A mechanism for the verification of diplomas issued by a Serb-run university in northern Kosovo is at risk of expiring, in a fresh blow to efforts to integrate Serbs in the majority-Albanian country.
For a decade, working through the NGO European Centre for Minority Issues, ECMI, a government commission has verified diplomas obtained by students at the University of North Mitrovica, which is not formally recognised by Kosovo.
The idea was to facilitate the recruitment of Serbs into public sector jobs in Kosovo, a former Serbian province of some 1.6 million people, roughly 90 per cent of them ethnic Albanians.
The commission’s current mandate runs out on October 15, however; it was last extended for only two months, rather than the usual six.
“The reduction of the last mandate from six months to two months is a signal from the government that it is not interested in continuing a process that fails to resolve the university’s status but maintains the status quo,” said a government source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.