At a time when universities risk producing more degrees than knowledge, a conference has opened in Skopje that promises to do just the opposite. The Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), the World Bank and the Ministry of Education and Science of North Macedonia have gathered ministers, rectors, experts and industry representatives in the Macedonian capital to discuss an issue that is usually treated with many words and few results, the internationalization of higher education.
The ambitiously titled “Building Bridges” conference comes at a time when the region is trying to convince itself that it can compete globally, while still struggling with the recognition of degrees within its borders. The organizers elegantly accept this contradiction, turning it into a motive for cooperation. Minister Vesna Janevska said that the aim is no longer to discuss, but to produce a concrete action map that connects universities, increases quality and opens real opportunities for students.
In the background there is also a greater pressure, the rapprochement with the European Union, where education is no longer just an academic matter, but an economic and political standard. For this reason, according to RCC General Secretary Amer Kapetanović, regional cooperation is not a luxury, but a necessity, a way to avoid isolation and create a real market of knowledge where students and professionals can move without obstacles.
On the other hand, Xiaoqing Yu of the World Bank defined internationalization as a way to turn competition into cooperation, an idea that sounds simple in theory but that in the region often collides with more stubborn realities, from bureaucracy to old academic rivalries.
Topics that usually remain on the docket, student mobility, degree recognition, industry linkage, funding and quality are discussed at the conference tables. The difference this time is the promise to turn them into a concrete regional guide, a document that should theoretically move from the institutions’ shelves into practice.
In a region where “brain drain” often means leaving without return, the idea of recirculating it within the region is perhaps the most interesting ambition of this initiative. Whether it will work remains to be seen. But for once, the Balkans are trying to build bridges for knowledge, not just for conferences.
