to neither in the self-evaluation documents, nor in the
additional documents provided after the site visit.
The strategic plan refers to “Quality Management Regulation, approved
by the Senate of the University of Mitrovica “Isa Boletini” which was
neither provided, nor referred to in the interaction with the ET. The same
strategic plan is mentioning “Creating a comprehensive system on
monitoring and assuring quality” as goal 4 using the future tense
exclusively, which confirms that an existing functional internal quality
assurance system is not yet present at PUM. Therefore, we cannot
provide further comments and suggestions, nor refer to the existence of
a self-evaluation of the internal quality assurance system itself.
The ET is not convinced if PUM fully understands the support that a
functioning internal QA system can provide to the efficiency of an
institution, especially in following their strategic plan. There are tools in
place for the evaluation of the system for course and faculty evaluation,
as well as for student satisfaction, but PUM does not coherently show if
and how are the results of these evaluations integrated in the future
actions of the institution. After the site visit and after analysing the
documents provided by the institution, the ET was not convinced if
quality improvement and enhancement is prioritised by the institution,
as reflected in the strategic plan.
All in all, given the contradictions regarding responsible structures and
current policies/regulations designed for quality assurance, the ET
cannot have a clear picture on the existence, functionality and task
division of an internal quality assurance system. Therefore, the ET
considers that there is much to be done for the institution to establish its
efficient quality circle and policies.
Hoping that PUM will follow its goals set in the strategic plan, we would
like to remind the institution that the Ministers responsible for Higher
Education in the countries participating in the Bologna Process described
students as “competent, active and constructive partners” in the
establishment and shaping of EHEA.2. Therefore, student representatives
should be involved in all decisional, consultative and executive bodies
related to quality assurance, but not limited to those.
1. Establish a functional Quality Management/Assurance Unit that
would operate efficiently so as to support the university reach the
goals stated in the Strategic Plan
2. Draft and formally adopt standards and guidelines for the internal
quality assurance system, including clear task division, reporting,
data collection, timeframes, quality circle, evaluation of the internal
quality assurance system itself etc.
3. Integrate all the data collection results (questionnaires, key
performance indicators) into present and future actions of the
institution.
4. Operationalize the quality assurance strategic goals into more
practical and concrete steps to be followed
3. PROGRAM EVALUATIONS
2
Prague communiqué, 2011 (and most of the following ministerial communiqués)
3.1 General
At the Faculty of Mechanical and Computer Engineering (FIMK) five
different programs are currently implemented
• BSc Industrial Machinery
• BSc Economic Engineering
• BSc Engineering Informatics
• MSc Engineering Informatics
• MSc Production Technology
All these programs have been evaluated previously in 2012 and/or 2013
respectively by two members of the ET. Some conditions have changed
since then, whereas others have not. For this reason this section of the
report is building up on the previous reports repeating persisting issues
but focusing on the changes and on the fulfillment of the
recommendations.
Several issues are relating to all five programs. The programs share many
characteristics and are managed jointly. Due to this overlap between the
programs our findings, concerns, and recommendations are nearly
identical and thus to some extent they are treated jointly in this section
of the report.
3.1.1. Academic Program and Student Management
Three programs are at undergraduate level and two are at graduate level.
The graduate level programs are designed as continuation of the
bachelor programs. From an institutional viewpoint the levels of bachelor
and master are achieved in general terms. The “science” degrees
awarded (BSc, MSc) reflect the orientation of the programs properly.
The core topics are inherited from other universities (Rijeka, Tirana, …),
about 70% of the subjects are said to be similar to those offered by UoP.
The programs at FIMK are coined by applied teaching and learning, best
suited for the labor market, according to experiences of the
management.
All five programs offer a variable number of elective and compulsory
subjects including extensive hands-on experiences. At the end of the
programs a thesis is required as well as an internship for the bachelor
programs. The latter is compulsory but not properly reflected in all the
curricula in terms of allocation of ECTS. Internships must be seen as an
inherent part of the program and are part of the regular workload of the
students. The allocation of ECTS to internships being placed after the end
of the three-year program still seems to be irritating in some syllabuses.
Internships can also be seen as opportunities to intensify links with
regional companies.
The Engineering Informatics and Mechanical Engineering programs seem
to coexist with little recognizable synergies. Further bridging the gap
between computer science and production engineering is still worth to
be investigated. Even more ICT-related investments in a general sense
are encouraged to provide the country with substantial know-how in this
most important domain.
According to estimations (statistics were not available) the number of
students who could finish within the regular time of study has been
rather low. In the beginning, students have had estimated that less than
about 10% of them have been able to complete their studies within the
regular duration of three years. This situation was improved by following
previous recommendations. Subjects (statistics, discrete mathematics,
engineering physics, Internet, communication skills) have been adopted
or rearranged and also the availability of additional resources on site
improved. Inadequate high school education (mathematics, English
language skills) remains an issue which can be addressed partly by
offering additional extracurricular courses.
Teaching methods are described consistently for all modules and a great
variety of teaching methods is being applied according to the SER module
descriptions. A variety of elective subjects is available. Contents and
objectives are presented in a very clear manner and relevant literature
(mostly in English for the IT-related subjects) is listed. In general, there is
quite some practical teaching in labs taking place which is well according
to the orientation of the programs. When students were asked to
estimate the ratio of theoretical versus practical teaching they more or
less confirmed the figures given in the SER.
Learning outcomes, which are to be distinguished from contents and
objectives, have been addressed properly in many but not all cases
following previous recommendations. There is room for improvement for
further optimizations of some descriptions.
In almost any technical domain and particularly in computer science
English language plays a predominant role. Teaching, learning and
research at an academic level is very much depending on English
literature. Properly about all reference books listed are in English.
Lecturing in English (selected lessons) should be taken into consideration.
Higher education potentially very much benefits from the usage of
eLearning, which should be specifically addressed at a faculty devoted to
computer science. The implementation of eLearning requires – apart
from implementing minor additional hardware and software – proper
conceptualization of teaching and learning scenarios on a macro, meso,
and micro didactical level. Teaching staff needs to be educated
accordingly with regard to theoretical content, activities, mechanisms of
interaction, communication tools, and instructional design. It should be
mentioned that an eLearning scenario in the context of a traditional
university (other than so called online universities) is to be considered as
a blended learning scenario. Blended learning is a mix of eLearning with
traditional teaching and learning practices. The ratio of face-to-face
interaction versus online learning can vary widely. The implementation
of eLearning may reside on the installation of an open source learning
management system (e.g. Moodle) which requires minimum resources.
It has been reported that an initial workshop had been organized and
funds had been requested from UoP (but had not been granted). Yet, no
further implementation steps could have been taken, despite of high
motivation of the faculty staff. While it seems understandable that the
management of a university confronted with several existential issues
might not give first priority to introducing new teaching concepts,
providing the best learning and teaching scenario in reach is mandatory
for any dedicated teaching staff. The provision of blended learning at
FIMK seems to be within reach without any compliments. The IT faculty
should be empowered to implement a pilot eLearning scenario in one of
their department as an initial step.
With the occurrence of the digital age plagiarism is becoming more and
more problematic. Plagiarism is to be treated as academic dishonesty and
offenders are to be subjected to academic censure. However, prior to
disciplining students the development of a university-wide code of
conduct and raising the awareness of the individual student should be
put into action. The measures should be supported by implementing
proper tools for plagiarism detection, approaches of plagiarism
prevention represented by honor codes and rule enforcement.
It is recommended to consistently define learning outcomes
properly for all subjects by taking a description such as subject
209I or similar as an example of good practice.
It is recommended to develop a blended learning concept and
gradually enhance traditional teaching and learning preferably by
implementing pilot scenarios at FIMK.
It is recommended to explore the conditions for increased
cooperation between the departments of the faculty.
It is recommended to verify that internships are considered as
inherent parts of the regular students’ workload in accordance
with the Bologna process in all programs.
It is recommended to approach plagiarism prevention by raising
the students´ awareness and by developing a code of conduct.
It is recommended to include a signed declaration of academic
honesty in every thesis.
3.1.2. Staff
OECD favors a teacher-to-students ratio of 1:15, while 1:20 might be a
realistic relation for many institutions. Academic staff at FIMK amounts
to 28 (14 full-time, 14 part-time) which has not been increased recently.
According to the management the process of hiring additional staff was
delayed but should be completed within a few months. Nonetheless, the
number of students enrolled recently increased which changed the
teacher-to-students ratio for the worse. While the simple arithmetic is
not the only indicator for the quality of teaching it should be used as a
guideline when it comes to determine the number of students’ intake.
It was mentioned, that by commissioning the new building the number
of students will be increased. It must not be neglected that this will have
to go in line with increasing the number of permanent staff as well. FIMK
has to make sure that a fair share of highly qualified teachers is
contracted. To verify qualification regular evaluation of staff is required.
While there is a regulation concerning evaluation in places it remains still
unclear which consequences are taken based on the evaluation results.
While the faculty proudly mentions (and rightly does) that staff is famous
of its comparatively high number of publications it is still hard to belief
that highly qualified performance can be achieved by one individual in
multiple subjects. Thus it is to be questioned whether up to eight
different subjects should be taught by the very same teacher. Students
also raised their concern on this issue.
It is recommended to ensure that a sufficient number of qualified
teaching staff is available for any subject.
3.1.3. Research and International Co-operation
FIMK declares itself as a promoter of scientific research in the field of
technical sciences, in disciplines that are in a broader sense associated
with machinery manufacturing and engineering informatics. The faculty
cooperates with major companies in the region and with local
government. Research activities are part of the bachelor and the master
programs. In its research concepts, supplied on request, the faculty lists
a comprehensive set of measures representing ambitious objectives. The
ET acknowledges these ambitions. Yet, the higher the ambitions, the
higher the workload. Under the given constraints in relation to
(permanent) staff it remains unclear whether sufficient resources can be
allocated to research activities.
Knowledge exchange at an international level is key to researchers. This
exchange also requires travelling abroad in order to attend international
conferences, workshops, project meetings and the like. Closer relations
to the international community also require further development of
English language skills. It has been reported that funding of travel
expenses is very limited which severely restricts active participations
within the international scientific community.
It is recommended to increase engagement within international
community by facilitating travelling abroad through funding.
It is recommended to expand cooperation to West/Middle
European academic institutions and to include this target in the
development plan.
3.1.4. Finances and Infrastructure/Space and Equipment
Figures presented to the expert team do not refer to individual
departments or faculties but are summed up values for the entire
university. Since the on-site visit did not give any indication for a strong
heterogeneity at department level, conclusions and recommendations
may be drawn from the university wide situation.
3.1.5. Quality Management
Quality management seems to be allocated too at an institutional level
inheriting the deficits to the individual programs and departments. Unlike
previous accreditations, students feel less concerned about individual
teaching performance which indicates a certain efficiency in the quality
management process. How the supposedly necessary feedback circle is
closed remains unclear.
3.2. BSc. Engineering Informatics (re-accreditation)
The curriculum of engineering informatics is well designed and obviously
adopted to the needs of the region. The overall structure, the duration of
six semesters, and the workload of 30ECTS per semester follow
international academic conventions. The contents meet the expectations
of the students and according to the high chance to get a job also to the
industry.
Two subjects which previously led to irritations have been adopted
successfully. The learning outcomes of the subject “Communication Skills
[105I]” now are well in accordance with the course program and this is
also true for the subject “Internet [111I]”.
The dynamic nature of ICT-based programs requires constant monitoring
and adoption to current developments. Today, security related issues as
well as mobile computing and cloud computing have gained in
importance dramatically in information technology, thus prospective
engineers should get a profound understanding of all that relevant
aspects. Without doubt it is mandatory to include security related topics.
A modern curriculum should cover all possible topics referring to data
security, safety, privacy, encryption, and related legal issues. These topics
are well addressed in the master´s program and a light version should be
applied in this undergraduate program as well.
It is recommended to constantly evaluate the curriculum due to
the dynamic nature of ICT. Sufficient attention needs to be paid to
security related topics, as well as mobile computing and cloud
computing.
It is recommended to re-accredit the program BSc. Engineering
Informatics.
3.3. MSc. Engineering Informatics (re-accreditation)
The curriculum of the graduate program in engineering informatics is well
designed and obviously adopted to the needs of the region. The overall
structure, the duration of four semesters, and the workload of 30ECTS
per semester follow international academic conventions. The contents
meet the expectations of the students and according to the high chance
to get a job also to the industry.
In addition to the subjects taught mobile computing and cloud computing
should also be addressed. Mobile computing involving mobile
communication, mobile hardware like cell phones, smart phones, tablets,
and mobile software (apps) nowadays plays an increasing role and this
applies most specifically to young students. Likewise cloud computing
involving computing over a network is increasingly being offered as a
service to individuals and to companies. The issue of privacy concerns of
cloud computing services has been pressed to the utmost importance
and not only IT professional need to be educated with the multiple facets
of moving to the cloud.
It is recommended to constantly evaluate the curriculum due to
the dynamic nature of ICT. Sufficient attention needs to be paid to
mobile computing and cloud computing.
It is recommended to re-accredit the program MSc. Engineering
Informatics.
3.4. BSc. Economic Engineering (re-accreditation)
The undergraduate program Economic Engineering is a sound
compilation of subjects on mechanical engineering and economics.
Evidently international prototype programs were carefully adopted in
order to generate the maximum benefit for the region. There is little
doubt that it will be well received by potential students and their future
employers.
Many recommendations of the previous accreditation reports have been
followed. This includes minor changes to the curriculum but also the
identification of synergies with the Industrial Engineering program. These
efforts seem to be reflected in student enrollment.
There is a balanced selection of compulsory and elective subjects.
Although a considerable choice of electives is presented, sometimes little
space is left for them in the curriculum (semester 2: 1 of 4, semester 6: 1
of 3). ECTS calculation in general is difficult to retrace. In particular
“Practical learning [215 IE]” and “Diploma practice [313 IE]” seem to be
underrated whereas for others more than 2 ECTS are assigned per
contact hour.
Unlike in the Engineering Informatics program, learning outcomes and
teaching methods are poorly defined. The latter is persistently set to 60%
practical and 40% theoretical. Strong doubts are raised if this is truly the
case for all subjects. One notable exception are the “English” lectures
which might serve as template for proper course descriptions. Further
English literature is for only about half the subjects recommended.
Although English language lectures form a part of the curriculum (as well
as German classes) English content subjects do not seem to exist so far.
With the increasing number of internationally trained staff this could be
considered.
The subjects “department materials [108 IE]” does not seem to fit into
the curriculum but might rather be part of a process engineering
program. There seems to be neither a follow-up course nor are there –
which is even more serious – preliminary courses in chemistry,
thermodynamics and fluid mechanics. The first too are missing altogether
whereas the latter is taught in a later semester. Students’ benefit hence
may be finite.
The “measurement and control [307 IE]” classes are limited to
mechanical measurement technology. Besides a renaming into
“measurement” teaching other measurement principles – in particular
electrical ones – is integral part of such a program and should find its way
into the contents. Electrical engineering as a whole is represented only
to a very low degree. Further this subject should become compulsory
It is recommended to allocate well-justified amounts of ECTS to
each course including seminars and internships.
It is recommended to consider a replacement of doubtful
contents and subjects.
It is recommended to rework subject descriptions with particular
regard to learning outcomes and teaching methods.
It is recommended to re-accredit the program BSc. Economic
Engineering.
3.5. BSc. Industrial Machinery (re-accreditation)
The curriculum of the BSc. industrial machinery is a sound program
directed at the needs of heavy industry with a strong emphasis on basic
processing technologies such as cutting, welding and stamping. The
contents seem to be outdated to some extent.
The recommendations from the previous evaluations have been followed
to a large extend. Social skills have been incorporated and doubtful
contents removed including the communications course. Businesses as
well as legal competencies have, in contrast to the other two programs
run by the department, not found their way into the curriculum. The
recommendation of a diploma accompanying seminar in semester 6
hasn’t been realized yet.
Some subject names are (at least after translation) misnomers. Control is
a well-defined term in engineering and not related to the content of the
measurement and control class (maybe measurement and quality control
would be more adequate).
The large amount of lab classes are perfectly aligned with the idea of a
faculty of applied technical sciences and expected to have a positive
impact seen all the new equipment. Further the offering of electives
already at bachelor level has to be positively mentioned.
It seems that the issue students of formerly obligatory bridging courses
necessary for closely related master programs has been solved at least
with respect of Master programs run by University of Pristina.
It is recommended to consider including business and law subjects
into the bachelor program as well as a diploma seminar in the final
term.
It is recommended to properly allocate ECTS for the internship in
the curriculum.
It is recommended to consider a cautious modernization of the
curriculum towards modern methods of mechanical engineering
and processing like automatic control.
It is recommended to consider harmonization of the program’s
name with the corresponding master program. Contents would
suggest “Production Machinery”, “Production Technology” or
similar.
It is recommended to re-accredit the program BSc. Industrial
Machinery.
3.6. MSc. Production Technology (re-accreditation)
The Production Technology MSc. program is a continuation of
the industrial machinery BSc. program. After one common
semester the program is split up into two different profiles
(cutting and deformation) which share approximately 50%
common courses. The two profiles are a direct continuation of
the specialization already started in the bachelor.
Although the program is described to comprise four semesters
in the SER, the curriculum provided on request of the expert
team does only indicate three. Due to the unusually high
workload of 60 ECTS in the last term, the first version is believed
to be correct.
Like the bachelor program a variety of electives is available both
in the basic program and the specializations. Except from the
technical core courses subjects such as economy, scientific
methodology and English language are represented adequately.
Others helping students to start a self-employed career are
missing.
Some modern aspects of mechanical engineering found their
way into the curriculum since the last accreditation; the focus
though is still on traditional processing technologies.
It is recommended to further expand the profile in modern
methods of production technology.
It is recommended to include subjects encouraging the
students to start their own business. Candidates are
leadership, legal aspects of corporations and business
planning.
It is recommended to include a course on Finite Element
Method.
It is recommended to list at least one international book
as supplementary literature for each course if not the case
yet.
It is recommended to re-accredit the program MSc.
Production Technology.
4. OVERALL EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATION TO KAA
The support given by the Government of Kosovo to the newly
established Public University of Mitrovica “Isa Boletini” in all respects,
is a major assurance of its success in the coming years ahead.
Furthermore, as it is established upon the existing branch Faculties of
University of Pristina and the continued support of the University of
Pristina in terms of providing academic staff in needed disciplines and
the know how in teaching and learning, and research areas are the main
strengths of the PUM.
However, after evaluating the information obtained from SER,
interviews and additional information and documents provided, ET
stresses the importance of the implementation of the
recommendations made related to both institutional issues and
programs evaluated. ET considers the implementation of the
recommendations within the framework of a carefully designed action
plan as a critical success factor for PUM. Close monitoring of the
implementation of such an action plan by KAA is also a very crucial
factor in the success.
In conclusion ET recommends KAA to:
1. Accredit the PUM institutionally for a period of two years
2. Re-accredit the following programs:
a. BSc. Engineering Informatics.
b. IMSc. Engineering Informatics.
c. BSc. Economic Engineering.
d. BSc. Industrial Machinery.
e. MSc. Production Technology.
APPENDIX
1. List of Documents and Information Requested from PUM
After the Site Visit on 14 May 2014, ET requested the below list of
additional documents and information from the PUM to be evaluated
together with the SER and the information obtained during the
interviews. The list is communicated to PUM on 15 May 2014.
1.
Strategic plan for the institution and faculties – mission and vision
statements
2.
Statutes of the university – summary in English. List of the
regulations in application such as: examination and teaching
regulation, promotions and faculty workload regulations, etc.
3.
Summary of the examination and teaching regulation, as well as of
the promotions and faculty workload regulation.
4.
Faculty handbook and student handbook
5.
Program Learning Outcomes
6.
Research policy statement
7.
List of publication numbers, social sciences citations, internationally
reviewed journals, number of international conferences attended
(for each faculty) for the last 3 years
8.
Sample of a transcript
9.
Sample of a diploma supplement
10. Cohort study – progression rates in years indicating drop-out rates
11. Statistics – student numbers for the last 3 years
-
Faculty members (regular and part time with respect to professors,
teaching assistants and assistants) for the last 3 years, also
distinguish regular from part time.
12. Fill in the table below for the faculty (all types of academic staff) of
the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering 2014 spring semester.
Name
of
professo
r
Numbe
r
of
taught
courses
Total
numbe
r
of
hours
per
week
Exces
s
hours
per
week
Mentoring
undergraduat
es
Mentorin
g master
students
Mentorin
g PhD
13. University and faculties organisation chart (revised version)
14. Plan for 2014 – 2015 academic year showing expected number of
students, total number of faculty members, any additional building
and the financial requirements
15. List of tuition fees and any additional charges
16. Guideline for quality assessment
handbook/quality assurance policy
or
any
other
quality
17. Sample of the questionnaire for course and faculty evaluation at the
end of the semester
18. Sample for the questionnaire evaluating student satisfaction
19. Summary of the main findings of the student satisfaction survey and
policies resulting out of it
20. Document regarding data analysis of the questionnaire for course
and faculty evaluation, actions taken according to the feedback
received from students
21. Regulations of relevance for bachelor and masters studies:
framework for establishing new bachelor and masters programs
22. Template for ECTS calculation
23. Masters in Production Technology table reflecting semester
structure contact hours, ECTS and instruction
24. Students and academic staff exchange for the past 3 years (incoming
and outgoing numbers).
25. Task division in the field of quality assurance: rector, vice-rector,
Quality Assurance Committee, responsibilities and cooperation
between each other.
26. Agenda and minutes of the quality assurance related meetings
coordinated by the vice-rector in charged with quality assurance.
2. List of Recommendations (Institutional)
ET recommends PUM to: (2.1)
1. Write its mission and vision statements through a proper process
mainly consulting the external and internal stakeholders and
disseminating them appropriately.
2. Make a strategic plan through incorporating the views of all
stakeholders, making use of its SWAT analysis and making sure that it
contains the key performance indicators and an action plan supported
by a budget.
3. Ensure that Faculties and Departments make their own strategic plans
and write mission and vision statements that should be consistent
with those of the University.
1. Revise its Organization Chart to reflect the structures of the PUM as
indicated in its Statute.
In this section, a large number of recommendations made are integrated in the
text. The coherence of the phrases will be gone if they are separated from the
text. Thus the recommendations related to this section are to be followed
within the text.
1. Write a policy document for research that would outline the
incentives for carrying out research by the academic staff.
2. Put every effort to change the Law on Revolving Fund in order to
enable academic staff to have part of the revenue accrued from the
services provided to external organizations.
1. Raise the level of mandatory English courses.
2. Offer the possibility for students to attend regular courses of the
curriculum but thought in English, which would have more ECTS
credits. This might probably stimulate students to learn the same
disciplines they normally have in the curriculum but with a greater
workload due to English difficulty.
3. Encourage intensive English courses for the teaching staff
4. Increase international cooperation of all types not only in the region,
but on a larger scale across the globe, especially given the focus that
the internalisation segment has in PUM mission, vision and strategic
plan.
1. Develop a formal induction process and a handbook for the academic
staff recruited.
2. Reconsider its academic staffs’ workload policies as to increase the
teaching workloads of its academic staff and assign teaching
workloads to all academic administrative staff with the exception of
the Rector.
3. Carry out student surveys at the end of each course in order to
assess the course and the teaching effectiveness of academic staff.
4. Establish an Instructional Developments Centre to organize workshops
and seminars in order to increase the teaching effectiveness of the
academic staff.
5. Introduce criteria for the assessment of academic staff performance.
1. Disseminate the mission and the vision of the institution to the entire
academic community
2. Adapt the current strategic plan to institution's overall aims and
funding plans, as well as to areas in need of improvement, as
suggested by the ET. The revision process of the strategic plan is to be
done in cooperation with the academic community, students and
external stakeholders.
3. Accelerate the adaptation process to the independent institution
status PUM currently has, including decision making, regulations,
image identity etc.
1. Accelerate the construction of the new Campus for better classrooms,
laboratories, library and other administrative buildings.
2. Establish a descent library run by a professional librarian with enough
number of publications and free spaces for students and having longer
open hours.
3. Ensure the safety measures in laboratories are at internationally
accepted levels.
1. Establish a functional Quality Management/Assurance Unit that would
operate efficiently so as to support the university reach the goals
stated in the Strategic Plan
2. Draft and formally adopt standards and guidelines for the internal
quality assurance system, including clear task division, reporting, data
collection, timeframes, quality circle, evaluation of the internal quality
assurance system itself etc.
3. Integrate all the data collection results (questionnaires, key
performance indicators) into present and future actions of the
institution.
4. Operationalize the quality assurance strategic goals into more
practical and concrete steps to be followed
3. List of Recommendations (Programs)
Academic Program and Student management
1. It is recommended to consistently define learning outcomes properly
for all subjects by taking a description such as subject 209I or similar
as an example of good practice.
2. It is recommended to develop a blended learning concept and
gradually enhance traditional teaching and learning preferably by
implementing pilot scenarios at FIMK.
3. It is recommended to explore the conditions for increased
cooperation between the departments of the faculty.
4. It is recommended to verify that internships are considered as
inherent parts of the regular students’ workload in accordance with
the Bologna process in all programs.
5. It is recommended to approach plagiarism prevention by raising the
students´ awareness and by developing a code of conduct.
6. It is recommended to include a signed declaration of academic
honesty in every thesis.
Staff
1. It is recommended to ensure that a sufficient number of qualified
teaching staff is available for any subject.
Research and International Cooperation
1. It is recommended to increase engagement within international
community by facilitating travelling abroad through funding.
2. It is recommended to expand cooperation to West/Middle European
academic institutions and to include this target in the development
plan.
BSc. Engineering Informatics (re-accreditation)
1. It is recommended to constantly evaluate the curriculum due to the dynamic
nature of ICT. Sufficient attention needs to be paid to security related topics,
as well as mobile computing and cloud computing.
It is recommended to re-accredit the program BSc. Engineering Informatics.
MSc. Engineering Informatics (re-accreditation)
1. It is recommended to constantly evaluate the curriculum due to the dynamic
nature of ICT. Sufficient attention needs to be paid to mobile computing and
cloud computing.
It is recommended to re-accredit the program MSc. Engineering Informatics.
BSc. Economic Engineering (re-accreditation)
1. It is recommended to allocate well-justified amounts of ECTS to each course
including seminars and internships.
2. It is recommended to consider a replacement of doubtful contents and
subjects.
3. It is recommended to rework subject descriptions with particular regard to
learning outcomes and teaching methods.
It is recommended to re-accredit the program BSc. Economic Engineering.
BSc. Industrial Machinery (re-accreditation)
1. It is recommended to consider including business and law subjects into the
bachelor program as well as a diploma seminar in the final term.
2. It is recommended to properly allocate ECTS for the internship in the
curriculum.
3. It is recommended to consider a cautious modernization of the curriculum
towards modern methods of mechanical engineering and processing like
automatic control.
4. It is recommended to consider harmonization of the program’s name with
the corresponding master program. Contents would suggest “Production
Machinery”, “Production Technology” or similar.
It is recommended to re-accredit the program BSc. Industrial Machinery.
MSc. Production Technology (re-accreditation)
1. It is recommended to further expand the profile in modern methods of
production technology.
2. It is recommended to include subjects encouraging the students to start their
own business. Candidates are leadership, legal aspects of corporations and
business planning.
3. It is recommended to include a course on Finite Element Method.
4. It is recommended to list at least one international book as supplementary
literature for each course if not the case yet.
It is recommended to re-accredit the program MSc. Production Technology.
Evaluation Report
External Expert Team
University of Mitrovica
“Isa Boletini”
2014
Evaluation Report by
the team of experts,
assessing study programs of University of Mitrovica “Isa Boletini” (UMIB)
in the process of accreditation or re-accreditation
by
the
Kosovo
Accreditation
Agency June 15th, 2014
Table of Content
1
Preamble............................................................................................................................... 6
2
General Remarks ................................................................................................................... 7
3
2.1
Vision, Mission and Strategy .......................................................................................... . 7
2.2
Staff Meeting ................................................................................................................. 7
2.3
Student Meeting ............................................................................................................ 8
Faculty of Education.............................................................................................................. 10
3.1
3.1.1 Academic programme and student management .....................................................
10
3.1.2 Staff ......................................................................................................................
10
3.1.3 Research and International Co-operation ................................................................
11
3.1.4 Finances and Infrastructure/Space and Equipment ..................................................
11
3.1.5 Quality Management..............................................................................................
12
3.1.6 Overall Recommendation .......................................................................................
12
3.2
4
Pre-School Education Bachelor Programme (BA) ............................................................. 10
Primary Education Bachelor Programme (BA).................................................................. 12
3.2.1 Academic programme and student management .....................................................
12
3.2.2 Staff ......................................................................................................................
13
13
14
14
14
Faculty of Law....................................................................................................................... 15
4.1
General Remarks ........................................................................................................... 15
4.2
Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) ................................................................................................ . 15
4.2.1 Academic programmes and student management ...................................................
15
4.2.2 Staff ......................................................................................................................
16
17
17
17
17
5 Faculty of Economics and Management ................................................................................. 18
5.1
General Remarks ........................................................................................................... 18
5.2
Banking, Finance and Accounting (BA) ............................................................................ 18
5.2.1 Academic Programme and Student Management ....................................................
18
5.2.2 Staff ......................................................................................................................
18
5.2.3
Research and International Co-operation ............................................................. 18
5.2.4
Finances and Infrastructure/Space and Equipment .............................................. 19
5.2.5
Quality Management ........................................................................................... 19
5.3 Management Informatics (BA) ....................................................................................... 19
5.3.1
Academic Programme and Student Management ................................................ 19
5.3.2
Staff ...................................................................................................................... 20
5.3.3
Research and international Co-operation ............................................................. 20
5.3.4
5.3.5
5.4 Overall Recommendations ............................................................................................. 21
6 Faculty of Geosciences .......................................................................................................... 22
6.1 General Remarks ........................................................................................................... 22
6.2 Staff ............................................................................................................................... 22
6.3 Research and international collaboration ...................................................................... 22
6.4 General recommendations ............................................................................................ 23
6.5 Bachelor of Geology B.Sc. .............................................................................................. 24
6.6 Masters in Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology M.Sc. .............................................. 27
6.7
Bachelor of Mining B.Sc., Bachelor of Geotechnics, B.Sc., and Bachelor Preparation of
Mineral Raw Materials, B.Sc. ................................................................................................ ..... 29
6.8
Masters in Mining M.Sc. ................................................................................................ 32
6.9
Masters in Geotechnical Engineering .............................................................................. 34
6.9.1
Academic programmes and student management ................................................... 34
6.9.2
Staff ......................................................................................................................
6.9.3
Research and International Co-operation ................................................................ 36
6.9.4
Finances and Infrastructure/Space and Equipment .................................................. 37
36
6.9.5
Quality Management..............................................................................................
6.9.6
Overall Recommendation ....................................................................................... 38
37
6.10 Bachelor of Materials and Metallurgy B.Sc. .................................................................... . 38
6.10.1 Academic programmes and students management .................................................. 38
6.10.2 Staff ......................................................................................................................
39
6.10.3 Research and International Cooperation ................................................................. 40
6.10.4 Finances and Infrastructure/Space and Equipment .................................................. 41
41
6.10.6 Overall Recommendation ....................................................................................... 42
6.11 Master in Materials M.Sc. .............................................................................................. 42
6.11.1 Academic programmes and students management ................................................ 42
6.11.2 Staff ....................................................................................................................... 43
6.11.3 Research and International Cooperation ................................................................ 43
6.11.4 Finances and Infrastructure/Space and Equipment................................................. 44
6.11.5 Quality Management.............................................................................................. 44
6.12 Master in Metallurgy M.Sc. ........................................................................................... 45
6.12.2 Staff ....................................................................................................................... 46
6.13 Master in Deposits of Mineral Raw Materials M.Sc. ...................................................... 48
6.13.2 Staff ....................................................................................................................... 49
7 Faculty of Food Technology ................................................................................................... 52
7.1 Bachelor of Science in Technology Programme with specializations in Chemical Engineering
(BSc TIK) and Environmental Engineering (BSc TIM) ............................................................... 52
7.1.1 Academic programme and student management ....................................................... 52
7.1.2 Staff ........................................................................................................................... 52
7.1.3 Research and International Co-operation ................................................................... 52
7.1.4 Finances and Infrastructure/Space and Equipment .................................................... 53
7.1.5 Quality Management ................................................................................................. 53
7.1.6 Overall Recommendation........................................................................................... 53
7.2 Master of Science in Technology Programme with specialisations in Chemical Engineering and
Environmental Engineering .................................................................................................... 53
7.1.1
Academic programmes and student management ............................................... 53
7.1.2
Staff ...................................................................................................................... 54
7.1.3
7.1.4
7.1.5
Overall Recommendation .......................................................................................55
1 Preamble
The Kosovo Accreditation Agency (KAA) is requested by the Minister of Education, Science and
Technology of Kosovo to evaluate all private (?) institutions of higher education which operate in
Kosovo. According to this request it was decided that the bachelor and the master degree programmes
of the University of Mitrovica “Isa Boletini” (UMIB) shall undergo a programme accreditation (or reaccreditation, as appropriate). In order to evaluate the study programmes the KAA established a team
of experts. The following experts were appointed to the team:
•
Prof. Dr. Tauno Otto/ Tallinn University of Technology (EE)
•
Prof. Dr. Bettie Higgs/ University College Cork (IE)
•
Prof. Dr. Josep M Duart/ Open University of Catalonia (ES)
•
Dr. Peter Parycek/ Danube Krems University (AT)
•
Prof. Dr. Guenther Poell/ University of Linz (AT)
•
Prof. Dr. Regita Bendikiene/ Kaunas University of Technology (LT)
Prof. Dr. Bettie Higgs was asked to be chair of the team.
According to the Kosovan assessment regulations a site-visit of the UMIB by the team of experts
is part of the evaluation process. Therefore a site-visit was organised by the KAA for May 30 2014.
According to the Code of Good Practice for site-visits and the Guidelines for experts (Academic
Programmes), edited by the KAA, the team of experts has produced the following evaluation
report. The report is based upon a Self-Evaluation Report (SER) produced by UMIB which includes
programme descriptions, a staff list, staff CVs and previous site-visit reports delivered in the
process of accreditation in 2011, 2012 and 2013. The previous site visit reports contain a number
of recommendations. The team of experts asked for additional documents. The requested
documents were delivered and are listed in Annex 1 of this report.
The frames of reference for the evaluation report are the international standards of comparable
institutions of higher education (benchmarks) and the national standards, edited by the KAA (10.2013).
This current evaluation report will conclude with a number of recommendations concerning each of the
programmes proposed: they are the personal opinion of the authors and are formulated with the
experiences mentioned above in mind. The recommendations take account of what the authors regard
as good or standard practices in a number of mainly Western European education systems, without
wanting to prejudice the specific conditions of tertiary education in
Kosovo in any way. Therefore, the final decision on the University’s application for accreditation/re accreditation of the courses mentioned above will have to be made by the relevant authorities (KAA). In
this context, the undersigned recognize the heritage of a very difficult period that tertiary education in
Kosovo had to undergo in the 1990s and the “lost generation”; however, with its declaration of
independence Kosovo should look to the future, and in tertiary education the future lies in the
approximation of national standards to those generally prevalent in the European Union.
The expert team commends the UMIB for the restructuring of the governance of the institution.
This should be monitored and reviewed annually to ensure the functioning is optimised for the
benefit of the Programmes and students.
This report could not have been written without the support of the staff of the KAA in the first
place, and also without a number of helpful face-to-face contacts at the University.
2 General Remarks
2.1 Vision, Mission and Strategy
The expert team appreciated the high level of scholarship involved in the programmes offered by
UMIB, as well as the well-established contacts with the local companies. The expert team would
like to congratulate the Rector on his highly motivated team. There are 71 full-time teaching staff,
and 40 parttime staff. There are 2,400 students at present. The Faculty of Geosciences and the
Faculty of Food Technology provide good and enthusiastic teaching and carry out some research.
These are great outcomes and therefore provide value for the society. Almost 50% of the students
who attended the students' meetings are not from Mitrovica. The expert team took this as a very
good indicator of the quality of the programmes of the Faculty of Geosciences and Faculty of Food
Technology, in that they attract students from other parts of the country.
The expert team is surprised that the UMIB is not focusing more on its strengths, and that the
University wishes at this time to build up completely new programmes. This action means that
courses must, at present, be taught by the staff members of the University of Pristina.
Recommendation:

The expert team highly recommends building on the existing shoulders of the Faculty of
Geoscience to create a Centre of Excellence in Geoscience (CEG), and a Faculty of Food
Technology for the whole region. The expert team is cognisant that there is much work to
be done for this to be realised. 

2.2 Staff Meeting
In general the staff appears to be very motivated, and members were frank and open about
the strengths and weaknesses of the departments.
It is clear that some staff development/training is provided e.g. language courses, and
teaching development courses.
The expert team were informed that the staff gets support for international projects or visits from
an international office (?) and that UMIB supports conference participation (twice per year) for
staff development and research collaboration purposes. When the expert team suggested further
innovation, and the potential of teaching some courses in English, to attract students and further
international collaboration, the staff stated that they have a lot of ideas but at the moment it is
not possible to implement them. In the case of English courses the expert team sees no
impenetrable barriers to incorporation of these into the programmes.
The teaching load of permanent staff seems to be balanced with 6 hours teaching per week
for senior staff members. Assistants have to teach 10 hours per week, which seems to be
quite high compared to international standards.
Recommendations:

Greater consistency in aspects of curriculum design should be achieved across each faculty.
Additional staff development in the area of learning outcomes would be helpful. 

Staff should be supported in their endeavours to build research links 

2.3 Student Meeting
The expert team enjoyed a lively discussion with the UMIB students, who were quite open and
eloquent. They had much to say in praise of their departments and programmes, and the
excellent care by the professors. Unfortunately the group did not evenly represent the whole
university, because the students were mainly from the Faculty of Food Technology and the
Faculty of Geosciences. One student from the planned academic programme “Economics”
attended the discussion. Several of the students stated that they like attending this university
because of the good support of the faculty, the excellent care by the professors, the quality of
the students and the good cooperation with the companies. They felt that the latter would be
beneficial for work -placement and/or employment. There was a brief discussion relating to the
Scholarships provided by the Government. The students with pre-university results of more than
8.5 average grade received a scholarship of between 900 euro for undergraduate and 1200 euro
for postgraduate study per year according the budget. Approximately 50% of the students
participating in this meeting received a scholarship, which is quite high.
It was noted by the expert team, using the SER, and was confirmed by the students, that the
printed literature, which is mainly online, could be improved.
The main issue for the students was the limited space in the laboratory, which leads to the
situation that a lot of theory is taught, at the expense of the practical, clinical and field skills.
Students agreed with each other that they have a very good communication culture with the
professors and if they have a problem they can approach a professor directly without any fear
on almost any academic subject. UMIB has a student’s council which seems to be well
established. The expert team had the impression that some of the students (?) didn’t agree with
the statements, but they preferred to stay silent.
The discussion of student workload for the Bachelor degree concluded that the curricula was reasonable
e.g. 24 hours face-to-face in class and 16 hours preparing for exams and home work each week. The
Masters' programmes calculation led to a reasonable result: 9 hours face -to-face in class, 8 hours
workshops, 8 hours preparing exam and homework. With increased hours per week, and a 12month
programme, a Master's course could be completed in one year instead of two.
The framework for evaluation of courses by students could be strengthened based on the
discussion with students, because standardized evaluation is not in place. Occasionally students
are asked for oral evaluation of a course by the relevant professors, but seldom had they received
and completed the paper questionnaire shown to the expert team by the staff.
A variety of assessment types are used in the courses. An additional document was requested
to make explicit the types of student assessment used on certain Programmes. However, due
to the varied use of the terms evaluation and assessment, the expert team were provided with
previous dates of evaluation/accreditation of Programmes.
Institutionalized mentoring or tutoring for students does not appear to be established in UMIB.
Recommendations:

Evaluation Questionnaires for feedback on each course should be given to all students,
and completed by all the students after examination. 



At the beginning of each semester, the students should be provided with course units,
including course objectives, and the detailed information about the study programme,
methods of assessment, methodical literature, and times of the consultations, locations
and other relevant information concerning their studies. This should be available online. 
Other student's supports should be established in the university: sports, leisure,
dormitories, library, psychological support. 
3 Faculty of Education
The University of Mitrovica “Isa Boletini” (UMIB) on behalf of it’s Faculty of Education have plans to offer
two bachelor’s degree programmes: Pre-school and Primary School Education. Bachelor’s degree courses
last for 4 years, with 8 semesters, each one up to 30 ECTS, and a total of 240 ECTS.
3.1 Pre-School Education Bachelor Programme (BA)
3.1.1 Academic programme and student management
The aims of the Pre-school programme are to provide subject knowledge (mathematics, the Albanian
language, the English language, etc.) and knowledge of didactics and methodology, as well as to gain
professional practice in a Pre-school institution. The students will acquire the basics of research in
education and write diploma dissertations. The amount of practice is sufficient (a total 28 ECTS), and
practice starts from the second semester. Starting practice earlier encourages the students to study and
makes theoretical courses more meaningful, thus allowing them to link theory with practice.
The programme consists of knowledge about inclusive education, the role of games in earlier
childhood education, and emphasis on child development. The basis of Pre -school education is
child development, and cooperation with parents, to create the best environment for every single
child. Cooperation with parents is mainly discussed in one elective course (Family and Pre -school
Education) and during the last practice.
There are elective courses on the programme, though the students can usually only choose
one elective course per semester.
The programme seems to be more subject orientated, which is not the main goal in Pre school education. The main focus should be a holistic approach to child development.
Recommendations:
•
We recommend reducing the subject focus in the Pre-school programme and
adopting a more child development approach.
•
We recommend implementing student teacher portfolios to support their self reflection throughout the study years (see http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/ teachingguides/reflecting/teaching-portfolios/).
3.1.2 Staff
UMIB still don’t have their own staff. Faculty from the University of Pristina are helping UMIB
to develop this programme, following the accredited curricula for the same BA at the
University of Pristina.
Recommendations:
•
We recommend that UMIB select a specific local Academic Staff, with strong relations
with the local Pre-school Education community, and establish a development policy
aimed at improving knowledge, innovation and teaching practices.
•
We recommend establishing an internal motivational programme for Academic Staff
based on teaching innovation.
•
We recommend recognising best Academic Staff educational practices and disseminating
internally these practices. This recognition could be part of the motivational programme
for the Academic Staff.
3.1.3 Research and International Co-operation
The Faculty of Education at UMIB still don’t have a Research Strategic Plan. It could be useful to analyse the
context of the educational needs in Mitrovica and establish a research plan, and prepare research proposals
focused on these detected needs. Related to International co-operation, the Faculty of Education at UIMB
have to connect their own international strategy with the international UMIB strategy. The Faculty of
Education have to select interesting international experiences, and build on these, to organize cooperative
agreements. The focus must be to approach the international co-operation with the educational needs of
Kosovo schools and teachers in mind.
Recommendations:
•
We recommend formulating research priorities according to Kosovo schools and
teachers educational needs.
•
We recommend forming joint research groups with researchers from foreign universities
to strengthen competence in the educational research field.
•
We recommend developing a strategic plan for international co-operation in accordance
with the UMIB strategic plan.
•
We recommend exploring global educational movements like Open Educational Resources
or OpenCourseWare (www.ocwconsortium.org) offered by many universities around the
world. There are also non-profit foundations offering international grants for educational
projects in developing countries that would be worth exploring.
3.1.4 Finances and Infrastructure/Space and Equipment
A new campus for the UMIB is under construction in Mitrovica that will include specific facilities,
including classrooms and departmental offices for the Faculty of Education. New buildings will
provide a range of labs (Computers, Natural Sciences, etc.) and a Library, for the Faculty of
Education students. The new Campus will also provide Wi-Fi access for the students.
The budget seems adequate for the UMIB but we did not have the opportunity to find out more about
the specific distribution of this budget related to the future educational programmes.
Recommendations:
•
We recommend implementing an open source Learning Management System (LMS) as
a complementary facility for face-to-face lessons. This LMS could be for all UMIB and
would improve communication between students and lecturers, and also introduce
innovative teaching and learning methodologies.
•
We recommend implementing an Open Education Resources repository for educational
students, which could be included in a general OER institutional repository. Using OER for
educational uses would allow educational students access to international resources and
co - operation with international institutions and lecturers.
3.1.5 Quality Management
It will be necessary to develop a culture of quality for the new Faculty of Education, in accordance
with the general quality management approach at UMIB. To develop this culture of quality a
specific action plan is needed, with concrete indicators of the expected outcomes for the
educational programmes that should be established.
Recommendation:
•
We recommend implementing a quality assurance circle: plan-implement-evaluateimprove for Faculty of Education programmes. For that purpose, an action plan should be
implemented, which includes every step and indicator of the outcomes that the new
Faculty expects to achieve.
3.1.6 Overall Recommendation
The ET recommends the accreditation of Bachelor in Pre-school Education with the provision that the
Faculty of Education of UMIB follow ET recommendations, recruit full time professors and establish
strong relations with pre-school and primary educational communities in Mitrovica.
3.2 Primary Education Bachelor Programme (BA)
The main aim of the Primary School Education programme is to prepare teachers for primary
schools grades. The students acquire basic subject knowledge (mathematics, the Albanian
language, the English language, etc.) and knowledge of didactics and methodology, and also gain
professional practice at primary school. The students acquire the basics of research in education
and write diploma dissertations.
There are compulsory and elective courses on the programme, though the students can usual ly
only choose one elective course per semester. Some elective courses are very important in Primary
school teacher education and should be considered compulsory, such as Learning Difficulties,
Education and the Media, and Communication in Education.
As in the Pre-school programme, the amount of practice is 28 ECTS, and practice starts from the
second semester. The early start of such practice is notable, but there is none in the third, sixth
and seventh semesters. Studies should therefore be organised so that they include practice in
every semester.
Recommendations:
•
We recommend forming elective courses into thematic modules that allow students to
acquire in-depth knowledge in certain areas of interest.
•
We recommend raising the competences of teacher educators, by including
supervisors/mentors of student teachers’ school practice. In-service/practicing teachers
should understand clearly their responsibilities and roles in the teacher training process.
•
We recommend implementing student teacher portfolios to support their self-reflection
throughout the study years (see
http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/ teachingguides/reflecting/teaching-portfolios/).
•
We recommend using e-learning possibilities, introducing a LMS environment to facilitate
communication between faculty, students and schools, and offering access to OER directly
or through the UMIB Library.
3.2.2 Staff
UMIB still don’t have their own staff. Faculty from the University of Pristina are helping UMIB
to develop this programme, following the accredited curricula for the same BA at the
University of Pristina.
Recommendations:
•
We recommend that UMIB select a specific local Academic Staff, with strong relations
with the local Pre-school Education community, and establish a development policy
aimed at improving knowledge, innovation and teaching practices.
•
We recommend establishing an internal motivational programme for Academic Staff
based on teaching innovation.
•
We recommend recognising best Academic Staff educational practices and disseminating
internally these practices. This recognition could be part of the motivational programme
for the Academic Staff.
The Faculty of Education at UMIB still don’t have a Research Strategic Plan. It could be useful to analyse the
context of the educational needs in Mitrovica and establish a research plan, and prepare research proposals
focused on these detected needs. Related to International co-operation, the Faculty of Education at UIMB
have to connect their own international strategy with the international UMIB strategy. The Faculty of
Education have to select interesting international experiences, and build on these, to organize cooperative
agreements. The focus must be to approach the international co-operation with the educational needs of
Kosovo schools and teachers in mind.
Recommendations:
•
We recommend formulating research priorities according to Kosovo schools and
teachers educational needs.
•
We recommend forming joint research groups with researchers from foreign universities
to strengthen competence in the educational research field.
•
We recommend developing a strategic plan for international co-operation in accordance
with the UMIB strategic plan.
•
We recommend exploring global educational movements like Open Educational Resources
or OpenCourseWare (www.ocwconsortium.org) offered by many universities around the
world. There are also non-profit foundations offering international grants for educational
projects in developing countries that would be worth exploring.
A new campus for the UMIB is under construction in Mitrovica that will include specific facilities,
including classrooms and departmental offices for the Faculty of Education. New buildings will
provide a range of labs (Computers, Natural Sciences, etc.) and a Library, for the Faculty of
Education students. The new Campus will also provide Wi-Fi access for the students.
The budget seems adequate for the UMIB but we did not have the opportunity to find out more about
the specific distribution of this budget related to the future educational programmes.
Recommendations:
•
We recommend implementing an open source Learning Management System (LMS) as
a complementary facility for face-to-face lessons. This LMS could be for all UMIB and
would improve communication between students and lecturers, and also introduce
innovative teaching and learning methodologies.
•
We recommend implementing an Open Education Resources repository for educational
students, which could be included in a general OER institutional repository. Using OER for
educational uses would allow educational students access to international resources and
co-operation with international institutions and lecturers.
It will be necessary to develop a culture of quality for the new Faculty of Education, in accordance
with the general quality management approach at UMIB. To develop this culture of quality a
specific action plan is needed, with concrete indicators of the expected outcomes for the
educational programmes that should be established.
Recommendation:
•
We recommend implementing a quality assurance circle: plan-implement-evaluateimprove for Faculty of Education programmes. For that purpose, an action plan should be
implemented, which includes every step and indicator of the outcomes that the new
Faculty expects to achieve.
The ET recommends the accreditation of Bachelor in Primary School Education with the
provision that the Faculty of Education of UMIB follow ET recommendations, recruit full time
professors and stablish strong relations with Pre-school and Primary schools educational
communities in Mitrovica.
4 Faculty of Law
4.1 General Remarks
At the moment the Law Bachelor programme is a branch of the University of Pristina, which was
started in 2013. In the next step UMBI should become an independent faculty, with strong
cooperation with the University of Pristina. The is the same as the curriculum in Pristina, to
ensure student and staff mobility, which was mentioned during the SV. The ET made the
comment that this could be an opportunity to build up a new faculty with new people, who
should design their own curriculum based on their skills and knowledge.
Recommendation:

The ET recommends designing an independent curriculum together with the new Faculty
of Law at UMBI. 

4.2 Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.)
4.2.1 Academic programmes and student management
The bachelor programme corresponds to the mission statement of UMIT by offering a law
programme for the region of Mitrovica, which was stated in the SER (p.671). The ET is surprised
about the expected impact for the Kosovan society, because almost all private and public
universities are offering law programmes, and the road to Pristina is almost finished, which will
offer a fast connection for students between Mitrovica and Pristina.
The evaluation of the didactic concept is hardly possible based on the SER and should be described in more
detail in the course descriptions in the future. In general the SER is not worked out very well.
The academic degree (Bachelor of Law) does not entirely correspond to international standards,
as the structure with 8 semesters is not common for bachelor studies. However there are
sometimes exceptions in the field of law, and especially in Kosovo, where 8 semesters for
bachelor in law is standard, because of national law regulations.
The programme’s quality, range and academic aims are more or less appropriate according to
the academic degree. Nevertheless the ET was surprised about several subjects which are
offered, including the structure and the quite high amount of credits per course. The ET would
recommend the following proposals, which should be discussed in the Faculty of Law:


In general the ET recommends not offering more than 7 credits per course. This is the
current international standard and at the moment the development is to decrease from 7
to 5 credits. 

The first semester offers Economy which is not connected to any other subject in the
first semester. ET would recommend to combine the course e.g. with Trade law. 

The course “Introduction to law” and “History of state and legal institutions” have together 


15 credits, which is considered too much. In general, an overview of all of the main
aspects of law would be a good starting point in a modern law programme. 


The course “Roman law”, and its importance, always creates a huge discussion and there are
always different opinions regarding the question of having this course mandatory or not. The 
ET just wants to motivate the faculty to discuss whether or not it is still necessary to
offer Roman law as mandatory.

The third semester is packed with the main law courses. The ET would recommend
rearranging the courses, e.g. a combination of “Constitutional Law” and “Administrative
Law” would be a good combination; or “Civil Law” and “Obligation Law”. The courses with
procedural law are often 2 or 3 semesters later. The ET would recommend offering the
procedural courses in the following semester. 
The didactic concept is adopted by the teaching staff. This was discussed during the programme
and staff meeting (SV) with the teaching staff members.
The allocation of credits is appropriate and justified and comparable to other programmes. As
mentioned before, some courses should be decreased from 8 to 7 credits. One of the main
issues regarding workload is the missing workload evaluation by the students.
The combination of teaching methods and content is appropriate, and very common for law
studies, and could provide appropriate competences, qualifications, knowledge and skills. There
is not too much overlap in programmecontent, and where this occurs it is obvious for students.
Nevertheless the quality of the course descriptions (including the learning outcomes) is not
appropriate and the didactic concept is not worked out very well.
The admission criteria and admission procedures are appropriate and comparable with national
and international standards.
The programme offers sufficient opportunity for independent study, with 70% theoretical study
and 30% practical study.
At the moment, the ET is not able to answer the question of whether the ratio of the academic
staff and students is appropriate or not, because there was not enough information of relating
to the Faculty of Law.
Recommendations:

The ET recommends redesigning the curriculum based on a faculty discussion and using
the opportunity to establish a modern law programme. 

The didactic concept is not worked out well and should be worked out in more detail. 

The ET highly recommends that the SER is worked out in more detail. The existing SER is
not appropriate. 


4.2.2 Staff
The ET is not able to evaluate the staff, because the courses are taught by the faculty of Pristina
at the moment.
Recommendation:
 The ET highly recommends that the UMIB builds up its own faculty.
The SER offered more or less no information about research activities; in the SER it is stated “Plan
of researches at the institution, and the programmes of study is associated with the development
plan of PUM and is being drafted.” (p. 672)
Recommendation:

The ET highly recommends developing a research plan. 
The bachelor of law programme was started in 2013, but the library does not offer a single book
for law studies, which is therefore inadequate.
Recommendation:

The ET highly recommends investing in the basic book resources. 
The ET got the impression that UMBI has not yet established a quality management strategy.
Recommendation:

The ET recommends establishing a standardized evaluation process. 
The ET recommends the accreditation of the Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) with the condition that
UMIB establishes a core faculty of at least 5 staff members by the winter semester.
5 Faculty of Economics and Management
5.1 General Remarks
Though the Faculty of Economics and Management provides two Bachelor programmes, it is not
mentioned in the UMIB-document 'Vision, Mission, History'. The programmes 'Banking, Finance
and Accounting' and 'Management and Informatics' started 2013, both qualify for BA. Bachelor's
degree courses are for three years / six semesters, each one up to 30 ECTS, and a total of 180
ECTS. One member of ET had the opportunity to discuss with two members of academic staff
various aspects of the programmes mentioned above.
5.2 Banking, Finance and Accounting (BA)
5.2.1 Academic Programme and Student Management
some detailed facts and data can be found in SER. Based on a well defined didactic concept, quality, range
and academic aims of the programme are appropriate for Bachelor degree. All courses are designed so as
to achieve the objectives of the programme. Each semester students attend three compulsory-obligate and
two elective-optional courses. The degree BA corresponds to international standards, namely of
Universities of Ljubljana and Zagreb. The structure of the programme provides ample opportunities for
independent study and research by students. At UMIB internet and intranet are used by students, but
distance learning is yet not offered by UMIB. The allocation of ECTS applied by the faculty is similar to the
University of Prishtina. The workload of 180 ECTS is manageable for the students. Content of the lectures
and teaching methods are appropriate for achieving success and qualifications. The curriculum of the
programme is well supplemented by syllabuses of the courses, so transparency and access for teachers and
students is given. The admission procedures and standards correspond to international standards,
specifically three criteria are relevant: 20% weight for success in secondary school, 50% weight for result of
graduation exam, 30% weight for result of entrance exam.
5.2.2 Staff
Academic staff for the programme, according to SER:
Regular Professor: 1
Associated Professor: 4
Assistant Professor: 5
Assistents: 2
Academic staff is very engaged at a high academic and didactical level, in performing the
tasks specified by job description.
Recommendation:
Compared with the number of students, the head count of academic staff should be amended
at least by two persons.
At the present time the Faculty of Economics don't has a research strategy for R&D activities. As the staff
presently is mainly engaged in build up of faculty and teaching, international cooperation
activities do not take place. Some members of academic staff perform scientific research which
carries on to teaching of students. But presently students are not involved in research projects.
Recommendation:
As a first step towards research and international cooperation the Faculty of Economics should
formulate research proposals with focus on Kosovo, e.g. economic conditions for investment in
small firms in Kosovo.
According to information provided, faculty does not have a budget, financial planning is centralised at the
top-level of UMIB. Presently a new university campus is under construction, there should be adequate
room and infrastructure for the faculty. The new campus will provide Wi -Fi access for the students.
Currently a temporary building with ample space for the students is used.
Recommendation:
We recommend an open source Learning Management System (LMS) as complementary facility
to face to face teaching presently done.
It would be necessary to develop a culture of quality for the Faculty of Economics. According to
information from staff, the programmes are voluntarily assessed at faculty level. At university level
ET could not identify a quality evaluation process. The ET believes the SER was not reflective
enough, and this should be improved next time around.
Recommendation:
Implementation of a standardised teaching-assessment questionnaire, to be completed at the
end of semester by the students.
5.3 Management and Informatics (BA)
5.3.1 Academic Programme and Student Management
A lot of detailed facts and figures can be found in SER. The programme of studies in Management and
Informatics provides contemporary knowledge for the students needed to govern business, public services
and institutions in general, and to apply the learnt instruments for efficient management. Courses and
lessons in the computer cabinets are providing students the possibility to gain the practice abilities they
need. Each semester students attend three compulsory-obligate and two elective-optional courses. The
degree BA corresponds to international standards, namely of Universities of Ljubljana and Zagreb. The
structure of the programme provides ample opportunities for independent study and research by students.
At UMIB internet and intranet are used by students, but distance learning is yet not offered by UMIB. The
allocation of ECTS applied by the faculty is similar to the University of Prishtina. The workload of 180 ECTS
is manageable for the students. Content of the lectures and teaching methods are appropriate for achieving
success and qualifications. The curriculum of the programme is well supplemented by syllabuses of the
courses, so transparency and access for teachers and students is given. The admission procedures and
standards correspond to international standards, specifically three criteria are relevant: 20% weight
for success in secondary school, 50% weight for result of graduation exam, 30% weight for result
of entrance exam.
5.3.2 Staff
Academic staff for the programme, according to SER:
Regular Professor: 1
Associated Professor: 4
Assistant Professor: 5
Assistants: 2
Recommendation:
Compared with the number of students, the head count of academic staff should be amended
at least by two senior lecturers with declared abilities in business informatics.
5.3.3 Research and international Co-operation
At the present time the Faculty of Economics don't has available a research strategy for R&D activities. As
the staff presently is mainly engaged in build up of faculty and teaching, international cooperation activities
do not take place. Some members of academic staff perform scientific research which carries on to teaching
of students. But presently students are not involved in research projects.
Recommendation:
As a first step towards research and international cooperation the Faculty of Economics should
formulate research proposals with focus on Kosovo, e.g. implementing standardised
management software for small and medium firms in Kosovo.
According to information provided, faculty does not have a budget, financial planning is centralised at the
top-level of UMIB. Presently a new university campus is under construction, there should be adequate
room and infrastructure for the faculty. The new campus will also provide Wi-Fi access for the students.
Currently a temporary building with ample space for the students is used.
Recommendation:
We recommend an open source Learning Management System (LMS) as complementary facility
to face to face teaching presently done.
It would be necessary to develop a culture of quality for the Faculty of Economics. According to
information from staff, the programmes are voluntarily assessed at faculty level. At university
level ET could not identify a quality evaluation process. The ET believe the SER was not reflective
enough, and this should be improved next time around
Recommendation:
Implementation of a standardised teaching-assessment questionnairy, to be completed at the
end of semester by the students.
5.4 Overall Recommendations
*Denomination of faculty (Faculty of Economics, or Faculty of Economics and Management) and
programmes (Management and Informatics, or Managerial Informatics) should be clarified.
*For the Bachelor programme 'Management and Informatics' it would be absolutely essential
to give more weight to subjects of Informatics (e.g. Foundations of Informatics, Software
Engineering).
*Regulation of assessment procedures for both programmes, at programme and lecture level.
*More permanent academic staff! According to information given at the site visit, the
faculty servicing two Bachelor programmes consists merely of:
Academic Staff
Permanent
Foreign
Total
Prof. regular
Prof. associated
2
2
4
1
3
4
Prof.
assistant
2
2
4
Assistant
New Assistent
3
2
5
2
1
3
*ET recommends the accreditation of the Bachelor Programmes 'Banking, Finance and
Accounting' and 'Management and Informatics'.
6 Faculty of Geosciences
6.1 General Remarks
The Faculty of Geosciences provides academic degree Programmes that are important for the
future economic growth of Kosovo including Bachelor Programmes in Geology and in Mining
(including options for Geotechnic); Masters Programmes in Hydrogeology and Engineering
Geology, and in Mining and Geotechnical Engineering; Bachelor and Master Programmes in
Materials and Metallurgy; as well as Master Programme in Deposits of Mineral Raw Materials.
These Programmes aim to provide skilled professional workers for exploration and development
of the natural resources of the country. It is, therefore, imperative that each programme has
substantial consideration of associated environmental factors embedded in it. Indeed each course
should link to relevant environmental considerations.
While these courses are commendable, there are a number of recommendations for
improvement set out below.
6.2 Staff
Members of staff from each Programme were available to discuss issues with the expert team.
The expert team were shown around the facilities currently available to the staff and students
in the Faculty, and were shown the site of the new buildings to be opened in 2015.
The staff in the Faculty of Geosciences is very enthusiastic about their subjects. They are
to be commended on the range of core subjects and optional subjects available to students
on each Programme. There is some scope for rationalisation, with a reduction in the
number of course options available, if staff and financial resources become limited.
The reporting structures in the Faculty were not clear in the self-evaluation report (SAR). The expert team
were not sure how programmes are proposed, facilitated and examined at Faculty level. In particular, the
Faculty members need to ensure that there is good communication between courses and programmes.
This is essential in order to provide the best learning experience for the students.
There are 14 full time professors, 15 professors’ assistants, 8 assistant professors, 4 lecturers, and
10 assistant Lecturers in the Faculty. Although the academic staff is very committed to their
subjects, the total workload of permanent academic staff was not clear. Six hours of lecturing is
the normal workload, with some overseeing (but not running) of practical classes. It would appear
that there is sufficient staff to run the Programmes offered.
The issues identified by the staff for improvement were finances, space and facilities. It is
essential that the Faculty of Geoscience is allocated appropriate space, including laboratories,
and has adequate finances for appropriate equipment on the new campus.
6.3 Research and international collaboration
Research activity was difficult to quantify in the short time available. Research-led teaching is
the aspiration, and it is essential that this is encouraged and facilitated. Staff report that there
is a Faculty policy for research travel. Some of the staff travel internationally, to conferences,
and have collaborations with other institutions. Links formed with Zagreb, Krakow and BRGM
during benchmarking should be strengthened.
International research could be enhanced by developing good video-conferencing facilities.
There is also scope for research expansion and collaborations globally through sharing of
expertise on postgraduate Programmes. This can be done successfully online. Building networks
and capacity to bid for international funding will provide Ph.D students that are required for UMIB
to become a Centre of Excellence in teaching and research. Joint Ph.D students, with other
institutions, should be considered.
Recommendation:

A Strategic plan for Research for each Department or Programme should be written, and
an operational plan derived from this. 

6.4 General recommendations
There are some general recommendations to be made about the Programmes.
Recommendations:

Where overlap in geoscience course content occurs, and where linkages between
Programmes would be beneficial, some courses could serve more than one Programme. 

The learning outcomes should be reviewed and modified. 

General courses (Mathematics I and II, Physics, Chemistry, Informatics, Languages) in
all engineering programmes should provide the same learning outcomes. 

Repetition of some topics in course programmes of Materials and Metallurgy
bachelor programme should be revised and eliminated. 

The main aim of each programme should correspond to learning outcomes, which serve
as a basis for the formation of study course unit’s tasks and topics. 

Implement more formal processes and steady reporting in the Quality Assurance. 





The learning outcomes for most courses need further consideration. Assistance should be given
to academic staff members to write the learning outcomes in the appropriate form. It is not
sufficient to say the student should “know everything about XXX …..” or “understand XXX…”.
In the design of any course the learning outcomes are written first. What is it that a student will
be able to do when they have completed the course? The assessment is then designed. If the
student can perform the assessment and therefore achieve the learning outcomes, the student
will be demonstrating what they know and understand.
Recommendation:

The learning outcomes should be written in a consistent way for each programme. This
will be helpful to the student and to the future employer. For example, it may be helpful
to start each set of course learning outcomes with 
“On successful completion of this course a student will be able to:” and then go on
to use a single action verb for each learning outcome, such as,
1) Describe…..
2) Explain…….
3) Summarise……
4) Evaluate…..
Within each course the learning outcomes and the course description can then show how each
course is distinct. It should be possible to see a development of knowledge and skills from first
year to third year.
Sufficient detail of the modes of assessment was not included in the Self -evaluation report (SER).
Recommendations:

Modes of assessment must be made clearer. The department should list all of the
student assessment for each course in the Programme. This should demonstrate a broad
range of types of assessment eg scientific/laboratory reports, essays, quantitative
analysis, research project, oral presentation, field report, thesis. 

Include formative as well as summative assessment, and make this explicit to the student. 


6.5 Bachelor of Geology B.Sc.
This programme was evaluated on the basis of a self evaluation report (SER) and a site visit. The
programme is important nationally because of the legacy and future potential for exploration
and exploitation of mineral resources. The programme benefits from international
collaboration with other higher education institutions, government organisations and industry.
This should be further encouraged, as it benefits students and has potential for research. This
aligns with the implementation strategy to harmonize “coordination of the curriculum of
studies, with the labour market”.
It is imperative that the programme has substantial consideration of associated environmental factors
embedded in it. Indeed each course should link to relevant environmental considerations.
The admission criteria and procedures are rigorous and appropriate for the programme.
According to the information given in the self-evaluation report (SER), the course content is thorough and
at the right level. The proportion of permanent staff to external staff is appropriate, and staff have sufficient
expertise to deliver the programme. The proportion of students' independent study time to classroom time
is appropriate. The ECTS credits assigned are justifiable, and the workload is manageable. This was
confirmed by the students during the site visit. Benchmarking indicates that the degree corresponds to
international standards. However, comparisons show that the development of the course content in first
year takes a very traditional approach.
Recommendation:

That the students are introduced to plate tectonics earlier in the programme, so that
all following courses can refer back to this unifying theory. 
Although it is clear that the students need a strong grasp of certain mathematical concepts, as well as basic
physics and chemistry, the students may not see the purpose of these foundation courses during their first
year. Selected geoscience courses should show how mathematics and physics and chemistry are assimilated
into geoscience courses for the benefit of the students. Ways of helping students to see meaningful
connections between the subjects they are studying in first year would
be very beneficial for students. For example, in mathematics, calculation of a partial differential
equation, using appropriate parameters, could be linked to thermal conduction or fluid flow. This would
be less abstract for the students, and would allow them to see future potential.
Recommendations:

Make interventions to help students to see the purpose of other scientific/mathematical
disciplines by making connections in the first year of study by using real world examples. 

Show clearer pathways in the naming of Programmes, for the benefit of the students. 

For example use names that show progression.
Semester 1: Introduction to Mineralogy Part 1 (replacing General Mineralogy)
Semester 2: Introduction to Mineralogy Part 2 (replacing Special Mineralogy)
Semester 3: Advanced Mineralogy. (replacing one of the mineralogy courses)

Each course should name the pre-requisites for the course. That is, which courses must
be passed before taking this one? (Looking to the future, part-time students from
industry may choose single courses for continual professional development and need to
know the prerequisites). 

The learning outcomes for most courses need further consideration. Within each course the
learning outcomes and the course description should show how each course is distinct. Assistance
should be given to academic staff members to write the learning outcomes in the appropriate
form. It is not sufficient to say the student should “know everything about XXX …..” or “understand
XXX…”. In the design of any course the learning outcomes are written first. What is it that a student
will be able to do when they have completed the course? The assessment is then designed. If the
student can perform the assessment and therefore achieve the learning outcomes, the student
will be demonstrating what they know and understand. This will more completely fulfil the
institutional mission statement “Continuity of the learning process according to standards of the
Bologna process” 

will be helpful to the student and to the future employer. It should be possible to see a
development of knowledge and skills from first year to third year. 


Sufficient detail of the modes of assessment was not included in the Self-evaluation report
(SER). However, these were discussed with staff during the site visit.
Recommendations:

Modes of assessment must be made clearer. The department should list all of the student
assessments for each course in the Programme. This should demonstrate a broad range
of types of assessment eg scientific/laboratory reports, essays, quantitative analysis,
research project, oral presentation, field report, thesis. In particular explicit assessment
criteria for the bachelor's thesis would be helpful. 


Members of staff who teach on the programme were available to meet to discuss issues with the
expert team. It was confirmed that there are enough staff at the required level of expertise to
run this programme. The reporting structures in the Faculty were not clear in the self -evaluation
report (SAR). The expert team were not sure how programmes are proposed, facilitated and
examined at Faculty level. In particular, the Faculty members need to ensure that there is good
communication between courses and programmes. This is essential in order to provide the best
learning experience for the students.
essential that the B.Sc. Geology is allocated appropriate space, including laboratories, and has
adequate finances for appropriate equipment on the new campus.
The students were very complimentary of the care taken by their teachers on the
programme. However they were not familiar with the course evaluation questionnaire.
The expert team were shown the facilities available for teaching, and associated research. They were also
shown the site of the new university campus to be ready in 2015. Since there is significant future potential
for online teaching and learning, the necessary infrastructure must be included in the new premises for
video conferencing, allowing classes of students to receive a lecture remotely from a partner institution, or
for an academic staff member in UMIB to give a lecture to a class in another country. In addition
international class debate can take place. With this in mind, the language classes associated with the
programme are to be welcomed and further strengthened. This could be done by co-curricular classes, or
regular informal meetings to practice the language.
The recommended literature associated with each course should now be updated where
possible. Only the ‘classic’ literature should be pre-2000. Otherwise texts should be post 2000
to take consideration of modern techniques.
Recommendations:

Each course should encourage student evaluation (feedback from the students about the
course; what they liked most; what could be improved; any other comments). This
questionnaire could be administered half way through the course (to allow the teacher
to make adjustments), or administered at the end of the course. The teacher should
reflect on the feedback and where appropriate respond to the head of the department
and the students. This ensures ‘closing of the feedback loop’. 

Review and update the recommended literature for the courses 

International research could be enhanced by developing good video-conferencing facilities. There is also
scope for research expansion and collaborations globally through sharing of expertise on postgraduate
Programmes. This can be done successfully online. Building networks and capacity to bid for international
funding will provide Ph.D students that are required for UMIB to become a Centre of Excellence in teaching
and research. Joint Ph.D students, with other institutions, should be
considered. This will more completely fulfil the institutional mission statement to strengthen
“scientific researches as well as the development of science in general and in particular way the
cooperation with educational institutions of higher education in the country, region and Europe;
exchange of information and advanced cooperation on research, with purpose of achieving
European standards".
Recommendation:

A Strategic plan for Research for each Department or Programme should be written, and
The programme has been evaluated previously and progressing with its quality culture. This
aligns with the recent institutional evaluation.
The ET recommends the accreditation of Bachelor in Geology, B.Sc., with the provision that the
Faculty of Geoscience of UMIB follow ET recommendations.
6.6 Masters in Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology M.Sc.
programme is important nationally, for the supply of water resources and for the economic well being of Kosovo. The programme benefits from international collaboration with other higher
education institutions, government organisations and industry. This should be further
encouraged, as it benefits students and has potential for research. It is imperative that the
programme has substantial consideration of associated environmental factors embedded in it.
Indeed each course should link to relevant environmental considerations.
The staff teaching on this programme are very enthusiastic about their subjects. They are to be commended
on the range of core subjects and optional subjects available to students on this Programme. The proportion
of permanent staff to external staff is appropriate, and staff have sufficient expertise to deliver the
programme. The proportion of students' independent study time to classroom time is appropriate. The
ECTS credits assigned are justifiable, and the workload is manageable. This was confirmed by the students
during the site visit. Benchmarking indicates that the degree corresponds to international standards. There
is some scope for rationalisation, with a reduction in the number of course options available, if staff and
financial resources become limited.
The disciplinary content of the course appears to be at the right level. However, modification of
both Programme learning outcomes, and course learning outcomes, is urgently needed for the
benefit of the programme team and for prospective students. This is to more completely fulfil the
institutional mission statement “Continuity of the learning process according to standards of the
Bologna process”
Criteria for the research thesis should be contained within the Self-evaluation report (SER).
More details of the benchmarking exercise are needed in the SER.
Some equipment for practical work in rock dynamics and resource evaluation was demonstrated in the
site visit. The expert team did not see a range of geophysical equipment, such as a resistivity
meter. Taking measurements in the field is essential for both hydrogeology and engineering
geology, particularly at Masters level. The space for teaching and carrying out experiments is
small, necessitating multiple repeated practical classes.
It is highly commendable that external partnerships are strong and that students can use facilities at the
premises of industrial partners within the region. This aligns with the implementation strategy to harmonize
“coordination of the curriculum of studies, with the labour market”. Work-placements are excellent and
essential at this level of learning. The inclusion of field-based learning is particularly important in this regard,
and is to be commended. However, the main issues identified by the staff for improvement in running the
programme were finances, space and facilities. It is essential that this programme in the Faculty of
Geoscience is allocated appropriate space, including laboratories, and has adequate finances for
appropriate equipment on the new campus.
There is huge potential for online teaching and learning at Masters level. Infrastructure must be
included in the new premises for video conferencing, allowing classes of students to receive a
lecture remotely from a partner institution, or for an academic staff member in UMIB to give a
lecture to a class in another country. In addition, equipment can be demonstrated online from a
remote location. Also, international class debate can take place. With this in mind, the language
classes associated with the programme are to be welcomed and further strengthened. This could
be done by co - curricular classes, or regular informal meetings to practice the language. This aligns
with the institutional implementation strategy to build bridges with European higher education
institutions "through exchange of students and programmes".
International research could be enhanced by developing good video-conferencing facilities. There is also
scope for research expansion and collaborations globally through sharing of expertise on postgraduate
Programmes. This can be done successfully online. Building networks and capacity to bid for international
funding will provide Ph.D students that are required for UMIB to become a Centre of Excellence in teaching
and research. Joint Ph.D students, with other institutions, should be considered. This will more completely
fulfil the institutional mission statement to strengthen
“scientific researches as well as the development of science in general and in particular way the
cooperation with educational institutions of higher education in the country, region and Europe;
exchange of information and advanced cooperation on research, with purpose of achieving
European standards.
Sufficient detail of the modes of assessment was not included in the Self -evaluation report (SER).
In particular explicit criteria for the assessment of the Master's thesis would be helpful. This is
required to allow confirmation of alignment of learning outcomes (including competences),
assessment and teaching methods.
For some courses, the recommended literature should be reviewed and updated to take account
of new techniques.
Recommendations:

The Faculty should invest in geophysical equipment, in particular an electrical resistivity
meter and magnetometer for shallow subsurface investigation. This equipment can be
used by other courses/programmes in the Faculty. 


The learning outcomes for most courses need further consideration. Within each course
the learning outcomes and the course description should show how each course is
distinct. Assistance should be given to academic staff members to write the learning
outcomes for their course in the appropriate form. 

will be helpful to the student and to the future employer. 



A strategic plan for research should be written, and an operational plan derived from this. 






The programme has been evaluated previously and progressing with its quality culture. This
The ET recommends the accreditation of Master in Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology,
M.Sc., with the provision that the Faculty of Geoscience of UMIB follow ET recommendations.
6.7 Bachelor of Mining B.Sc., Bachelor of Geotechnics, B.Sc., and Bachelor
Preparation of Mineral Raw Materials, B.Sc.
This Programme has 3 degree outlets and was evaluated on the basis of a self evaluation report
(SER) and a site visit. The Programme is important nationally because of the legacy and future
potential for exploration and exploitation of mineral resources. However, it is imperative that each
programme has substantial consideration of associated environmental factors embedded in it.
Indeed every course should link to relevant environmental considerations.
The staff associated with the programme were available to meet with the expert team. The staff on this
programme are very enthusiastic about their subjects. They are to be commended on the range of core
subjects and optional subjects available to students. Specialisation in year three has enabled three
pathways to named degrees. The proportion of permanent staff to external staff is
appropriate, and staff expertise is at a sufficiently high level to deliver the programme. There is
some scope for rationalisation, with a reduction in the number of course options available, if
staff and financial resources become limited. The department could also consider leaving
specialisations until Masters level. The proportion of students' independent study time to
classroom time is appropriate. The ECTS credits assigned are justifiable, and the workload is
manageable. This was confirmed by the students during the site visit.
The Programme benefits from international collaboration with other higher education institutions,
government organisations and industry. This should be further encouraged, as it benefits students and
has potential for research. This aligns with the implementation strategy to harmonize
“coordination of the curriculum of studies, with the labour market”. The inclusion of fieldbased learning is important in this regard, and is to be commended.
The programme has been benchmarked internationally, and has comparable standards. More
details of the benchmarking exercise could have been given in the self evaluation report (SER).
According to the information given in the self-evaluation report (SER), the course content is
thorough and at the right level. This 3 year undergraduate degree is highly quantitative, as it
should be. However, more exposure to fundamental geology would be beneficial.
Sufficient detail of the modes of assessment was not included in the Self -evaluation report (SER), although
these were referred to in the meeting with the staff. This is required to allow confirmation of alignment
of learning outcomes (including competences), assessment and teaching methods.
It is highly commendable that external partnerships are strong and that students can use facilities
at the premises of industrial partners within the region. Work-placements are excellent and
essential at this level of learning. However the issues identified by the staff for improvement were
finances, space and facilities. It is essential that this programme in the Faculty of Geoscience is
allocated appropriate space, including laboratories, and has adequate finances for appropriate
equipment on the new campus
The expert team were shown the facilities available for the delivery of the programme, and
associated research. The expert team were shown the site of the new university campus to be
ready in 2015. There is huge potential for online teaching and learning in this programme.
Infrastructure must be included in the new premises for video conferencing, allowing classes of
students to receive a lecture remotely from a partner institution, or for an academic staff member
in UMIB to give a lecture to a class in another country. In addition, equipment can be
demonstrated online from a remote location. Also, international class debate can take place. With
this in mind, the language classes associated with the programme are to be welcomed and further
strengthened. This could be done by co-curricular classes, or regular informal meetings to practice
the language. This aligns with the institutional implementation strategy to "build bridges through
exchange of students and programmes".
The expert team met with students from the faculty. The students were not familiar with the
course evaluation questionnaire designed to be given to students at the end of each course.
Research activity was difficult to quantify in the short time available. Research-led teaching is the
aspiration, and it is essential that this is encouraged and facilitated. Staff report that there is a Faculty
policy for research travel. Some of the staff travel internationally, to conferences, and have
collaborations with other institutions. Links formed with Zagreb, Krakow and BRGM
International research could be enhanced by developing good video-conferencing facilities. There
is also scope for research expansion and collaborations globally through sharing of expertise on
postgraduate Programmes. This can be done successfully online. Building networks and capacity
to bid for international funding will provide Ph.D students that are required for UMIB to become
a Centre of Excellence in teaching and research. Joint Ph.D students, with other institutions,
should be considered. This will more completely fulfil the institutional mission statement to
strengthen “scientific researches as well as the development of science in general and in particular
way the cooperation with educational institutions of higher education in the country, region and
Europe; exchange of information and advanced cooperation on research, with purpose of
achieving European standards".
Recommendations:

For some courses in this Programme, the recommended literature could be updated to
take account of new techniques and government directives. 


Course pre-requisites should be explicit in the course descriptions. 

The learning outcomes for most courses need further consideration. Within each course
the learning outcomes and the course description should show how each course is
distinct. Assistance should be given to academic staff members to write the learning
outcomes for their course in the appropriate form. This will more completely fulfil the
institutional mission statement “Continuity of the learning process according to standards
of the Bologna process” 









Include formative as well as summative assessment, and make this explicit to the students. 

A Strategic plan for research associated with this programme should be developed, and

The programme has been evaluated previously and is progressing with its quality culture. This
The ET recommends the accreditation of Bachelor in Mining, B.Sc., Bachelor of Geotechnics,
B.Sc., and Bachelor Preparation of Mineral Raw Materials, B.Sc., with the provision that the
6.8 Masters in Mining M.Sc.
Programme is important nationally because of the legacy and future potential for exploration
and exploitation of mineral resources. However, it is imperative that each programme has
substantial consideration of associated environmental factors embedded in it. Indeed every
course should link to relevant environmental considerations.
The staff teaching on this programme are very enthusiastic about their subjects. They are to be
commended on the range of core subjects and optional subjects available to students on each
Programme. The proportion of permanent staff to external staff is appropriate, and staff have
sufficient expertise to deliver the programme. The proportion of students' independent study
time to classroom time is appropriate. The ECTS credits assigned are justifiable, and the
workload is manageable. This was confirmed by the students during the site visit. There is some
scope for rationalisation, with a reduction in the number of course options available, if staff and
financial resources become limited.
The disciplinary content of the course appears to be at the right level. The links with corporations for the
benefit of students is commendable. This aligns with the implementation strategy to harmonize
“coordination of the curriculum of studies, with the labour market”. Field-based learning is an
important part of the curriculum. However, modification of both Programme learning outcomes,
and course learning outcomes, is urgently needed for the benefit of the programme team and for
prospective students. This will also more completely fulfil the institutional mission statement
“Continuity of the learning process according to standards of the Bologna process”
The inclusion of the seminar paper, and the Master's thesis are to be commended. The criteria for the
assessment of the Seminar paper and presentation could be made more explicit. Similarly, the information
in the Self-evaluation Report(SER) on the research thesis is more about the organisation of the project than
about the characteristics of excellence in research that will be used for assessment. Details of assessment
of the Research thesis should be explicit for students and contained within the self evaluation report (SER).
This is required to allow confirmation of alignment of learning outcomes (including competences),
assessment and teaching methods.
Benchmarking indicates that the degree corresponds to international standards. However,
more details of the benchmarking exercise are needed in the self evaluation report (SER).
The Research skills course is very useful and can help students to focus prior to their thesis
research. However, at this level, students should be applying enquiry and research skills
throughout all of the courses. Work-placement is not explicit in the list of courses, but could be
part of the research project.
There is huge potential for online teaching and learning, especially at Masters level.
Some courses have very up to date literature resources, while others are in need of some updating.
The staff were available to meet and discuss issues with the expert team. The main issues
identified by the staff for improvement were finances, space and facilities. The expert team were
taken on a site visit and shown the teaching spaces and some equipment for laboratory teaching.
The expert team was also taken to view the site of the new campus to be ready in 2015. It is
essential that the Masters in Mining M.Sc. is allocated appropriate space, including laboratories,
There is huge potential for online teaching and learning at Masters level. Infrastructure must be
included in the new premises for video conferencing, allowing classes of students to receive a
lecture remotely from a partner institution, or for an academic staff member in UMIB to give a
lecture to a class in another country. In addition, equipment can be demonstrated online from a
remote location. Also, international class debate can take place. With this in mind, the language
classes associated with the programme are to be welcomed and further strengthened. This could
be done by co-curricular classes, or regular informal meetings to practice the language. This aligns
with the institutional implementation strategy to "build bridges through exchange of students and
programmes".
should be considered. This will more completely fulfil the institutional mission statement to
strengthen “scientific researches as well as the development of science in general and in particular
way the cooperation with educational institutions of higher education in the country, region and
Europe; exchange of information and advanced cooperation on research, with purpose of
achieving European standards".
Recommendations:

course; what they liked most; what could be improved; any other comments). A
questionnaire has been devised by the Faculty of Geosciences. This questionnaire could
be administered half way through the course (to allow the teacher to make adjustments),
or administered at the end of the course. The teacher should reflect on the feedback and
where appropriate respond to the head of the department and the students. This ensures
‘closing of the feedback loop’. 


Review and update literature recommended literature for students 

The learning outcomes for most courses need further consideration, and modification.
Within each course the learning outcomes and the course description should show how
each course is distinct. Assistance should be given to academic staff members to write the
learning outcomes for their course in the appropriate form, according to international
standards, for the benefit of the students. 




A Strategic plan for research associated with this programme should be written, and
an operational plan devised from this. 




The programme has been evaluated previously and is progressing with its quality culture. This
The ET recommends the accreditation of Master in Mining M.Sc., with the provision that the
6.9 Masters in Geotechnical Engineering
Programme is important nationally because the legacy and future potential for exploration and
exploitation of mineral resources requires a employees with specific knowledge and
understanding in geotechnical sciences. However, it is imperative that that this programme has
consideration of environmental factors in the geosciences. Indeed each course should link to
relevant environmental considerations where possible.
The Programme content corresponds to the institutions mission statement and principles of
employability, to harmonize “coordination of the curriculum of studies, with the labour market”.
However, the programme’s quality, range and academic aims are not clearly described in the SER.
The degree has been included in with the description of the Masers in Mining, M.Sc. and the
exact title of the Programme was not clear. These Programmes should be written up separately
in future evaluations. Descriptions of courses are given, and course content appears to
correspond to international standards. However, the same course 'probability and statistics'
appears to be offered twice, and there is no description of the course 'General Geology'. A course
'General Geology' is not sufficient for this Masters Programme. Geological considerations should
underpin all courses in this Programme.
The structure of the programme gives sufficient opportunity for independent study and analysis.
Traditional classroom, laboratory and field-based teaching are carried out. The allocation of ECTS
appears to be appropriate. However, to allow for inter-institutional collaboration, and student
mobility within Europe, it would be advisable to be more consistent in the length of courses ( either 5 or 6
credits per course, or multiples of these – not a mix of 5 and 6). The learning outcomes for most courses
require some review and modification. Assistance should be given in this regard.
The teaching methods and content of teaching units are appropriate for the successful achievement of the
programme’s goals and outcomes (competences and qualifi cations, knowledge and skills). The workload
required for the academic programme is manageable for students. Laboratory and field - based teaching
are valued by the students and should be expanded where possible. Work - placements and cooperation
with off-campus partners are not explicitly described in the SER, but are implicit. They should be
encouraged. Strategies for careful monitoring and academic supervision of students while off-campus
should be transparent and included in documentation.
Types of assessment and criteria for assessment should be contained within the SER. There should
be evidence of students' research and enquiry within each course. The inclusion of the seminar
paper, and the Master's thesis are to be commended. The criteria for the assessment of the
Seminar paper and presentation could be made more explicit. Similarly, the information in the Self
-evaluation Report(SER) on the research thesis is more about the organisation of the project than
about the characteristics of excellence in research that will be used for assessment. Details of
assessment of the Research thesis should be explicit for students and contained within the self
evaluation report (SER). This is required to allow confirmation of alignment of learning outcomes
(including competences), assessment and teaching methods.
There is huge potential for online teaching and learning at this Masters level. This could be
explored with partners in other institutions. Appropriate infrastructure will be needed.
The expert team were not sure how courses within the programme are proposed, facilitated and
examined at Faculty level. Faculty members need to ensure that there is good communication between
courses and programmes. This is essential in order to provide the best learning experience for the
students. There is some overlap with other courses, and it may be possible to have some common core
courses within the faculty, or ‘team-teach‘ certain activities.
The admission criteria and admission procedures appear to be rigorous and appropriate for entry
to this programme. However, it is not clear whether an undergraduate student would have to
specialise in Geotechnic to enter the masters Programme. Each course description should include
the pre-requisites for the course. At this level, a person who is employed may wish to take only
one course, as continual professional development, and will need to know what prior knowledge
is required. This will allow greater capacity for flexible and part-time study to meet the national
requirement for employability and economic growth..
Recommendation(s):

Where overlap in geoscience course content occurs, and where linkages between
Programmes would be beneficial, some courses could serve more than one Programme. 

The learning outcomes should be reviewed and modified. Within each course the learning

outcomes and the course description should show how each course is distinct. Assistance should
be given to academic staff members to write the learning outcomes for their course in the
appropriate form, according to international standards, for the benefit of the students. 





6.9.2 Staff
The institution has an adequate number of permanent staff and appropriate proportions of permanent
and external staff, though the number will have to grow with new facilities and greater student demand.
The geosciences staff are very enthusiastic about their subjects. They are to be commended on the range
of core subjects and optional subjects available to students on each Programme. However, there is some
scope for rationalisation, with a reduction in the number of course options available, if staff and financial
resources become limited.
The academic staff appear to have an appropriate academic standard with appropriate qualifications
according to the basic criteria. The ratio of the academic staff to students is appropriate.
essential that the Faculty of Geoscience is allocated appropriate space, including laboratories,
Recommendation(s):

The learning outcomes for most courses need consideration. Further assistance should
be given to academic staff members in order to write the learning outcomes in the
appropriate form. This should be done in a way that creates a consistant approach within
the Programme. 

The Masters in Geotechnical Engineering should be written up fully in the SER, and reflections
on staff concerns relating to finances, space and facilities should be included. 

Research activity was difficult to quantify in the short time available. Research-led teaching is the
aspiration, and it is essential that this is encouraged and facilitated. The Staff report that there is
a Faculty policy for research travel, and that they are involved in inter-institutional collaborations,
and there is funding to attend European research conferences. This impacts positively on the
aspiration for research-led teaching. Links formed during Faculty of Geoscience benchmarking
should be strengthened.
This research should be built on, and a Departmental strategic plan for research should be
available to encourage and manage this process.
Students are involved in some research leading to a Master’s thesis. Collaboration with local and
regional corporations and industry, in particular the use of laboratory facilities, work placements
and associated mentoring, are beneficial to the students in this regard.
should be considered.
Recommendation(s):

A Strategic plan for Research associated with this Programme should be written, and an
operational plan derived from this. This will strengthen the research-led teaching ethos. 
The programme/departmental budget plan was not available to the expert team. The tuition fee has
recently been halved, from €300 per semester to €150, and a Government subsidy is given to UMIB.
The expert team were taken on a tour of some of the laboratory and classroom teaching
facilities. Though adequate for the student numbers, through a rota system for use of
equipment, these facilities must be expanded and improved. The expert group was taken to see
the new campus site, to be ready for occupation in 2015. The expert team urge the UMIB to
allocate sufficient budget to equip this important programme, at the postgraduate level, so that
the institution can build a European Centre for Excellence in Geosciences.
Recommendation(s):

The Faculty should invest in additional equipment, such as geophysical equipment
for investigating the shallow subsurface. This equipment can be used by other
courses/programmes in the Faculty. 
The programme is included in the evolving quality assurance and improvement measures being
undertaken with assistance from the Kosovo Accreditation Agency, and is taking these measures seriously.
However, details of benchmarking activities for this Programme were not given in the SER.
The aims and learning outcomes of courses, and at the Programme level, need further discussion
and improvement for the benefit of students, and employers.
The students were not familiar with the course evaluation questionnaire.
Recommendation(s):


Continue to build a quality assurance/improvement strategy, informed by the
recommendations given in this report, and aligned with the Institutional quality process. 

course; what they liked most; what could be improved; any other comments). A
questionnaire has been devised by the Faculty of Geosciences. This questionnaire could
be administered half way through the course (to allow the teacher to make adjustments),
or administered at the end of the course. The teacher should reflect on the feedback and
where appropriate respond to the head of the department and the students. This ensures
‘closing of the feedback loop’. 
The ET recommends the accreditation of Master in Geotechnical Engineering, M.Sc., with the
provision that the Faculty of Geoscience of UMIB follow ET recommendations.
6.10 Bachelor of Materials and Metallurgy B.Sc.
6.10.1 Academic programmes and students management
The department of Materials and Metallurgy in UMIB that organizes and executes studies has a
strong tradition and is based on the experience of universities in Germany, Austria and Croatia,
and has close connection with industry in Kosovo. A wide variety of employment possibilities in
the region enables the graduates to prepare for a future career. Employment opportunities are
in both state and private companies which deal with processing of materials, recycling of various
metals and waste materials ,as well as in a variety of services, metallurgical laboratories, public
enterprises and scientific research institutes.
The Programme Materials and Metallurgy B.Sc. is comparable with similar regional and European
programmes in different universities, eg. TU BA Freiberg, and University of Zagreb. Course units
of similar content compile about 80 % of these programmes. This aspect of the curriculum
enables the students to move, and transfer credit, to other Universities. Majority of entrants of
UMIB chose this university according to regional and territorial factors.
The programme belongs to the technological science study area, and its aims are defined in the
SER. The key learning outcomes are defined in a common way. It is worth mentioning here that
programme learning outcomes presented according to the EUR-ACE Framework Standards (
http://www.enaee.eu/publications/european-framework-standards) would be more suitable
and understandable (Knowledge and Understanding; Engineering Analysis; Engineering Design;
Investigations; Engineering Practice; Transferable Skills).
The programme content is based on the professional requirements: production of iron and steel, thermal
processes and heat treatment, refractory materials, extractive metallurgy, foundry, surface coatings and
other courses in the field of materials and metallurgy. The Materials and Metallurgy study programme’s
scope is 180 ECTS credits (one credit is proportionate to 25 hours of student contact work at the
auditoriums and appropriate individual work hours per week). The Programme consists of two parts:
general study field courses (years 1 and 2; 120 credits), and special courses in Materials and Metallurgy
(year 3; 60 credits). The final Bachelor thesis has 10 credits.
As it is stated in the SER, the amount of credits devoted to the separate course units is sufficient
to enable students to achieve the particular learning outcomes. But the links between the
programme learning outcomes and learning outcomes of courses are not presented in SER.
For theoretical lectures, 59 % of the total workload of the programme is taken up; the other
41% is devoted to practical and laboratory work. There is no clear indication in the course
curricula about the student's independent work during each semester.
There are elective courses in the programme, though the students can usually choose only one or
two alternative courses per semester.
Didactic concept of programme can not be evaluated according SER, more detailed information
should be provided in the course descriptions.
The admission requirements are well-founded.
Recommendations:

The names of course units listed in the SER, in the description of courses, are not
consistent. For example, Statics and Resistance - Static and Resistance of Materials,
Mechanics of Rigid Body - Mechanics of Solid Bodies, Fundamentals of Materials Science
- Basics of Materials Science, etc.; description of some courses are missed, for example,
Applied Software - Application of Software. 

At the same time, some of the courses have repetitive topics: Basics of Materials
Science I and Basis of Materials Technology I have the same topics - Mechanical
properties; on the other hand separate course units on the same topic (Mechanical
Properties) exist in the programme. 

It is stated in the SER that the course unit Materialography gives knowledge for both
experienced and inexperienced students. However, the course programme seems to be
very general. Prerequisites for each course should appear in the curriculum description
of each course. The programme gives topics and tasks for the courses, but it is very
difficult to discover how many topics students will complete during each semester. 

Learning outcomes presented according to the EUR-ACE Framework Standards would
be more suitable and understandable. 

The programme aims and learning outcomes must be publicly accessible on the
institutional web-site, as well as on other information channels. 

The redaction style of courses could be also more standardized (see for instance
Applied Software - Application of Software, Fundamentals of... - Basic of..., etc.). 





6.10.2 Staff
In general the staff appears to be very motivated, and during staff meeting were frank and
open about the strengths and weaknesses of the departments.
There are 6 full time professors, 5 associated professors, 4 assistant professors, 4 lecturers,
and 7 assistant lecturers in the programme. It would appear that there are sufficient staff to
run the Programmes offered. The teaching load of permanent staff seems to be balanced with
6 hours teaching per week for senior staff members. Assistants have to teach 10 hours per
week, which seems to be quite high compared to international standards.
In experts opinion teaching staff turnover should be presented in SER to ensure an
adequate provision of the programme.
There are no evidences in the SER about the satisfaction of the administrative and teaching staff, their
worries and daily difficulties, administrative burdens, their perception of student life.
It was found during staff meeting that some staff development/training is provided e.g.
language courses, and teaching development courses, but it is not clear how teaching staff
develop their qualification.
Academic staff members have scientific publications, but for International academic recognition the
publication activity should be increased (h-index is in most cases around 1-2). The staff members should
have a plan ensuring participation of essential international scientific conferences in the field.
The ET team were informed that the staff gets support for international projects or visits from the
University and that UMIB supports conference participation (twice per year) for staff development
and research collaboration purposes. When the ET suggested further innovation, and the potential
of teaching some courses in English, to attract students and further international collaboration,
the staff stated that they have a lot of ideas but at the moment it is not possible to implement
them. In the case of English courses the ET sees no impenetrable barriers to incorporation of these
into the programmes.
Recommendations:


Staff should be supported in their endeavours to build research links. 

To develop staff training plan. 


6.10.3 Research and International Cooperation
The study programme is mostly oriented towards materials science and metallurgy. During the
site visit the ET found that there was a lack of space and equipment in the laboratories. However
the SER gives information about possible work and laboratory space in the companies and
institutions of the region (eg. Trepca, KEK, INKOS Feronikeli). Besides practical work, students
have the opportunity to realise research using analytical laboratory infrastructure of the above
mentioned companies and institutions. The Department of Materials and Metallurgy have a
number of agreements with institutions, where students are able to perform internships.
New subdivision, International Department, in the UMIB would be effective to increase
international cooperation in students and staff mobility.
A progressive internationalisation of the teaching staff would be welcome, as well as an increase
of Ph.D. students, which are the reason of the academic research and bring further motivation
among the bachelor students.
University has agreements with the Polytechnic University of Tirana, TU Bergacademie Freiberg
(Germany), Claustal Technological University (Germany), but it was difficult to quantify
international cooperation between presented institutions.
Recommendations:

A strategic plan for Research for each Department or Programme should be written, and

Intensive English courses for teaching staff would be helpful. 

A new campus for the UMIB is under construction in Mitrovica. It will include specific facilities,
including lecture rooms, laboratories, library, and Wi-Fi access for the Faculty of Geoscience.
The budget seems adequate for the UMIB but ET did not have the opportunity to find out more
about the specific distribution of this budget related to the future of programme.
The description of the facilities, spaces and equipment listed in the SER define situation in whole
university. During the visit, classrooms, individual workplaces, printing and individual informatics
facilities, library resources (textbooks, books, periodical publications, databases) were found not
adequate and heavily accessible. This point was also stressed by the students. During the visits of
the labs dedicated to the student, the ET observed that some of the labs dedicated to the
programme equipped not enough . On the other hand, IT support was found critical according to
a student‘s survey. The ET recommends therefore that the teaching staff in charge of the labs
dedicated to programme students carry out a benchmarking with the corresponding facilities of
the best European TU.
Recommendations:

Premises for studies are not adequate both in their size and quality. ET recommends to
equip fully new laboratories (furnaces, microscopes). 

Find more space for students individual projects. 

The University has just a vision of systematic and continuous work in all areas of studies
quality assurance. But the aims and learning outcomes of the programme need further
discussion and revision. Executors of the programme should implement more formal
processes and regular reporting for Quality Assurance.
The expert team were not sure how programmes are proposed, facilitated and examined at
Faculty level. There is no evidence in SER on programme quality evaluation. In particular, the
Faculty members need to ensure that there is good communication between courses and
programmes. This is essential in order to provide the best learning experience for the students.
The evaluation of the teaching should take place regularly and the students asked to participate
to this grading. However, the evaluation of the teaching seems not efficient, since the students
do not fill the evaluation survey after completion of each course.
Recommendations:

Establish Quality Assurance and Management system in UMIB. 

Establish standardized evaluation process for programme and individual courses. 

The teaching and course evaluation has to be reviewed, updated and guaranteed. 

The programme aims and learning outcomes must be publicly accessible on the UMIB
web-site and other information channels. 



The ET recommends the accreditation of Bachelor in Materials and Metallurgy, with the
provision that the Faculty of Geoscience of UMIB follow ET recommendations.
6.11 Master in Materials M.Sc.
The programme is oriented toward applied material science. The materials science sector of
Kosovo requires highly qualified engineering specialists who have profound knowledge about
mineral resources and their good management, use of subsoil and surface ores deposits, and
their sustainable utilization.
The Programme Materials M.Sc. is comparable with TU BA University Freiberg in Germany.
Comparability is based on the structure of the programme, selection of course units, assessment
modes, and manner of lecture organization. This aspect enables the students to migrate to other
universities and carry credit with them. Majority of entrants of UMIB chose this university
according to regional and territorial factors. Students of the programme have an opportunity to
realise their research projects in the companies of the region (Trepca, KEK, INKOS Feronikeli,
Vineks Viti, Lamkos Sar-Elez Devour, Ferizaj Pipe Plant), as the university at the moment can not
provide enough space, equipment and laboratories for research.
The Programme vision is orientated to the leading principles and mission of the UMIB. The content
of the Programme is at the right level, but the main aim and learning outcomes need further
consideration.
Programme executors should underline the main aim of the programme by defining generic
learning outcomes (according to EUR-ACE http://www.enaee.eu/publications/europeanframework- standards), by attributing programme learning outcomes to courses, by writing
learning outcomes for every course, and by indicating the chain of pre-requisites and links
between separate course units.
Recommendations:

Some courses in the programme Materials MSc. seem to be for undergraduate level
study. For example, the objectives of the course Structure and Microstructure of Materials
II are already achieved in the B.Sc. course Materialography. The same objectives for
Structure and Microstructure of Materials III are stated in the SER. 

Avoid repetitive topics in the courses: Fracture Mechanics and Damage of Materials I

the same topic "Mechanical properties" is mentioned in the B.Sc. programme in Basics
of Materials Science I and Basis of Materials Technology I c. 


The objectives and learning outcomes of the course Special Seminar can find their place in
undergraduate level, but not in the M.Sc. It is possible to introduce topics of the course The 
application of computers in material science into the other syllabuses of courses.



The redaction style of courses could be also more standardized. 

6.11.2 Staff
There are 3 full time professors, 4 associated professors, 3 assistant professors, and 3 assistant
lecturers in the programme. It would appear that there are sufficient staff to run the programme
offered. The teaching load of permanent staff seems to be balanced with 6 hours teaching per
week for senior staff members. Assistants have to teach 10 hours per week, which seems to be
University and that UMIB supports conference participation (twice per year) for staff development
and research collaboration purposes. When the ET suggested further innovation, and the potential
of teaching some courses in English, to attract students and further international collaboration,
the staff stated that they have a lot of ideas but at the moment it is not possible to implement
them. In the case of English courses the ET sees no impenetrable barriers to incorporation of these
into the programmes.
Recommendations:





The study programme is mostly oriented towards materials science and metallurgy. During the site visit the
ET found that there was a lack of space and equipment in the laboratories. However the SER gives
information about possible work and laboratory space in the companies and institutions of the region (eg.
Trepca, KEK, INKOS Feronikeli). Besides practical work, students have the opportunity to realise research
using analytical laboratory infrastructure of the above mentioned companies and
institutions. The Department of Materials and Metallurgy have a number of agreements
with institutions, where students are able to perform internships.
Recommendations:

A srategic plan for Research for each Department or Programme should be written, and


The budget seems adequate for the UMIB but ET did not have the opportunity to find out more
The description of the facilities, spaces and equipment listed in the SER define situation in whole
university. During the visit, classrooms, individual workplaces, printing and individual informatics
facilities, library resources (textbooks, books, periodical publications, databases) were found not
adequate and heavily accessible. This point was also stressed by the students. During the visits of
the labs dedicated to the student, the ET observed that some of the labs dedicated to the
programme equipped not enough . On the other hand, IT support was found critical according to
a student‘s survey. The ET recommends therefore that the teaching staff in charge of the labs
dedicated to programme students carry out a benchmarking with the corresponding facilities of
the best European TU.
Recommendations:



Recommendations:







The ET recommends the accreditation of Master in Materials, with the provision that the Faculty
of Geoscience of UMIB follow ET recommendations.
6.12 Master in Metallurgy M.Sc.
The programme is oriented toward applied material science. The Materials science sector of
Kosovo requires highly qualified engineering specialists who have profound knowledge about
mineral resources and their good management, use of subsoil and surface ores deposits, and
their sustainable utilization.
The Programme Metallurgy M.Sc. is comparable with the programme of TU BA University
Freiberg in Germany and Sisak Faculty of Metallurgy in Croatia. Comparability is based on the
structure of the programme, selection of course units, assessment modes, and the manner of
lectures organization. This aspect enables the students to migrate. Majority of entrants of UMIB
chose this university according to regional and territorial factors. Students of the programme
have an opportunity to realise their research projects in the companies of the region (Trepca,
KEK, INKOS Feronikeli, Vineks Viti, Lamkos Sar-Elez Devour, Ferizaj Pipe Plant), as the university
at the moment can not provide enough space, equipment and laboratories for research.
The Programme vision is orientated to the leading principles and mission of the UMIB. The content
of the programme is at the right level, but the main aims and learning outcomes need further
consideration.
Programme executors should underline the main aims of the programme by defining generic learning
outcomes (according to EUR-ACE http://www.enaee.eu/publications/european-framework- standards), by
attributing programmes learning outcomes to courses, by writing learning outcomes
for every course, and by indicating the chain of pre-requisites and links between separate
course units.
Recommendations:

The Course Physical Metallurgy appears in both programmes (Materials and Metallurgy).
The ET recommends the development of one course suitable for both programmes. 

Avoid repetitive topics in the B.Sc. (Basics of Materials Science I) and M.Sc.
(Physical Metallurgy) levels. 

Change objectives of the course Industrial Furnace, they are too weak for the Master's level. 

Itroduce topics of the course The application of computers in metallurgy into the
other syllabuses of courses. 









6.12.2 Staff
There are 3 full time professors, 4 associated professors, 2 assistant professors, and 3 assistant
lecturers in the programme. It would appear that there are sufficient staff to run the programme
offered. The teaching load of permanent staff seems to be balanced with 6 hours teaching per
week for senior staff members. Assistants have to teach 10 hours per week, which seems to be
The ET team were informed that the staff gets support for international projects or visits from the University
and that UMIB supports conference participation (twice per year) for staff development and research
collaboration purposes. When the ET suggested further innovation, and the potential of teaching some
courses in English, to attract students and further international collaboration, the staff stated that they have
a lot of ideas but at the moment it is not possible to implement them. In the
case of English courses the ET sees no impenetrable barriers to incorporation of these into
the programmes.
Recommendations:





Recommendations:



The budget seems adequate for the UMIB but ET did not have the opportunity to fi nd out more
The description of the facilities, spaces and equipment listed in the SER define situation in whole university.
During the visit, classrooms, individual workplaces, printing and individual informatics facilities, library
resources (textbooks, books, periodical publications, databases) were found not adequate and heavily
accessible. This point was also stressed by the students. During the visits of the labs dedicated to the
student, the ET observed that some of the labs dedicated to the programme equipped not enough . On the
other hand, IT support was found critical according to a student‘s survey. The ET recommends therefore
that the teaching staff in charge of the labs dedicated to
programme students carry out a benchmarking with the corresponding facilities of the best
European TU.
Recommendations:



Recommendations:







The ET recommends the accreditation of Master in Metallurgy, with the provision that the
6.13 Master in Deposits of Mineral Raw Materials M.Sc.
The programme corresponds to the UMIB mission statement and principles of employability. The
Programme Deposits of Mineral Raw Materials M.Sc. (MSc.GJ.VLPM) is comparable with the programme
of University of Zagreb Faculty of Mining-Geological-Petroleum. Similar programs are also in other
universities in Europe and the U.S. This aspect enables students exchange. Majority of entrants of UMIB
chose this university according to regional and territorial factors. Students of the programme have an
opportunity to realise their research projects in the companies of the region (Trepca, KEK, INKOS
Feronikeli). The proportion of independent study time compared to classroom
units is adequate in the field, as relation between the theoretical and practical study is 50:50
during first three semesters, and more practical in last semester. The admission criteria and
admission procedures measure up to international standards. The ratio of the academic/artistic
staff and the students is appropriate. There is planned admission rate 15 students, in practice
admission is allowed every second year. The number of registered students has been increasing (
from 8 to 19 in three years), the number of graduates has been steadily low (3-4 graduates per
admission year). The increasing number of students however shows clear interest of young
generation and would bring with increase in graduates in time.
Recommendations:

Master’s level should include more general studies, besides Environmental Protection also 

Philosophy, 


There should be advanced course in Foreign Language for Science and Research to
give students better preparation for research, 

There was no evidence of free choice studies in curriculum, which should be added 







6.13.2 Staff
There are 3 full time professors, 6 associated professors, and 1 assistant lecturer in the
programme. It would appear that there are sufficient staff to run the programme offered. The
teaching load of permanent staff seems to be balanced with 6 hours teaching per week for senior
staff members. Assistants have to teach 10 hours per week, which seems to be quite high
compared to international standards.
The recent publishing activity of the academic staff is in good level.
University and that UMIB supports conference participation (twice per year) for staff development and
research collaboration purposes. When the ET suggested further innovation, and the potential of
teaching some courses in English, to attract students and further international collaboration, the
staff stated that they have a lot of ideas but at the moment it is not possible to implement them.
In the case of English courses the ET sees no impenetrable barriers to incorporation of these into
the programmes.
Recommendations:





Recommendations:



The budget seems adequate for the UMIB but ET did not have the opportunity to find out
more about the specific distribution of this budget related to the future of programme.
The description of the facilities, spaces and equipment listed in the SER define situation in whole university.
During the visit, classrooms, individual workplaces, printing and individual informatics facilities, library
resources (textbooks, books, periodical publications, databases) were found not adequate and heavily
accessible. This point was also stressed by the students. During the visits of the labs dedicated to the
student, the ET observed that some of the labs dedicated to the programme equipped not enough. On the
other hand, IT support was found critical according to a student‘s
survey. The ET recommends therefore that the teaching staff in charge of the labs dedicated to
programme students carry out a benchmarking with the corresponding facilities of the best
European TU.
The tuition fee is 300 € per semester, which was lowered to 150 € per semester last year.
Recommendations:


Find more space for students’ individual projects. 

Recommendations:







The ET recommends the accreditation of Master in Deposits of Mineral Raw Materials, with
the provision that the Faculty of Geoscience of UMIB follow ET recommendations.
7 Faculty of Food Technology
The Faculty of Food Technology (FFT) provides academic degree Programmes related to
Technology with specialisations in Chemical Engineering, and Environmental Engineering, both
at Bachelor’s and Master’s level.
7.1 Bachelor of Science in Technology Programme with specializations in
Chemical Engineering (BSc TIK) and Environmental Engineering (BSc TIM)
The academic degrees correspond to international standards and are comparable with similar
programmes in University of Zagreb, University of Belgrade, and University of Tuzla. The
specialisations are important regarding economic progress of industry in Kosovo. As UMIB has 38
framework cooperation agreements with industrial enterprises, proper academic support to
process engineering, i.e. chemical engineering and environmental engineering, is vital and is
supporting also programmes of other faculties, enabling green thinking in engineering and
manufacturing, and also helping to reduce ecological footprints of industrial activities in Europe.
Recommendations:

There was no free studies in the curriculum, which should be included. 

There are recommended to teach on BSc level also subjects from basic engineering (e.g.
Engineering Graphics, Materials Science, Machine Engineering), and entrepreneurship
supporting studies (e.g. Introduction to Entrepreneurship, Grounds of Law, Sociology) 

The name of the Programme in English involving two specialisations could be considered
to rename into Chemical and Environmental Technology curriculum. 


7.1.2 Staff
The institution has an adequate proportion of permanent staff. There are 2 full time professors, 4
associate professors, 7 assistant professors, 2 lecturers, and 7 assistant Lecturers in the Faculty
permanently regarding BSc (TIK, TIM)) curriculum. The academic staff demonstrated proven ability
at a high academic and didactic level. They are dedicated to university and visited laboratories
were in good order and actively used by students. Main part of laboratories are in old factory lab
facilities. The new university building (in construction) would bring labs into single campus and
improve working conditions. Staff members qualifications are appropriate to the positions they
hold within the institution according to the basic criteria.
Recommendation:

Academic staff members have scientific publications, but for International academic
recognition the publication activity should be increased (h-index is in most cases around
1-2). The staff members should have a plan ensuring participation of essential
international scientific conferences in the field. 
The teaching staff is involved in research activities inside and outside the institution. These research
activities have a knock-on effect on teaching/course contents. The extent and the quality of
international cooperation in research and teaching is adequate. The students are involved in
research and cooperation projects. Students have option to study German or English language
Recommendation:

In practice not all students and academic staff members are able to discuss freely. There should
be organised additional intensive academic English course to young academic staff members,
as English is main gate to co-operation in international level. 
The institution has an adequate budget plan. The institution has adequate buildings construction
plan and evaluators found the new location and construction works current stage advancing as
planned. The laboratory equipment has been advanced using research co-operation. During the
visit evaluators did not find any connection to EDUROAM possible to achieve. The tuition fee for
BSc studies 50 EUR was lowered this year to 25 EUR.
Recommendations:

The new university building has utmost importance, as current laboratory facilities
remain small and have not enough ventilated workplaces for students, necessary for
chemical laboratory works 

It is recommended for the future to make steps to implement EDUROAM system
covering university buildings. 

The institution’s programmes are assessed regularly within the context of internal
evaluation processes.
Recommendation:
 Student feedback was not always asked regularly, the feedback questionnaires are good, the system
is adopted from University of Prishtina, but needs to be implemented thoroughly.
The ET recommends the accreditation of Bachelor of Science in Technology Programme with
specialisation in Chemical Engineering/ Environmental Engineering, with the provision that
the Faculty of Food Technology of UMIB follows ET recommendations.
7.2 Master of Science in Technology Programme with specialisations in
Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering
The academic programmes corresponds to the institution’s mission statement and principles of
employability. Technology has large planned intake of 60 students at BSc level, but only 20 at MSc level.
The number of registered students has been steady on BSc level (above 110), but decreasing in MSc level
(from 21 to 7 in three years). The number of graduates on BSc level is low but increasing (from 5 to 8 in
three years), the number of MSc graduates is decreasing (from 11 to 7 in three years).
The programme’s quality, range and academic aims are appropriate according to the academic
degree. The programme is based on an overarching didactic concept that has been adequately
communicated and adopted amongst the teaching staff. The academic degree correspond to international
standards and is comparable with similar programmes of Chemical Engineering in University of Zagreb,
University of Belgrade, and University of Tuzla. The structure of the programme give sufficient opportunity
for independent study, reflection and analysis, but could be supporting more entrepreneurship and overall
social sciences. The proportion of independent study time compared to classroom units is adequate. The
allocation of ECTS is appropriate and comprehensible. The workload required for the academic programme
is manageable for students. The teaching methods and content of teaching units are sufficient for the
successful achievement of the programme’s goals and outcomes (competences and qualifications,
knowledge and skills). The overlap of academic content between the various curricula is comprehensible
and transparent. The admission criteria and admission procedures measure up to international standards.
The ratio of the academic/artistic staff and the students is appropriate.
Recommendations:

The two specialisations could be considered to rename into single Chemical
and Environmental Technology curriculum. 

There are recommended to enlarge scope and teach on MSc level also more social
sciences (e.g., Business Administration, Environmental Management and Environmental
Law), and enhance polymer materials and process engineering (e.g., Principles of
Polymer Science, Process Balances and Design). 

7.1.2 Staff
The institution has an adequate proportion of permanent staff. There are 2 full time professors,
4 associate professors, 7 assistant professors, 2 lecturers, and 7 assistant Lecturers in the Faculty
permanently regarding BSc (TIK, TIM)) curriculum. Besides, there is 1 full time professor, 1
associate professor, 4 assistant professors, 2 lecturers, and 4 Assistant Lecturers in the Faculty
permanently regarding MSc (IK, IMM) curriculum.
The academic staff demonstrated proven ability at a high academic and didactic level. They are dedicated
to university and visited laboratories were in good order and actively used by students. Main part of
laboratories are in old factory lab facilities. The new university building (in construction) would bring labs
into single campus and improve working conditions. Staff members qualifications are appropriate to the
positions they hold within the institution according to the basic criteria.
Recommendation:

Academic staff members have scientific publications, but for International academic
recognition the publication activity should be increased (h-index is in most cases around
1-2). The staff members should have a plan ensuring participation of essential
international scientific conferences in the field. 
The teaching staff is involved in research activities inside and outside the institution. These research
activities have a knock-on effect on teaching/course contents. The extent and the quality of international
cooperation in research and teaching is adequate. The students are involved in research and cooperation
projects. Students have option to study German or English language
Recommendation:

In practice not all students and academic staff members are able to discuss freely. There should
be organised additional intensive academic English course to young academic staff members,
as English is main gate to co-operation in international level. 
The institution has an adequate budget plan. The institution has adequate buildings construction
plan and evaluators found the new location and construction works current stage advancing as
planned. The laboratory equipment has been advanced using research co-operation. During the
visit evaluators did not find any connection to EDUROAM possible to achieve. The tuition fee for
BSc studies 50 EUR was lowered this year to 25 EUR. The tuition fee for MSc level 300 EUR was
lowered to 150 EUR per semester, being still quite high for engineering study field, necessary for
economy of the country.
Recommendations:

The new university building has utmost importance, as current laboratory facilities
remain small and have not enough ventilated workplaces for students, necessary for
chemical laboratory works 

It is recommended for the future to make steps to implement EDUROAM system
covering university buildings. 

The institution’s programmes are assessed regularly within the context of internal
evaluation processes.
Recommendation:
 Student feedback was not always asked regularly, the feedback questionnaires are good, the system
is adopted from University of Prishtina, but needs to be implemented thoroughly.
The ET recommends the accreditation of Master of Science in Technology Programme with
specialisation in Chemical Engineering/Environmental Engineering, with the provision that
the Faculty of Food Technology of UMIB follows ET recommendations.
144
Reaccreditation Procedure
Public University of Mitrovica “Isa Boletini”, Kosovo
Faculty of Food Technology
BSc Studies in Engineering and Food Technology
Final Report
24 June 2014
without additional site visit
145
Prof. i. R. Dr.- Ing. habil. Dr. h. c. Volker Kottke
University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology
Preliminary remarks
The funding of new universities in the Kosovo – one of them in Mitrovica – is leading to a
new situation for the former Faculty of the University of Prishtina in Mitrovica:
The new public universities are not covering all fields of an university like in the University of
Prishtina (UP). They have to cover especially also these fields, which are not interesting for
private universities, when the costs for such studies are very high.
However the new public universities are extremely interesting for the country. When the
students can live at home for the time of the studies, they have now the chance for a higher
education. The parents can pay for local studies, but not for external studies fare away in
Prishtina with high living costs additionally to the tuition fees.
The funding of many independent public universities is leading to a new situation:
146

In principles the new universities are now all competitors, fighting for the same
amount of students. However almost of the students in the new universities are
coming from the near surroundings of an university. Therefore the new universities
are in reality not competitors between each other.
 Many of the new public universities are offering now the same or similar studies like
i.e. the food sciences (Prishtina, Mitrovica and Peja). In the first semesters of
bachelor studies all universities need the natural sciences for the lectures in
mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology. Depending on the history of the
Kosovo, all lecturers in these fields are only available from the university in
Prishtina. Many of the professors there are now relatively old and the amount of the
professors is too low. Because almost of the lectures in these fields were held in the
past in Prishtina and therefore the amount of professors is appropriate to that
situation. For the PhD scientists from Kosovo had to go in the past to other
universities in the former Yugoslavia. The amount of PhD respectively professors
was limited by the demand in Prishtina with the implication, that the country has for
the newly funded universities not enough lecturers in the natural sciences.
 Depending on the specific background of the Kosovo it is impossible to have enough
own specialists for all the new universities. In the food sciences therefore the
lecturers needed must often be imported from other universities of Albanian
language in- and outside of the Kosovo. Because the Kosovo has up to now no PhD
program in food sciences to win own lecturers in food sciences.
Therefore all the public universities in the Kosovo have in the next future no other
choice as to share – often the same - lecturers.
Another problem is pending, which need the input by the new universities as well as by the
government:


The amount of possible students living around a new university is strongly limited.
When a new public university is offering too many studies with too many study
places, they can´t have enough students and the budget calculations are failing.
Another bottle neck for the new universities is coming in a few years, when the
amount of children born in the same year is going down, leading to similar effects.
147
The chemical engineering and the related studies of Engineering and Food Technology are
part of the core competencies of the new public University in Mitrovica with meanwhile 10
year experiences in bachelor studies in engineering and food technology. Therefore it is a
big pleasure to see the very big progress in Mitrovica, as the self evaluation report
demonstrates.
1 General
This evaluation report reflects the expert opinion for the re-accreditation by the Kosovo
Accreditation Agency (KAA) of the academic Bachelor study program for Engineering
and Food Technology at the Faculty of Food Technology of the Public University of
Mitrovica (PUM) “ Isa Boletini”.
The basis for this report is the

Self-Evaluation Report
A special site visit was not possible this year. However the specific situation in
Mitrovica is well known up to 2013 from several visits and site visits in the last years.
2 Academic Program and Student Management

Does the academic program correspond to the institution’s mission
statement and principles of operation?
Yes.
The BSc studies in Food Engineering and Technology are based on the common
origin of chemical engineering needed as a basis for mining too. The program was
running the last three years successfully. The presentation in the self evaluation report
is very good.
Are the program’s quality, range and academic aims appropriate to the
academic degree?
The program presented reflects 10 years experience and is based strongly on the big
efforts of all lecturers involved - especially too of the actual rector Prof. Musaj - for a
permanent improvement of the program. Despite of his duties as the new rector is
Prof. Musaj still involved in actual lectures of the bachelor as well of the master
program in Engineering and Food Technology.

Is the program based on an overarching didactic concept that has been
adequately communicated to and adopted by the teaching staff?
148
The faculty is meanwhile experienced in the development of study programs. All
courses are reflecting a well based concept of education. All lecturers are highly
interested on international communication for a further international improvement of
their studies. The new situation for Mitrovica as an independent public university of the
Kosova was facilitating this development.

Does the academic degree correspond to international standards?
Yes

Does the structure of the program give sufficient opportunity for
independent study, reflection and analysis? (e. g. what is the proportion of
independent study time compared to online/distance teaching and
classroom units?)
It is not easy to give a precise answer to that question. The program is not overloaded.
The students don´t have a problem to follow the courses. A general problem is - as
everywhere on the Balkan - that the equipment for the practical training as well as the
literature is relatively expensive and not available in the same way as in the Western
countries. And not every student has a private computer. So the students need much
more the help of the lecturers, which are meanwhile familiar with the literature needed.
The basic elements of an online/distance teaching and learning can´t be prepared by
a single faculty or university. That is a national problem, because all universities have
here the same problem. Commercial platforms are too expensive. In the Polytechnic
University of Tirana they have developed such a platform for Albanian language, which
is highly interesting for the Kosovo too.
The provided time for the bachelor thesis is too short for research. For the Bachelor
as well as for the Master thesis normally the equipment needed is not available in the
universities. The growing industry in the Kosovo has the equipment but not the staff
for research. Whenever possible the faculty is open to cooperate with the industry as
it is usual i.e.in Germany too: the students can use for the theses the equipment in the
industry and help to solve the problems in the industry.

Is the allocation of ECTS appropriate and justified?
Yes

Is the workload required for the academic program manageable for
students?
Yes

Are the teaching methods and contents of teaching units sufficient for the
successful achievement of the program’s goals and outcomes (competences
and qualifications, knowledge and skills)?
Yes. The Bachelor program for reaccreditation is based on the experiences since 2004
and especially on the experience since the last three years, where the program was
running.
149

Is the overlap of academic content between the various parts of the
curriculum comprehensible and transparent?
Yes.

How do the admission criteria and admission procedures measure up to
international standards?
The admission criteria are comparable to international standards.

Is the ratio of academic/artistic staff to students appropriate?
Yes.
The bachelor program is now open for 100 students. For the lectures the ratio is no
problem. For practical exercises the faculty has assistants, which are usually not
namely mentioned in the self evaluation report.
3 Staff

Does the institution have an adequate proportion of permanent staff and
appropriate proportions of permanent and external staff?
The self evaluation report is not containing information about the provenience of the
lecturers (external, internal). However in the bachelor program almost of the lecturers
have a “permanent” position in Mitrovica. The lecturers in natural sciences from the
University of Prishtina are in principles now external lecturers. The situation internal –
external here is not clear.
The only real external lecturer in the bachelor program is Prof. Bijo, vice-rector from
AU in Tirana, which is sharing the job with the actual rector of PUM Prof. Musaj. It is
interesting to see, that the bachelor program is now realized with internal lecturers
only. That is a big progress.
The question about permanent staff is problematic after the funding of the new
universities. The new staff has a contract, but the university can´t give permanent
positions, when i.e. the duration of the studies is limited by the reaccreditation
procedure to a time of 3 years and the salary must be paid by the university and not
by the government.

Does the academic staff demonstrate proven ability at a high academic and
didactic level and are their qualifications appropriate to the positions they
hold within the institution according to the basic criteria?
The academic and didactic level in the bachelor program is for the specific situation in
engineering and food technology in the Kosovo very good
4 Research and International Co-operation
150

Is the teaching staff involved in research activities inside or outside the
institution, and do these research activities feed back into teaching/course
contents?
Research activities in engineering and food technology on an international level are
meanwhile extremely expensive depending on the needed equipment. So a scientist
is here in a totally other situation than an economist, which need “only” access to the
literature and to a computer. The equipment is the bottleneck and not the staff for
research. A big contribution of the government to the equipment is at the moment not
possible. However the growing food industry in the Kosovo is highly interesting for
common research projects, were the equipment of the industry can be used. The
faculty has meanwhile very good contacts to the industry and the research situation
becomes better and better. However the bachelor theses are so short, that research
here is nearly not possible. So the question is mainly interesting for the master
program.
The faculty is doing the best in research what they can realize with the local equipment.
Another solution is an international cooperation in research. Here the external
lecturers are highly interesting. However this is mainly interesting for the master
program. The CV of Prf. Musaj is a very good example for research and publications,
when the equipment needed is available.

Are the extent and the quality of international co-operation in research and
teaching adequate?
The field of engineering and food technology is relatively new. So the international
cooperation is at the beginning as the mentioned examples are proving. For students
in a bachelor program an international cooperation in research as well as in teaching
for nearly almost of the students is too early depending on language problems too.
For many lecturers the workload is so small, that they have plenty of time (but mostly
not the money) for international co-operation.

Are students involved in research and co-operation projects
Research is only possible, when students have a basic knowledge. In bachelor studies
that is almost too early and the time for the bachelor theses is so short, that for a real
research work in applied natural sciences the time is too short.
5 Finances and Infrastructure/Space and Equipment

Does the institution have an adequate budget plan?
For the Kosovo yes
The budget plan for the university corresponds to the limited budget plan of the ministry
and not to the demand of an university. The tuition fees are contributing not so much
151
to the budget of a faculty at the beginning of a new development. Despite of the
growing economy in the Kosovo a fast improvement of the budget plan is not to expect
depending on the big expenses for infrastructural measures as i.e. the new streets
and the costs for the buildings of the new universities planned.

Does the institution have adequate buildings and specialized infrastructure
for the requirements of the program?
The main actual buildings of the faculty are reconstructed buildings of the Trepca
mines complex, (“Battery buildings”). The plan for a new public University in Mitrovica
is based on a totally new university with new buildings on a new area. That can give
the chance in the future for new laboratories in food sciences as a basis for modern
research.
6 Quality Management

Are the institution’s programs assessed regularly within the context of
internal evaluation processes?
Yes. The methods are appropriate.
7 Summary of Evaluation

The quality of the self evaluation report concerning the bachelor program for
Engineering and Food Technology is very good, the best what I have seen up to
now in the Kosovo. All essential topics of interest have been covered.

The staff situation in the bachelor program is very good. External lecturers are with
one unproblematic exception not more needed in the bachelor program.

The ratio of teaching staff to students is still very good.

The efforts of the PUM to improve the actual situation as soon as possible are
remarkable. The faculty of Food Technology is on a good way for a better higher
education in Food Engineering and Technology for the students and for the
Kosovo.
152
The reaccreditation is recommended without changes!
Respectfully submitted by
Signed: Prof. i. R. Dr.- Ing. habil. Dr. h. c. Volker Kottke
Stuttgart 2014-06-18
Additional remarks
It is highly interesting to prepare a self evaluation report so, that he can be the basis
for another reaccreditation too. For the experts as well as for the board it is important
to have in the future (not now - that is impossible) a directory and a better structuring
of the report. Than it is not more necessary, to scroll about 1000 pages in the computer
to be sure, that all parts needed are included.
Additional remarks outside of the expertise
The University of Mitrovica is planning new studies in Medicine. Depending on the
tremendous costs for the equipment needed in university hospitals in Germany for
about four million people one medical university only is admitted by the local
governments of the lands. For the Kosovo it is impossible to pay for two medical
studies including equipment in a country with a relatively very low population. It is
recommended to PUM to visit universities with medical studies outside of the Kosovo
for more information. The DAAD in Germany is funding such visits!
For the students new studies in medicine in Mitrovica are highly interesting and it is
possible, that PUM has than not more applicants for other studies. For the practical
training the expensive equipment is part of the faculty of medicine in the public
university of Prishtina (UP). The use of this equipment by (now) competitors from other
public universities is not clear.
153
Reaccreditation Procedure
Public University of Mitrovica “Isa Boletini”, Kosovo
Faculty of Food Technology
MSc Studies in Engineering and Food Technology
Final Report
24 June 2014
without additional site visit
154
Prof. i. R. Dr.- Ing. habil. Dr. h. c. Volker Kottke
University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
Institute of Food Science and Biotechnology
Preliminary remarks
The funding of new universities in the Kosovo – one of them in Mitrovica – is leading to a
new situation for the former Faculty of the University of Prishtina in Mitrovica:
The new public universities are not covering all fields of an university like in the University of
Prishtina (UP). They have to cover especially also these fields, which are not interesting for
private universities, when the costs for such studies are very high.
However the new public universities are extremely interesting for the country. When the
students can live at home for the time of the studies, they have now the chance for a higher
education. The parents can pay for local studies, but not for external studies fare away in
Prishtina with high living costs additionally to the tuition fees.
The funding of many independent public universities is leading to a new situation:
155


In principles the new universities are now all competitors, fighting for the same
amount of students. However almost of the students in the new universities are
coming from the near surroundings of an university. Therefore the new universities
are in reality not competitors between each other.
Depending on the specific background of the Kosovo it is impossible to have enough
own specialists for all the new universities. In the food sciences therefore the
lecturers needed must be imported from other universities of Albanian language inand outside of the Kosovo. Because the Kosovo has up to now no PhD program in
food sciences to win own special lecturers as needed for the MSc studies.
Therefore all the public universities in the Kosovo have no other choice as to share often the same - lecturers.
Another problem is pending, which need the input by the new public universities together
with the government:


The amount of possible students living around a new university is strongly limited.
When a new public university is offering too many studies with too many study
places, they can´t have enough students and the budget calculations are failing.
Another bottle neck for the new universities is coming in a few years, when the
amount of children born in the same year is going down, leading to similar effects.
The chemical engineering and the related studies of Engineering and Food Technology are
part of the core competencies of the University in Mitrovica.
The master studies in Mitrovica are based meanwhile on 7 years experience in food
technology or engineering and food technology. Therefore it is a big pleasure to see the very
big progress in Mitrovica, as the self evaluation report demonstrates.
The actual running master program has an accreditation for still two years. It was developed
under the umbrella of the University of Prishtina. Therefore the actual master program
given to accreditation is respecting the new situation of an independent university and the
changed availability of some staff.
156
In every case in all universities with programs in food sciences external staff is needed,
depending on the special situation of the Kosovo. It is highly interesting, that PUM is using
not only external staff from Albania. PUM has at the moment also included staff from the
competitors: from the new public University of Peja as well as from the University in
Prishtina beside the staff needed from Prishtina in the natural sciences.
1 General
This evaluation report reflects the expert opinion for the (re-)accreditation by the
Kosovo Accreditation Agency (KAA) of the academic Master study program for
Engineering and Food Technology at the Faculty of Food Technology of the Public
University of Mitrovica (PUM) “ Isa Boletini”.
The basis for this report is the

Self-Evaluation Report
A special site visit was not possible this year. However the specific situation in
Mitrovica is well known from several visits and site visits in the last years.
2 Academic Program and Student Management

Does the academic program correspond to the institution’s mission
statement and principles of operation?
Yes.
The new MSc studies in Food Engineering and Technology are based on long
experience in chemical engineering as needed for the studies in mining and on seven
years experience in master programs in Food Technology and in Engineering and
Food Technology.
Are the program’s quality, range and academic aims appropriate to the
academic degree?
The program presented reflects the big efforts of many lecturers involved for a
permanent improvement of the program. Despite of his duties as the new rector Prof.
Musaj is still involved in several lectures of the bachelor and master program in
Engineering and Food Technology.

Is the program based on an overarching didactic concept that has been
adequately communicated to and adopted by the teaching staff?
The Faculty of Food Technology of PUM is meanwhile experienced in the
development of study programs. All courses are reflecting a well based concept of
education. All lecturers are highly interested on international communication for a
157
further international improvement of their studies. The new situation for Mitrovica as
an independent public university of the Kosova was facilitating this development.

Does the academic degree correspond to international standards?
Yes

Does the structure of the program give sufficient opportunity for
independent study, reflection and analysis? (e. g. what is the proportion of
independent study time compared to online/distance teaching and
classroom units?)
It is not easy to give a precise answer to that question. The program is not overloaded.
The students don´t have a problem to follow the courses. A general problem is - as
everywhere on the Balkan - that the equipment for the practical training as well as the
literature is relatively expensive and not available in the same way as in the Western
countries. And not every student has a private computer. So the students need much
more the help of the lecturers, which are meanwhile familiar with the literature needed.
The basic elements of an online/distance teaching and learning can´t be prepared by
a single faculty or university in the Kosovo. That is a national problem, because all
universities in the Kosovo have here the same problem. Commercial platforms are too
expensive. In the Polytechnic University of Tirana they have developed such a
platform for Albanian language, which is highly interesting for the Kosovo too.

Is the allocation of ECTS appropriate and justified?
Yes. It is clearly described in the self evaluation report

Is the workload required for the academic program manageable for
students?
Yes

Are the teaching methods and contents of teaching units sufficient for the
successful achievement of the program’s goals and outcomes (competences
and qualifications, knowledge and skills)?
Yes. The master program is based on experiences since 2007. Depending on the
specific situation in the Kosovo it is always still a problem to find enough staff with the
general qualification for a lecturer. The specific qualification for the highly specific
lectures is often a problem. Therefore the import of external lecturers is still highly
important. However despite of all efforts, the big lack from the past to have enough
specialists with the competences and qualifications, knowledge and skills is always
still a problem in some teaching units.

Is the overlap of academic content between the various parts of the
curriculum comprehensible and transparent?
Yes.
158

How do the admission criteria and admission procedures measure up to
international standards?
The admission criteria are comparable to international standards.

Is the ratio of academic/artistic staff to students appropriate?
Yes.
The master program is open for 30 students. The ratio here is very good.
3 Staff

Does the institution have an adequate proportion of permanent staff and
appropriate proportions of permanent and external staff?
The self evaluation report is not containing information about the provenience of the
lecturers (external, internal). However for the special situation of the Kosovo the
amount of permanent staff is relatively very good in the master program. The lecturers
in natural sciences from the University of Prishtina are in principles now external
lecturers. The situation internal – external here is not clear (not enough information,
but also no other choice at the moment)
In the master program a solution without external staff is at the moment not possible,
neither in Mitrovica nor in Prishtina or Peja. The faculty is working hard to replace
external staff by internal. The solution presented in PUM is interesting as a model for
all new universities:
In food sciences many specialists are needed, which are responsible often only for
one module. So the country needs a sharing of lecturers between the universities,
which is highly interesting also for the future.
Actually PUM is importing

Prof. Dragusha, dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary of the University
of Prishtina

Prof. Bakir Kelmendi, dean in the University of Peja

Prof. Mallolari, former dean, University of Tirana (Albania)

Prof. Bijo, vice-rector of the Agricultural University of Tirana (Albania)
The transfer of external lecturers from Tirana to Mitrovica was at the beginning the
only possibility for Mitrovica to start in 2004 with food studies. Now the amount of
lecturers from Tirana is already reduced and in the next future the Albanian lecturers
can be replaced by own ones, as shown in the tables of the self evaluation report.
159
For the Kosovo the staff situation at PUM in the master program is very good. However
for an university with chemical engineering, the food engineering, especially the
processing of wine, milk and bakery products is missing as it is highly necessary for
the future development on an really international level.
I.e. in the winery in Rahovec the wine was excellent, but the filling in bottles was
leading afterwards to a further fermentation in the bottles and the wine was not more
ordered in the restaurants. Now in the Stonecastle company the filling is okay and the
population in the Kosvovo can drink again the wine from the own country. A small
mistake in the basic processing of wine had very big consequences for the local
economy.
Under the specific conditions of the Kosovo the actual staff situation in the master
program in Mitrovica is very good. In comparison with international standards
especially the food processing in the future strong improvements are necessary. Here
an international input is needed, because in Albania the engineering aspects were not
treated, not at the agricultural university and also not in the university in Tirana, based
mainly on chemistry. The chemical engineering in Mitrovica is an excellent basis for a
further improvement.

Does the academic staff demonstrate proven ability at a high academic and
didactic level and are their qualifications appropriate to the positions they
hold within the institution according to the basic criteria?
The academic and didactic level in the master program is for the specific situation in
engineering and food technology in the Kosovo very good
4 Research and International Co-operation

Is the teaching staff involved in research activities inside or outside the
institution, and do these research activities feed back into teaching/course
contents?
Research activities in engineering and food technology on an international level are
meanwhile extremely expensive depending on the needed equipment. So a scientist
is here in a totally other situation than an economist, which need “only” access to the
literature and to a computer. The equipment is the bottleneck and not the staff for
research. A big contribution of the government to the equipment is at the moment not
possible. However the growing food industry in the Kosovo is highly interesting for
common research projects, were the equipment of the industry can be used. The
faculty has meanwhile very good contacts to the industry and the research situation
becomes better and better. The bachelor theses are too short for research. In the
master theses research is highly interesting, especially in connection with the industry.

Are the extent and the quality of international co-operation in research and
teaching adequate?
160
The field of engineering and food technology is relatively new. So the international
cooperation is at the beginning as the mentioned examples are proving. For students
in a master program an international cooperation in research as well as in teaching for
nearly almost of the students is highly interesting. The best time for international
studies is the time of the master thesis. The duration time for a master thesis should
not be extended during a stay in a foreign country. However whenever possible the
stay should be longer than the time for the thesis, when both sides agree.
For many lecturers the workload is so small, that they have plenty of time (but mostly
not the money) for international co-operation.

Are students involved in research and co-operation projects
The best time to involve students in research and co-operation is the master thesis.
Students can treat parts of the research work of the lecturer in his master thesis. So
the student has an interesting master thesis and the research of the university is going
on.
5 Finances and Infrastructure/Space and Equipment

Does the institution have an adequate budget plan?
For the Kosovo yes
The budget plan for the university corresponds to the limited budget plan of the ministry
and not to the demand of an university. The tuition fees are contributing not so much
to the budget of a faculty at the beginning of a development. Despite of the growing
economy in the Kosovo a fast improvement of the budget plan is not to expect
depending on the big expenses for infrastructural measures as i.e. the new streets
and the costs for the buildings of the new universities planned.
For the Master thesis normally the equipment needed is not available in the
universities. The growing industry in the Kosovo has the equipment but not the staff
for research. Whenever possible the PUM is open to cooperate with the industry as it
is usual i.e.in Germany too: the students can use for the theses the equipment in the
industry and help to solve the problems in the industry.

Does the institution have adequate buildings and specialized infrastructure
for the requirements of the program?
The main actual buildings of the PUM are reconstructed buildings of the Trepca mines
complex, (“Battery buildings”). The plan for a new public University in Mitrovica is
based on a totally new university with new buildings on a new area. That can give the
chance in the future for new laboratories in food sciences as a basis for modern
research.
6 Quality Management
161

Are the institution’s programs assessed regularly within the context of
internal evaluation processes?
Yes. The methods are appropriate.
Concluding remarks:
The actual studies in engineering and food must prepare the students for the actual
situation in food technology in the Kosovo as well as for the future needs.
The local economy in agriculture and food is based on very small units, necessary for
the survival of the elder people. On the other hand the winery in Rahovec or the beer
brewery in Peja are bigger units, leading to total other boundary conditions for the
education in food sciences as well for the study contents.
For the supply of big cities and regions with in Western countries meanwhile extremely
big processing and production units were build for milk, meat and alcoholic beverages.
They are so big, that almost of the smaller production units could not more persist.
The staff needed for such units is extremely small.
The local studies must prepare the students to solve the local problems. But they must
prepare too for the international market. Very big production units are leading to totally
other solutions with a modified economy.
At the moment the presented master studies are a very big progress for the country.
Therefore the PUM is on a good way. The Western problems are for the students
afterwards a problem of the lifelong learning. However the basics for the international
solutions should be involved in the future in the studies in food sciences and the
external lecturers are not external enough, that the students are familiar with such
developments.
7 Summary of Evaluation

The quality of the self evaluation report concerning the master program for
Engineering and Food Technology is very good, the best what I have seen up to
now in the Kosovo! All topics of interest have been covered.

The staff situation in the master program is for the Kosovo very good. But external
lecturers are always still needed.

The ratio of teaching staff to students is very good.

The efforts of the PUM to improve the actual situation as soon as possible are
remarkable. The faculty of Food Technology is on a good way for a better higher
education in Food Engineering and Technology for the students and for the
Kosovo.
The reaccreditation is recommended without changes!
162

In lecture 423 of the master program the title “Egg manufacturing technology” must
be replaced by “Egg technology”.
Respectfully submitted by
Signed: Prof. i. R. Dr.- Ing. habil. Dr. h. c. Volker Kottke
Stuttgart 2014-06-20
Additional remarks
It is highly interesting to prepare a self evaluation report so, that he can be the basis
for another reaccreditation too. For the experts as well as for the board it is important
to have in the future (not now - that is impossible) a directory and a better structuring
of the report. Than it is not more necessary, to scroll about 1000 pages in the computer
to be sure, that all parts are included.
Additional remarks outside of the expertise
The University of Mitrovica is planning new studies in Medicine. Depending on the
tremendous costs for the equipment needed in university hospitals in Germany for
about four million people one medical university only is admitted by the local
governments of the lands. For the Kosovo it is impossible to pay for two medical
studies in a country with a relatively very low population. It is recommended to PUM
to visit universities with medical studies outside of the Kosovo for more information.
The DAAD in Germany is funding such visits!
For the students new studies in medicine in Mitrovica are highly interesting and it is
possible, that PUM has than not more applicants for other studies. For the practical
training the expensive equipment is part of the faculty of medicine in the public
university of Prishtina (UP). The use of this equipment by (now) competitors from other
public universities is not clear.
163

PUBLIC UNIVERSITY OF MITROVICA “ISA BOLETINI

Transcription

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