In Kosovo, university student government is something of a pipe dream, long opposed by school administration. Four students at U of T, however, are hoping to change that.
The Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies has implemented a project funded by the Canadian government that aims to bolster student government at Kosovo’s University of Pristina.
“We’re working on building a student government that will be sustainable and involve students,” said Ericka Stephens, a graduate student of European studies. “Another part of it is establishing a student society that is autonomous from the university.”
“I came up with this project that would help [Kosovar students] restructure their university student government so it would be more appropriate for their needs,” said professor Robert Austin, a lecturer in European, Russian, and Eurasian studies, who is overseeing the project.
For Stephens, the opportunity to join this project came when she was brainstorming ideas for her master’s thesis.
“I was interested in politics and civil society, and Kosovo came up because it needs a strong student society,” she said. “There’s a new student society forming and we’re working on helping that become a concerted force, and ensuring that the structure will be very clear, open and transparent to the students [so that] hopefully the university won’t be able to interfere so much.”
Joining Stephens are Jordan McDonald and Sylvester Komlodsil, both graduate students, and Carolina Bartzcak, a European and life sciences undergraduate.
“I was in class one day and I was getting really frustrated with having to sit and listen to these people lecture to me,” Bartzcak explained. “We just sit in lectures and take down all this information.” She was advised to speak with Austin, whom she eventually persuaded to offer her a spot on the team.
The students say corruption and lack of a strong student government are contributing to the Pristina’s growing list of problems.
“If there is corruption, [students] can’t do anything about it,” Bartzcak said, explaining that students there have trouble organizing tasks most U of T students take for granted. “Financially, the university controls everything. [The student union] can’t buy pencils without going all the way up to the Ministry of Finance in Kosovo,” Stephens said. “Professors don’t get paid a lot. Some profs don’t even come to class because they’re working odd jobs.”
“The corruption factor has intensified over the last few years,” said Austin. “I don’t think Kosovo’s [university] is better or worse than any other [Balkan] state university, but it’s going to be a long time before they can offer students the type of education that’s comparable to other European institutions.”
Recently, the group of four completed a trip to Montenegro to meet with six Pristina students involved in the project, to “give them ideas on how we can structure the new student society,” said Stephens.
“But by no means are we just going over there and saying this is how it needs to be done,” Bartzcak added.
“A lot of new developments have happened at the university [since our involvement]…where their student government is actually becoming more independent and getting more funding,” said Stephens.
“We need to come up with a budget for the new student society, new projects for them to do.”
In January, students from Pristina will travel to Toronto where both groups will submit a final report with recommendations on how to improve their student government. After that, Austin hopes he can sway Pristina’s administration to accept some of their proposals.
“My goal is to meet with the decision-makers in Kosovo and say, ‘Look, these young people have done a great job. They’re not asking for too much here,'” he said.
“One of the challenges of making this proposal is making their student association into a real student association.”
