Primary Education.
In the context of Kosovo laws for education, the primary education
ranging from grades 1-5 along with the lower secondary education is
obligatory for all citizens and it begins when the child turns 6 years
old. The mandatory is nevertheless free of charge.
The second
phase of the obligatory education is the so called lower secondary
education which consists of teenagers usually around 12-15 years of age,
therefore, grades 6-9. This education, according to the law, is also
free of charge and publicly funded. The lower secondary education is
held in the five official languages of Kosovo: Albanian, Serbian,
Turkish, Croatian, and Bosnian.
Secondary Education.
The higher secondary education is categorized in professional and
general education and predominantly lasts around 3-4 years conditional
on the educational curriculum that is planned by Kosovo’s Ministry of
Education. This level of education is not mandatory but nevertheless
highly encouraged. Thus, all students who complete the higher secondary
education basically do so on voluntary basis. On the ground of
professional secondary education, the main aim is to prepare the youth
for professional labor markets with the offering of possibilities to
pursue university or post-secondary studies. The higher secondary
education is categorized in eight types of schools consisting of classes
with various teaching profiles.
Universities.
Higher Education is available of attaining in various Universities
and different educational institutions offering high professional
education. Higher education is also available in public or private
institutions where the students are offered Associate’s Degrees’,
Bachelor Degrees’, Master Degrees’, and PhD’s. Various schedules are
additionally available where students can choose to pursue their studies
full-time or part-time.
Various alternations were brought by the
network of high education institutions where a range of legal standards
were adjusted for such institutions to develop. The standards and norms
of higher education in Kosovo are supported by European standards as
the platform on the development of the higher education system was based
on the process of Bologna’s objectives.
The Ministry of
Education, Science, and Technology has created the Kosovo Accreditation
Agency (KAA) according to Kosovo’s law on high education for the aim of
assessing the appropriate quality in the higher education private and
public institutions.
