Prishtine. In the framework of the project “Increasing the Financial Autonomy and accountability at public higher education institutions in Kosova” the third workshop on resource allocation was held at the University of Prishtina “Hasan Prishtina” and Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of Kosova (MESTK) on March 3 – 6, 2015.
One of the lessons learned from the roundtable in November was that there are different views by the stakeholder on the exact interpretation of the university/procurement law of the Republic of Kosovo as well as about the “free balance”, in particular the current rights of universities in terms of financial management. Due to this fact there during this workshop there was an intensive going-over of relevant legal documents for HEI to clarifying the implementation of the existing relevant legal framework. At the same time, it also helped us to describe possible adjustment for the current legal framework, which is currently under revision.
Regarding Legal Framework, Mr. Bujar Gallopeni delivered a presentation of the Higher Education Law, followed by a presentation of Mrs. Mevlide Shamolli, Ministry of Finance, who delivered a presentation on public finances with a special emphasis on budget negotiation, implementation and the weak points of the financial management at the public higher education institutions of Kosova and what should be considered for the next steps. Regarding the question what should be changed regarding the Financial Autonomy of Public HEIs in Kosova the three public universities presented their point of views: University of Prishtina “Hasan Prishtina”, University “Haxhi Zeka” Peje and University of Prizren “Ukshin Hoti”.
During the workshop, participants were separated into two groups. Each of the groups had a task to work on. Group A worked on the White paper concept and was moderated by FH Campus Wien, while the second group worked on internal budgeting proceses of the Public HEIs in Kosovo and was moderated by University of Saarland.
The objective of the Group A was to further work on the White Paper concept, as a strategic document, which will serve as an input for the Kosovo legal framework. While the task of the working group B had the aim to learn about internal processes as well as the allocation of resources within the university from quality/resource manager of the European Partners. In this session there was a presentation on "control with indicators and processes". The main goal of this workshop was to work on internal allocation of money according with the strategic plan and mission. A further aim of the workshop is the design of internal expiration and processes to enable an effective and transparent allocation of resources. Another area of the workshop was to provide an analysis of the process of the Kosovo partners. Participants should reflect their own processes on the basis of 'lessons learned' from the keynote speeches and can put on paper at the same time.
The participants were representatives from Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of Kosova, University of Prishtina “Hasan Prishtina”, University of Prizren “Ukshin Hoti”, University “Haxhi Zeka” Peje, Kosova Accreditation Agency, WUS Kosova, K-Cirt, University of Alicante, University of Saarland, FH Campus Wien and Ministry of Finance.