Moderators: ·
Dr. Wolfgang Hoepken and Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers
Rapporteurs: ·
Dr. Elisabeth M. Schlossstein and Dr. Klaus Schrameyer

The participants agreed on the following topics of discussion:
1. Education in school
2. Education in university

1. Education in school

The group shared the ideal of a harmonized future school system of Kosovo-Albanians and Kosovo-Serbs. However, during the discussion it became clear that this interest was more of a theoretical and declamatory nature and that in practice not much efforts in this direction have been undertaken for the time being or are yet visible. Particularly in the Albanian-Serb mixed areas of Kosovo multi-ethnicity in education is non-existent. In the best case, due to limited resources, these segregate groups may use same buildings in turns.

The co-operation between Bosniaks and Turks seems to be better advanced. Multi-ethnic education seems possible here as first examples of joint primary education show for the case of Prizren. New curricula for a common education of all ethnic groups are still under consideration and obviously not set into practice yet. However, generally the minorities(*) still do not have equal chances of education, which is also true concerning high school education.

The question of the language of education was raised and connected with the context of the future status of Kosovo. The participants agreed that it would generally be desirable engaging with the languages of the other ethnic groups. Especially there should be a particular need and interest of the minority population to be able to communicate in the language of the majority. However, the significance of the time factor was repeatedly pointed out. It became very clear that it is still too early after the war in order to allow for raising these issues in a more pragmatic and non-emotional way. One participant illustrated this concern by stating that in most of the cities / locations there are only "cold contacts".

In summary it emerged that the school system is (still) characterised by almost complete Serb-Albanian segregation. While educational systems and contents are still heavily segregated, it was suggested that at least both educational systems should be based on equal and common values and educational objectives.

The question of how far teachers actually share the principles and ideals of an interethnic co-existence remained open.

Recommendations expressed by individual participants:
-	to forget the myths, to practice tolerance between the ethnic groups;
-	the Serbs should integrate themselves into the Albanian educational system; to abolish their "parallel system";
-	co-operation is necessary for the sake of the children and the future generations;
-	the Serb enclaves should be integrated into educational reforms which should be oriented towards integration into the European Union;
-	even if the deucational systems can not be unified in institutional terms or as far as common curricula or textbooks are concerned, common values of education for tolerance, based on european standards, should be made mandatory for all communities.

2. Education in University

It became clear that the university is in extreme financial difficulties. One Kosovo-Albanian representative formulated his desire of better cooperation with Tirana University. One Kosovo-Serb participant expressed his objections: such academic co-operations should focus on criteria of scholary excellence rather than on ethnic ones.

There was general agreement that a unified university of Pristina should be the ideal target. The current existence of a second university in Mitrovica was seen as a transitional solution only. A Serb participant explained that the lack of freedom and security of movement are the reasons that allow Serb students only to attend lectures in Mitrovica.

The educational reforms of UNMIK (United Nations Mission in Kosovo) were strongly criticized. These would have failde to produce any progress in content and lecture quality. The smaller changes, which have been made would concern administrative-technical issues only.

A representative of the German Parliament suggested that a modern university would not be the right place for representing provincial ethnic conflicts without disqualifying the country for the European Union.

Recommendations raised:
-	professors should get higher salary to encourage young scholars to join university staff;
-	the subjects should be available in both teaching languages: Albanian and Serbian;
-	the co-operation with Tirana university should be intensified; but for the sake of international standards the university should most of all integrate itself into cooerpation networks and frameworks with other european universities;
-	the Serbs to be enabled to continue their studies in Pristina;
-	Kosovo has to get out of the isolation, contacts all over the world would enrich people;
-	for stopping brain-drain structural conditions need to be improved; educational reforms must take into account structural demands of the labour market;
-	the security situation particulary for the Serbs must be improved as a pre-condition to allow them participating in the society.

Conclusion by the representative of the German Parliament:
During the discussion about the school system a basic consensus could be discovered. This is not the case with the university, where the past obviously played a more prominent role.

The conclusion is depressing: there is a separate/ parallel school system, there is evidence of good intent that would need political support to flourish. Furthermore there is a separate/ parallel university system, which will take much more time to be unified than the school system.

The representatives of the university didn't develop sufficiently the idea of the role of a university: also Kosovo takes part in a worldwide process of globalisation and development towards a sophisticated society. The question of scientific research and vocational training gets more and more decisive for a country when playing an important role in the overall competition. For this reason the university should divorce itself from conflicts on a provincial level.

For a long period Kosovo found itself in the centre of world's interest. This period is finishing now. Other remarkable events (Middle East, global terrorism) have arisen, the American interest in solving problems in the Balkans has decreased. European countries also will reduce their engagement in this region. Germany will continue to support Kosovo, but it's not sure if the level of support will remain the same. This depends very much on the engagement of the other European countries. The competition for financial support will increase. Investments will concentrate on regions in which the most success can be expected. Consequently any financial support will not be directed toward regions / institutions, like universities, where there is obviously negativity.

(*) Serbs are not acknowledged as minorities in Kosovo (Rapporteur's comment)