Functional Review of the Ministry of Education, Science and ...

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PART B: Specific findings and recommendations In Part B, we deal with findings and recommendation that concern organization of departments and other MEST units. This part is organized around the proposal of the new organizational structure. Part B is divided into 3 main sections dealing with: - core substantive units, - support units and - division of work between the MEST and agencies. B.1 Core substantive units The MEST’s competences comprise the whole education area and research and development. Education area consists of two main subareas: pre-university education and higher education. B.1.1 Pre-university education In general, there are two basic approaches for organization of ministry in the area of pre-university education: According to type of schools (primary / general secondary / vocational / special) According to type of activities (administration / development / quality assurance / standardization and testing) Organization of pre-university education units in EU-6 ministries are as follows: 2 countries have just one unit at the departmental level 3 countries have 2 units at the departmental level divided according types of schools, 1 country has 4 units, but it has no units at the lower level. The MEST is currently using administration / development scheme for division of units at the departmental level. At the division level, it is based mainly on type of schools in the Department of Pre-university Education Administration and mainly on type of activities in the Department for Pre-university Education Development. Because of importance of VET area for Kosovo’s educations system underscored in different policy documents, the MEST is considering establishing the Department for Vocational Education and Training (VET). This means that the current “type-of-activity” approach of organization of pre-university departments should change to “type-of-school” approach. Recommendation B.1: Establish 2 departments - the Department of VET and the Department of General Education replacing the current Department of Pre-university Education Administration and Department for Pre-university Education Development. In order to strengthen the qualitative aspect of education, the MEST is considering establishing also a unit dedicated to standardization and testing. We support this intention, but because such kind of units function normally as an agency, we recommend transformation the unit into an agency later. Recommendation B.2: Establish the Centre for Evaluation for Pre-university Education as a standalone unit and transform it into an agency in the medium-term. Adopting “type-of-school” approach at departmental level requires appropriate change at division level. Recommendation B.3: Organize the two pre-university education departments as follows: a) Department of General Education: i) Division of pre-primary, primary and lower secondary education, ii) Division of general upper secondary education, 14
iii) Division of special education, iv) Division of education for communities, v) Division for general education development. b) Department of VET: i) Division of VET administration, ii) Division for VET development, iii) Division of lifelong learning (LLL). c) Employees performing activities that do not fit into any of the above divisions or are common for more divisions can be left unassigned or form a separate division (i.e. Division of Common Activities). The duties of individual divisions correspond essentially to the duties of the corresponding sectors in the current organizational structure. B.1.2 Higher education In other countries, the higher education area is generally dealt with a dedicated department. Looking at EU-6 ministries, we can see this in 4 cases. Two countries, Finland and Slovenia, have units dedicated to higher education at the lower level. In terms of organization of higher education departments, there are different options (university / non university divisions, recognition divisions, mobilities division, R&D in higher education institutions division). Current organizational arrangement in HE area with regard to its character does not require any immediate change. Things can potentially change after the new law on higher education is adopted, but reorganization in this area is not a priority. Recommendation B.4: Retain the Higher Education Department in its current position including its internal division. In case of need, adjust eventually the internal division of the department in accordance with the results of the ongoing efforts in the higher education area (the preparation of the new law). B.1.3 Research and development One of the basic responsibilities of the MEST is to promote research. The Program of Government stresses the goal of the MEST to build capacities for research and science. The current state of MEST’s capacities in R&D area does not show the readiness of the MEST to meet these requirements and presents one of weaknesses of the system. This statement is based on the following observations: The MEST has very weak personnel capacity in the R&D area and needs to clarify organization of the ministry work. (In terms of ministry organization in other countries, research and development area shows similar situation as it is with higher education: except for Finland, there is always some sort of department of R&D. In Finland, there is a division dedicated to R&D. In terms of internal structure of the departments, different options are used (policy vs. projects, international cooperation in R&D, R&D at universities). Currently, the MEST has no budget for activities in R&D (except the budget for basic survival of the research institutes). Under such conditions, no development of the area is feasible. But even when some finances for R&D are allocated, it is important to have in place an effective system of their delivery to the final recipient. We are proposing a standard way based on principle of grants provided competitively using peer-reviewed research proposals. There are only a small number of research organizations in Kosovo. Three of them, Pedagogical Institute, Albanological Institute and Historical Institute are currently organizations of the MEST’s portfolio. We had meetings at all of these institutes and we have found that the conditions for their work are rather poor and that the institutes cannot effectively function under such conditions. Moreover, there is a declared strategic priority presented recently by Minister Hoxhaj to establish research institutions at universities ... (see section A). So it is necessary to consider seriously the future position of these institutes. 15
Page 1 and 2: Functional Review and Institutional
Page 3 and 4: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report prese
Page 5 and 6: Introduction This report presents r
Page 7 and 8: have been assessed and reviewed by
Page 9 and 10: Chart 3 Chart 4 In terms of how the
Page 11 and 12: Based on this analysis, we make 2 r
Page 13: Recommendation A.12: Gradually add,
Page 17 and 18: Internal Audit In the small EU coun
Page 19 and 20: There is the basic IT support, whil
Page 21 and 22: Table 2: Comparisons of agencies in
Page 23 and 24: Pre-university Education Developmen
Page 25 and 26: Table 3: Lower level of the recomme
Page 27 and 28: Based on the new R&D strategy decid
Page 29 and 30: Annex 1: List of interviews Organiz
Page 31: Annex 2: FRIDOM’s comments on the

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