UNMIK/PR/176
Today Professor Michael Daxner takes up his duties as the International Administrator for the Pristina University system, consisting of seven campuses and some 1,500 faculty and administrators.
The idea of an international administrator to help strengthen the university system structure was forwarded last year by the Pristina Working Group of the Academic Task Force, composed of European governments and NGOs, to the Pristina University Council, including Rector Zenel Kelmendi and the deans of faculties.
Professor Daxner, who serves on several international boards in the Academic Task Force for Bosnia & Herzegoniva, formed the Pristina Group which approached UNMIK in July 1999, offering assistance in higher education. During a Council of Europe meeting in Strasbourg in October, Daxner's group recommended against the idea of installing an international rector, as a move which would be counter-productive to the University's autonomy.
The international administrator will work on fund-raising and administrative and legislative matters in order to free up Rector Kelmendi to manage and develop academic affairs.
Professor Daxner was born in Vienna in 1947 and holds Austrian and German citizenship. He holds a PhD in Education from the University of Vienna. He worked for the Federal Ministry of Science in Vienna in international relations and academic reform. In 1974, he was appointed Professor of Higher Education at the University of Osnabrueck in Germany. In 1986, he was elected president of the Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg, Germany and served until 1998. He sits on several international boards involved in higher education.
He said one of his goals is to implement the European strategy of building a 'European Space of Higher Education' in Kosovo, and that Kosovo could be a model for sustainable and accountable reforms for the region.
"I have experienced the conveyance of trust and confidence from those on behalf of the University," Daxner said. "But I am also aware that the problems and issues to master are mounting. I look forward to working with the people and responsible organizations in Kosovo in order to help make the University a central institution in the emerging new society."
"I am confident that I can show not only understanding and sensitivity towards the expectations and hopes of the academic and intellectual world in this country, but that I shall also be able to deliver material results for the reconstruction process."