Browsing by Author "Rexhaj, Xhavit"

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Access to higher education in Kosovo
(AAB College, 2025-07-14) Rexhaj, Xhavit
During the last decade alone, Kosovo saw higher education institutions going from a phase of low access (less than 12 % in the age group) and relatively poor quality of education and research in one public institution to massive access, very poor quality of education and total lack of research in seven public and over twenty private higher education institutions. Higher education in Kosovo is going through a phase of significant albeit uncontrolled and unplanned, increase of access to higher education. Information available shows that for political reasons the government is establishing new universities in all the bigger cities in Kosovo. These policies have resulted in four new universities being established in the last two years alone. Besides being labeled as 'universities ' against respective legal provisions, they are not preceded by a needs assessment or business plan, they remain underfunded and budgets are allocated only after months in operation, they operate with sparse administration and the new management is manned largely from among the members of the ruling coalition parties. This situation renders Kosovo higher education poles apart from that in any other country in the region.
Acquisition of Albanian as a first language from the perspective of natural order hypothesis
(AAB College, 2025-07-14) Rexhaj, Xhavit
This study deals with the natural order hypothesis in language acquisition, which posits that there is an order in which grammatical morphemes are acquired in the first, but also second language acquisition. There have been numerous studies addressing the order of acquisition of grammatical morphemes for major international languages, but there have been no such studies for Albanian language. A study of the natural order could serve to improve acquisition of Albanian as mother tongue, to enhance language curricula in schools, and to facilitate learning of Albanian as a second language. This research involved over 100 junior researchers in a crosssectional research observing more than 200 children in the age of 0 to 11 years, organised in four age-groups, over a period of two weeks. The observation collected naturalist nonexperimental data to find out whether there is a natural order of acquisition of grammatical morphemes and structures in Albanian as a first language. The existence of an order of acquisition of grammatical morphemes by difficulty level was clearly established. An unplanned finding of the study was the significant role of dialect and vernacular in the process of acquisition of Albanian as a first language. At the same time, it was difficult to clearly ascertain the role of school and environment in acquiring standard Albanian.
Higher Education in Kosovo: A Prolonged Transition
(AAB College, 2025-07-14) Rexhaj, Xhavit
Moving from survival to development: Experiences in Kosovo from developing academic identity in a transitional context
(AAB College, 2025-07-14) Rexhaj, Xhavit
The purpose of the study on which this article reports was to elaborate on career trajectories of academics in Kosovo. Particular attention is given to efforts to follow international benchmarks such as the Bologna Process at key stages of Kosovo's historical and political development in the last three decades. In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were carried out with eleven academics with and without management experience as well as administrators. Findings revealed that Kosovo's higher education system is characterised by a weak organisational culture and an orientation towards externally driven change. Also, we found that academics perceived their role narrowly. The findings suggest that while higher education in Kosovo has moved towards adopting international benchmarks, the identity of the academics has not evolved in parallel to support the transition. A managerialist approach catalysed by the Bologna Process has helped a transition process in higher education in Kosovo. Finally, we propose that for a context in transition, local meaning-making processes for policy transfer are needed. Moving forward, institutional development should be led by academic managers and should serve the professionalisation of academics in Kosovo.
ZBATIMI I KONSTRUKTIVIZMIT NË MËSIMIN E GJUHËS ANGLEZE NË SHKOLLAT E KOSOVËS
(AAB College, 2025-07-14) Rexhaj, Xhavit
This dissertation deals with the issue of implementation of constructivism in the teaching and learning of English language in Kosovo schools. For this purpose, the author carried out a desk research and a quantitative and qualitative research and analysis. The research aimed at determining the level of application of these approaches in Kosovo schools, as well as to look into the successes, but also challenges, faced by schools, teachers and education authorities in applying new approaches. The research found a uniform approach in implementing constructivism in Kosovo schools regardless of the teachers’ age, qualification, and professional development or the school area or level of education provided by schools. This situation was explained by the fact that teachers almost exclusively and uncritically rely on school texbooks in their work with students. This goes as far as them identifying school textbooks with the national curriculum for English language. Besides, the research also found a large degree of improvization in teaching and learning of English in Kosovo schools, with minimum preparation, planning and efforts in delivery of classes. At the same time, however, there is a trend of increased awareness among school managment and university teachers of education on the need to improve the situation in this regard. Deeper causes for this state of affairs seem to rest in the broader educational context and a work culture (that can best be explained by Bourdieu’s concept of Habitus) built in the last three decades of operation in the education system in Kosovo. These have had an impact in the behaviour of the English language teachers and in the way they were treated by the school managment. Clearly, the solution is in a deeper reform of the school environment, including school textbooks and staff, primarily starting with the teachers. Obviously, this does not appear as an easy undertaking, in particular having in mind that a paradigm has been established the actual needs and state of affairs in Kosovo education.