The Situation in the Faculty of Geosciences at the University of Mitrovica

When the University of Mitrovica “Isa Boletin” failed to achieve accreditation in July 2019, during the last accreditation process, there was a strong public reaction. Since the decision affects subjects not available for study anywhere else in Kosovo, such as programs at the Faculty of Geosciences, we wondered how might the closure of these programs impact the country’s industrial economy? This report therefore analyses the risk associated with the failure of UMIB to achieve accreditation for the second time in a row, as a result of which study programs found to be inadequate could be shut down, and it explores implications for the country’s economy.

The report analyses the number of student enrollments at all degree levels for the respective courses in geosciences in the years 2014/15–2018/19, to better understand the popularity of these programs. In addition, the report aims to inform the public debate, in order to increase pressure on the decision-making authorities not to close these programs.

In order to assess the situation after the non-accreditation of the UMIB and to understand whether there is a risk that one of the geosciences study programs might be closed, we have analyzed the following:

• The UMIB accreditation report by international experts;
• Decision of the State Quality Council (SQC)
• The UMIB’s complaint regarding non-accreditation, sent to the SQC;
• Other relevant documentation such as the Statute, Code of Ethics and other regulations;
• Curriculum vitae of academic staff and external contractors currently employed at UMIB;
• Lists of academic personnel who are permanent employees and lists of temporary contractors, hired for lectures and fieldwork;
• Lists of professors who retired in the last five years;
• Recruitment of permanent teaching staff;
• Comparison of student numbers enrolled by academic years;
• Results of scholarship applications at the UMIB.

In order to investigate how closing UMIB programs might impact some of the major mining, energy and industrial enterprises, (Trepca, KEC, and Feronikeli), as well as relevant state institutions (the Independent Commission of Mines and Minerals (ICMM)), and to assess these enterprises human resource needs, we also researched the following:

• key challenges facing the above organizations with regard to recruiting new generations of professional staff;
• which professional qualifications these enterprises need most;
• which geosciences graduates these enterprises need most;
• number of engineers employed in these enterprises and their average age;
• number of engineers who retired in the last five years;
• number of engineers who will retire in the next five years;
• number of UMIB graduates employed in these enterprises in the last 5 years;
• number of UMIB students who did internships in these enterprises in the last 5 years;
• number of UMIB students who won scholarships from these enterprises;

For the purpose of this report, we also conducted interviews with the UMIB Rector, the Dean and Vice Dean of Geosciences, current and former professors of this faculty, engineers and experts in the relevant field now working in industry, and also with representatives of the SQC and the KAA.