THE ACTIVISM CENTER AT ORCA

Starter of student initiatives for social change.

Illustration: Argjira Kukaj

From February of this year in the Organization for Higher Quality Education(ORCA) the space called “Center for Student Activism” was opened. This space, which has been a goal of ORCA for a while, serves as a fertilizing terrain for new student initiatives which aim to give meaning to their commitments within their university and society.  

In Kosovo, higher education is seen as the final address in getting a diploma, no matter how that diploma is secured. Consequently to this mentality, we are faced with the two absurdities of this system; the first being unfolded in almost all activities ORCA organizes, where the hierarchical relationship between professors and students is the uncrossable abyss between the pair. This is because students are not aware of their basic rights and see themselves as mistreated and victims of authoritarian professors, while professors being professionally underprepared, use this opportunity to camouflage themselves. 

The second absurdity unfolds when a big part of the students who have finished their studies with many struggles, remain unemployed. According to Kosova’s Agency for Statistics the level of unemployment in youth is 48.6%. Who should take the blame? Us, who do not give credit to the student struggles and who don’t accommodate them in a job, or those who see their studies as marked within a circle of professional preparation, and never as an enhanced circle of engagement in different social spheres.

This paradox is best used by student organizations, which push group or party interests, aiming to seduce students through some not relevant for university causes, like requests for more exam periods, maybe a very important topic for those who want to get their diploma quickly. In the meanwhile, we rarely hear that these student formations have raised a crucial cases like sexual harasments in universities or the undeserving academic achievements of their professors. 

In all this mess, through many meetings and discussions with students, we have asked the question if there is a way out of this crossroads. We have reached a conclusion that we may not know the answer but at least we need a space where we could accumulate all our discussions and activities, so that in the future they can be shaped into social transformations. Therefore, the idea for the Center for Student Activism at ORCA, has begun to crystallize and to conceive in us as a concept and unavoidable need for a center. 

In February of this year the Center for Student Activism was established at ORCA, with the help of an institutional grant we won from the Kosovar Civil Society Foundation, which made it possible for our goal to shape. 

Now, close to a year since it’s establishment, it has started to serve as an incubator of new initiatives which aim to democratize university life through engagement and attempts in higher quality education. We have put ourselves in serving this center and creating a program for its functionality, through events like: movie and debate nights, lectures on student activism, meetings with students, trainings on addressing social problems, facilitating student groups, social initiatives to organize protests and other advocating events, lectures initiated by students which fit their studies, student activism congress and more.

This space aims to foster new initiatives for student activism which awaken student life in general. The activities of the Center do not comfort us just because they are happening, but because we believe they are the roots for the growth and development of student initiatives. I invite you for a soup in the Center for Student Activism of ORCA, as the first course of mutual engagement towards higher quality education. 

About the author: the Organization for Higher Quality Education is a civil society organization based in Prishtina, whose work is centered around monitoring, analysing and reacting to academic processes in higher education in Kosova.