Full speech – The Rector of UP did not hold back in front of Osman and Kurti: You are the personification of the efforts for freedom, for Kosovo

Full speech – The Rector of UP did not hold back in front of Osman and Kurti: You are the personification of the efforts for freedom, for Kosovo

President Vjosa Osmani and acting Prime Minister Albin Kurti honored the UP rector, Arben Hajrullahu, just as they went to receive the “Honorary Alumni of the University of Pristina” awards.

A ceremony that was said to “inspire future generations” was deemed by many to be shameful, as UP was honoring two former students, among many others, in the final days of an election campaign.

Hajrullahu began his welcoming speech with the history of UP, filled with honors and choice words for the two leaders.

“Without exaggeration,” Hajrullahu was able to say that the president and the incumbent prime minister “have made us and continue to make us proud at home and abroad, everywhere.”

The rector expressed great gratitude to the president and the acting prime minister, which he included in his thanks for the efforts “both for the University of Pristina and for freedom, for the Republic of Kosovo.” The two of them, Hajrullahu said, are “the very personification of these efforts across generations.”

Osmani and Kurti, according to him, make “our common home, the University of Pristina, very proud.”

“On this occasion, I have the special honor to present to you, on behalf of the University of Pristina, the “Honorary Alumni of the University of Pristina” Award. Thank you and good luck!”

Below is the full speech by Rector Arben Hajrullahu, published by UP:

Your Excellency, President of the Republic of Kosovo, Ms. Vjosa Osmani – Sadriu,

Your Excellency, Acting Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Mr. Albin Kurti,

Honorable institutional and state officials,

Honorable members of the Governing Council, deans, professors and students of UP,

ladies and gentlemen,

Dear attendees,

On the eve of Flag Day, on November 27, 1968, the people of this land took to the streets to demonstrate with demands for a University, a Flag, and a Republic. The demonstration was dispersed by force, but less than a year later, on November 18, 1969, the then Assembly of Kosovo established the University of Prishtina.

The University of Prishtina was always under scrutiny and scrutiny, but it survived, grew, and developed alongside Kosovo. It managed to significantly reduce the high rate of illiteracy and gathered within itself idealists and enlightened people, who also created the first nucleus of knowledge, scientific research, and sustainable development.

The University of Pristina, which has been in existence for more than 55 years, was hindered, banned, and anathemaed, especially in the 90s, during the apartheid period, when students and professors were forcibly removed from university buildings and systematically persecuted by the occupying state apparatus.

In that difficult time of the ’90s, the people, who demanded the university through demonstrations in 1968, opened the doors of their homes and hearts to make room and create space for the students and professors of the University of Prishtina to continue their education in their home-schools. It was an extraordinary display of solidarity, human greatness and an endless desire for perseverance and knowledge.

But the apartheid era could not continue forever. Therefore, on October 1, 1997, 28 years ago, the students, professors and administrators of UP, under the leadership of the Independent Students’ Union, rose up to demand the return to university facilities. This protest was also violently suppressed, but it was considered an event, a key catalyst, that accelerated the processes towards the final liberation of the country.

Without exaggeration, I can say that there are few or no universities anywhere in the world that have contributed so much to the enlightenment and statehood of a society and country, as the University of Pristina has done throughout its history. It has produced presidents, prime ministers, statesmen, professors, students, and public figures who have made us and continue to make us proud at home and abroad.

Honorable guests, leaders of our political, institutional and academic life,

To lead such a university, with all its glorious past and numerous achievements, albeit in circumstances that are often more difficult than favorable, is an honor, a pleasure, a pride, and above all, a great responsibility.

In this spirit, the principles of legality, meritocracy, transparency, and accountability are both non-negotiable and daily efforts of our work at the head of this key institution of our republic.

Our daily commitments are oriented in three directions:

internal mobility — joint study projects and programs between academic units of the University of Pristina;

external mobility — bringing as many professors and students as possible from world-renowned universities to UP and vice versa;

advancing digitalization, in a world that is changing irreversibly every day from artificial intelligence tools and rapid technological developments.

The International Summer University of Pristina and the International Seminar on Albanian Language, Literature and Culture are the main traditional events that connect the UP with global academic life, in addition to frequent meetings and collaborations with other universities known for networking and presence on all continents.

For example, as part of these ongoing efforts to increase the quality of teaching and scientific research, the Faculty of Architecture — in addition to other faculties that already have such collaborations — will have a joint doctoral program with the Vienna University of Technology.

We chose precisely October 1, the anniversary of the ’97 student protest and “Students’ Day”, to deliver the wonderful news that Gëzim Visoka, professor at Dublin City University and associate at the University of Oxford, will also be part of the University of Pristina, Department of Political Science, where he began and completed his basic studies.

On this significant day, to motivate distinguished students, we awarded them for the first time the “Hasan Prishtina” award, in the name of the great man who melted all his wealth and exhausted all his intellectual and physical strength for freedom and development.

With this award and other awards such as: “Honorary Doctor”; “Honorary Member of the University”; “Ambassador of the University of Pristina”; The honorary title for excellence and extraordinary achievements in the field of sciences “Chlamys Dardanica”, we have for the first time standardized the important field of recognition and honors that the University of Pristina awards.

In order not to forget important personalities of theoretical and practical knowledge, on June 18, 2025, we awarded the highest title of “Honorary Doctor”, “Doctor Honoris Causa”, to the world-renowned Japanese international law jurist, Professor Hisashi Owada.

The former President of the International Court of Justice concluded his lecture at the University of Pristina titled “WHY WAR — A Reflection on the Public Order of the International Community” with this message:

“…the creation of the United Nations with its mechanisms for the protection of human rights, together with the adoption of the Geneva Convention as a reflection of human conscience against the atrocities of the Holocaust, has paved the way for a transition from an ‘international community centered on sovereign states’ to a ‘human community centered on man’.”

The establishment of the International Criminal Court can be seen as a manifestation of this wave of history. In light of this wave of history, what you have achieved in Kosovo can be assessed as a human victory rather than a victory between nations.”

Distinguished guests, Honorable President, Honorable Prime Minister,

This human victory, among other things, would not have been possible without the efforts of many generations and people who studied and were strongly committed, both for the University of Pristina and for freedom, for the Republic of Kosovo, as you are — honorable President, honorable Prime Minister — the very personification of these efforts across generations.

You, graduates of the University of Pristina, with your daily efforts for a state of law and a more developed and stronger Kosovo, make our common home, the University of Pristina, very proud.

On this occasion, I have the special honor to present to you, on behalf of the University of Pristina, the “Honorary Alumni of the University of Pristina” Award.

Thank you, and good luck to us!