The genealogy of the University of Prishtina

Institutions of higher education in Kosovo have a relatively recent history. The Pedagogical School of Prishtina was founded in the academic year 1958/1959, which is the year that marks the beginnings of higher education in Kosovo. The Higher Administration School and the Higher Agricultural School were opened in Prishtina one year later. Other cities in Kosovo followed.⁸⁹ In October 1960, the Faculty of Philosophy was established in

88 Aleksandar Ranković (1909-1983) was a Yugoslav communist of Serb origin, considered by some as the third most powerful man in SFRY. He ran Kosovo as a police state and supported a hardline approach towards Albanians in Kosovo until his fall from grace in 1966.

89 Higher Pedagogical School in Prizren (1960), Higher Economic-Commercial School in Peja/Peć (1960), Higher Engineering School in Mitrovica (1961), Higher Pedagogical School “Xhevdet Doda” in Prizren (1962), Higher Pedagogical School “Bajram Curri” in Gjakova/Đakovica (1967), etc. (UP 2005: 12).

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Prishtina.⁹⁰ In 1961, the Faculty of Economics and Law⁹¹ and an additional two Higher Engineering Schools⁹² were also founded in Prishtina. The trend of trade-oriented schools continued with the founding of the Faculty of Engineering in 1965. These four faculties and eight schools of higher education were the first institutions of higher education in Kosovo, and they all functioned as extensions of the University of Belgrade. About 3,320 students (1,046 full-time and 2,274 part-time) attended four high/secondary schools, and two faculties opened by 1961. The majority of them – 2,010 – were Serbs, followed by 928 Albanians, and 382 others. In 1964, 31 graduating students became the first generation of the Faculty of Philosophy: 16 Albanians and 15 others (UP, 2005: 11-15). Kosovo authorities were in charge of students’ board and lodging.⁹³ Lectures were delivered in the Serbian language (UP, 2005: 10-13). Professors whom I interviewed for this dissertation explained that the first generations of students were very ambitious. The actual students of these institutions at the time clarified that the first semester classes were held in the gymnasium, but that they soon moved to military barracks. The quarters where soldiers had previously been billeted were repurposed as classrooms, and students later moved to the current premises of the Economic and Law Faculty in Prishtina. Even though they still lagged behind others in the SFRY, the process of Kosovo Albanians’ transformation into an emancipated society steadily burgeoned starting from the mid-1960s. Intentions to establish university-level education were regularly presented at all levels of Communist Party meetings. On October 24, 1968, a delegation from Kosovo met with SFRY leader Josip Broz Tito. Veli Deva, chairman of the Provincial Committee in Kosovo and a member of the SFRY Presidency, stressed that around 40% of Kosovo inhabitants were illiterate, only 5-6% of Kosovo inhabitants had completed primary school education (six grades), and that the percentage of qualified workers in Kosovo was three times lower than in the rest of

90 Initially, this faculty offered Albanological Studies, Serbo-Croatian Language, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. Soon after, additional departments were opened, offering Russian Language and Literature and English Language and Literature. In the first academic year, 1960/61, 97 full-time students (60 Albanians, 32 Serbs, and 5 others) and 141 part-time students were registered. Lectures were conducted by 7 teachers (2 Albanians and 5 Serbs) and 7 associates (2 Albanians and 5 Serbs), four of whom were in possession of a doctorate and one of whom had a master’s degree (UP 2005: 16).

91 In the first year, there were 586 students registered: 185 in Law (43 full-time and 142 part-time) and 401 students in Economics (120 full-time and 281 part-time), namely 323 Serbs, 134 Albanians, and 129 others (UP 2005: 14).

The first professors at the Economic and Law faculties were Rifat Osmani, Abedin Ferovic, Mark Krasniqi, Nuri Bashota, Abdulla Zajmi, Zejnulla Gruda, and Fuad Rizvanolli (KTV: April 2017).

92 There were 364 students registered (87 full-time, 277 part-time) (UP 2005: 12).

93 Initially, several existing facilities were adapted, and student dormitory No. 1 was built in 1961. Other student facilities were built thereafter, providing 750 beds for about 1,000 students (UP 2005: 12).

71 Yugoslavia. Accordingly, Deva invited the entire SFRY to contribute toward the resolution of education-related problems in Kosovo. "Given that (Albanian language) is a native language of 70% of Kosovo's inhabitants" (AJ 837/II-2-364),⁹⁴ the need to use the Albanian language in schools in Kosovo was also spelled out to Tito. In that sense, Albanian communist leaders made every connection between the lack of "qualified workers" and the hampering of the overall development in all sectors in Kosovo, and used every opportunity to promote prioritization of education in Kosovo at the federal level and in the Albanian language. Indeed, the country was in desperate need of qualified cadres to take public positions in Kosovo's promising economy during the late 1960s. A steady increase in the number of Albanian primary and secondary schools⁹⁵ in Kosovo served as a stimulus for further development of tertiary education as well. Political leaders used this space to establish institutions of higher learning (Kostovicova, 2005: 40). On the other hand, SRS opposed the creation of a university-level institution for Kosovo; indeed, they even discriminated against existing institutions of higher education in the province. The report of a commission for material issues of students in SFRY highlighted the difficult conditions for students in Prishtina. The rooms in the dormitories had 10-20 beds, while the capacity of student dormitories in other SFRY republics was as follows: Belgrade 10,057, Zagreb 5,383, Ljubljana 2,950, Sarajevo 2,160, Skopje 2,140, Novi Sad 1,166 and Nis 480. As for the material position of teachers, a document from the archive of Yugoslavia shows that in SFRY republics, as well as in the province of Vojvodina, teachers received stipends during the 1960s. Kosovo, however, was not mentioned in those parts of the document addressing credits and houses for teachers during the 1960s (AJ 145/60-258). When it came to student stipends, they were mainly given to the children of communist officials, whereas the children of villagers received much less (AJ, 145/86-377). The modest number of Albanian intellectuals of that time also supported an initiative for overall progress in the field of education. Developments in the sphere of higher education during the sixties also showed

94 Referencing of archival materials from the Archives of Yugoslavia is done as per the following order: AJ refers to the Archive of Jugoslavija, 837 refers to the number of the fond, and the next number refers to the box.

95 During the school year 1945/1946, there were 388 primary schools in Kosovo; all were four-grade schools. In 1956/1957, the number rose to 711, including six-grade and eight-grade schools, while in 1974/1975 there were 862 primary schools in Kosovo, of which 397 were eight-grade schools. The expansion of schools was accompanied by a change in the proportion of Serbian and Albanian students, approximating although not quite reflecting the ethnic make-up of the province. In the school year 1945/1946, 23,536 pupils attended primary school in Albanian and 27,211 in the Serbian language. In 1974/1975, 279,475 pupils were taught in Albanian and 60,188 in the Serbian language in Kosovo's primary schools (cited after Kostovicova 2005: 40).

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the first signs of influencing the rising awareness of national issues among Kosovo Albanians. Kosovo students and members of the younger generation started to mature politically and to reflect on Albanian–Serb relations through a critical lens. For example, when it came to the student demonstrations of November 1968, Fadil Hoxha and his communist allies "identified" the (mis)use of historical memory as one of the tools which led to student mobilization or demonstrations in Prishtina. Specifically, they highlighted the manifestations of the 500th anniversary of Skenderbeg's⁹⁶ death (1968) in Prishtina, as a (mis)used memory for spurring student mobilization (AK LoCPC/1981/7⁹⁷).

3.2.2. Before the demonstrations in Kosovo; preparations, slogans, and other details