October 7, 2008

7. October 2008.

Belgrade - October 7, 2008 - Milan Markovic, Head of the Coordination Body for South Serbia and Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, said today that Serbia wouldn't recognize university certificates that in any way call into question Serbia's sovereignty, territorial integrity and policy.
Mr. Markovic stated for TVB92 that upon agreement with his "colleagues from South Serbia, "it was necessary to propose solving of the issues, including the problem with university degrees.
Replying to a question on recognizing university degrees of those students who graduated in their mother tongue and in Kosovo, he said that he had talked with representatives of the Albanian community and that agreement with an Albanian MP, Riza Halimi, and with mayors of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medveda was needed.
He pointed out that recognition of university degrees, which are on UNMIK forms, was requested and that some other documents bearing Kosovo seals and the Republic of Kosovo had emerged, so that Serbia couldn't recognize them.
Mr. Markovic stressed that it was impossible to take activities "when you're threatened or blackmailed by anyone", and added that the issue would be solved much faster "if the Albanians got involved in our Coordination Body's work."
Reiterating that an agreement was reached on opening the Belgrade University's department in Medveda, as well as the Nis University's department in Presevo and Bujanovac each, Mr. Markovic said that textbooks and classes would be in Albanian and added that it wasn't disputable which professors would teach there, as long as they complied with the teaching program adopted by Serbia.
He said that textbooks for the school of economics' banking, marketing, IT and customs departments would be in both Serbian and Albanian and added that 200 new working places would be created in Medvedja by the end of the year.
According to him, degrees obtained abroad, such as those from Tirana, need to be validated, whereas an agreement on degrees obtained in Pristina was needed, since it was out of the question to validate something coming from Pristina, as Pristina is in Serbia.