Students from Kosovo’s top university say they will continue to protest over fraud involving advanced degrees even though the University of Pristina’s rector resigned after violent clashes on Friday in which 30 were arrested.

According to BalkanInsight, the students will continue their actions until “all academic degrees and (doctorates) are verified and until the statute of the University of Pristina is changed to add autonomy and transparency to it and remove politics from it.”

Protests began after local media alleged professors at the university had published false papers in phantom foreign magazines in order to obtain their doctorates and further their academic careers.

Dozens of police officers and students were injured Friday in what has become a major controversy because of a long history of corruption, politicization and poor quality in Kosovo’s education system.

Ibrahim Gashi, the former rector, told Reuters,"I hope that my resignation will start the normalization of work at (the University of Pristina)…  I am aware that this situation is created from a group of students instrumented and politicized by some non-governmental organizations and political parties."

The students denied these accusations saying they were acting by themselves and were not being directed by any political force.

https://reportingproject.net