The fourth Academic Exchange of #Center_LOJA / CPS project took place in Tirana – Albania from 25th to 28th of October and brought together professors and deans from our cooperating universities all over North Macedonia.

The diverse program allowed for an inspiring exchange with Albanian experts from academic world and public sphere. This exchange offered opportunities to understand and experience the ways of dealing with the communist past as well introduced us to multiculturalism in Albania in the light of the treatment of the ethnic minorities during Communist Era and today’s European journey.

At the premises of Qendra Rinore e Tiranës together with professors Marsela Sako and Dafina Peci (Faculty of Social Science from University of Tirana), and Edon Qesari (Universiteti Mesdhetar i Shqipërisë) we discussed especially the question of how are these issues represented in the education system – curricula.

On the other hand, with well known public figures:

Jonila Godole (Head of Institute for Democracy, Media and Culture and lecturer at the Department of Journalism and Communication, University of Tirana) and Mustafa Nano (political analyst, journalist and publicist) we discussed how it is dealt with the Communist past, to what extend and how is present in public space.

The group also had opportunity to get more insight on Communist past from the visit at House of Leaves.

Moreover, the visit offered space to discuss with professor Rezart Prifti (Faculty of Economy – University of Tirana) not only about the challenges that the current pandemic poses but also about ways to transform this crisis into an opportunity for creative innovation on education.

A structured debrief and forward planning session was organized by LOJA & deans team in Tirana too. Concrete forward-looking solutions with commitments by the participating universities were scheduled and will be properly addressed especially before and during the upcoming Scientific Conference on Multicultural Education.

We are confident that this Academic Exchange posed an important milestone in further strengthening our university networks both within North Macedonia and the region, as well as improving our model approaches of multicultural education.

This academic exchange took place in the frames of #CivilPeaceServiceProgram for the Future Teachers, project implemented by #Center_LOJA in partnership with #KURVE_Wustrow – supported by BMZ (German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and and Development)