From 29 September to 1 October 2024, the Ministerial Meeting of the Western Balkans Platforms on Research and Innovation, Education and Training, and Culture took place in Skopje, North Macedonia, at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel. This significant event gathered key stakeholders from the Western Balkans and the European Union to foster dialogue and collaboration on critical regional priorities.
At the invite of Antoaneta Angelova-Krasteva, Director for Innovation, Digital Education and International Cooperation at the European Commission, and Iliana Ivanova, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, prof. dr. Renata Petrevska Nechkoska, long-lasting head of research team at the Western Balkans Alumni Association (WBAA) participated in a round table discussion on the multi-stakeholder approach to digital education. Prof. Petrevska Nechkoska represented WBAA alongside its Regional Board Members, Milan Stojanovic and Dejan Galovski.
Within the substantially intensive agenda of the two working days, the round table discussion has been moderated by Antoaneta Angelova-Krasteva, Director for Innovation, Digital Education and International Cooperation at the European Commission, who sublimed the interventions of all ministries from the represented WB countries as well as the discussants: Pilvi Torsti, Director, European Training Foundation, Maida Pasic, Regional Education Adviser, Europea and Central Asia, UNICEF, Renata Petrevska Nechkoska, Associate Professor University St. Kliment Ohridski, Western Balkans Alumni Association (WBAA) and Dejan Dokuzovski, Project Director, USAID’s Media Literacy Project YouThink.
At the round-table discussion, prof. dr. Renata Petrevska Nechkoska, intertwined the experiences of the European University Alliances and the one UKLO is part of – COLOURS and the tangible usefulness of the WBAA Tracer study which consists of direct learnings for the policy makers and universities across the Balkans and EU, about the teaching, research and higher education systems, what can be improved and how, and presented the challenges of alignment and co-creation on the pathway of co-evolution. She shed light on the a newly introduced and more encompassing principle of the triple transition: social, green and digital. This approach is followed by at least two European university alliances alongside COLOURS, as set in the chapter which served as background of their proposals – The Three MuskEUteers – Pushing and Pursuing a “One for All, All for One” Triple Transition: Social, Green, and Digital (open access here) from the book edited by Renata Petrevska Nechkoska, Gjorgji Manceski and Geert Poels, Facilitation in Complexity: from Creation to Co-creation, from Dreaming to Co-dreaming, from Evolution to Co-evolution.
At the Ministerial meeting, prof. dr. Renata Petrevska Nechkoska, in the role of CIO lead of UKLO COLOURS, has established the necessary relations and discussed with relevant stakeholders on EU, regional and national level.
In her communication with the Minister of Education and Science, North Macedonia – Vesna Janevska and her team, she expressed the openness for more direct link of the University St. Kliment Ohridski Bitola with the Ministry of Education and Science, due to the growing findings and activities which necessitate coordination and collaboration on policy-maker level. She also pointed out the position of UKLO with its experience as first Macedonian university who is a partner in a European university alliance, which also serves as leader of the three universities from the country which are now part of three Alliances. The minister Janevska expressed willingness and opened direct communication channels for the needs of the European University Alliances from the country, as well as via the other institutionalized forms of governance and collaboration in the Macedonian higher education system.
Throughout the Joint Foresight Exercise based on the ‘Strategic Foresight in the Western Balkans’ report, prof. Petrevska Nechkoska interchanged expert insights with Signe Ratso, Deputy Director General, DG for Research and Innovation, European Commission and Sinisa Marcic, Senior Expert on Human Capital Development, Regional Cooperation Council. The potential avenues for the European university alliances funding have been discussed at the Presentation of the COST Western Balkans Study with Salvatore Grimaldi, President, COST Association and Ronald De Bruin, Director, COST Association.
Traditionally, the WBAA members and the COLOURS European university alliance CIO lead for UKLO met the Commissioner Iliana Ivanova, and she acknowledged the association and the effort of the alumni across the Western Balkans who contribute to the synergies with the European countries, but also strengthen the regional development. Commissioner Ivanova has been especially glad to hear that prof. Petrevska Nechkoska comes from UKLO as part of the European university alliance COLOURS and that there is a promising future for academic growth of the multi-stakeholder higher education ecosystem in the region.
