Prishtina, 16 September, 2023
After yesterday’s productive meeting with “STEM Ambassadors”, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, together with the Deputy Minister of Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure, Hysen Durmishi and his advisor for Information Technology, Lulëzon Jagxhiu, was present in the “EngineeringHER Future” certification ceremony, this event which also marks the week of empowerment of young women in Engineering.
In his speech, Prime Minister Kurti said that by giving girls the chance to contribute to STEM, we open new opportunities for them and for the whole society.
“Today we are together on this special day for these 50 girls, since from this project supported by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, they have gained the necessary skills and knowledge to open youth engineering clubs in their communities and schools “, said the Prime Minister.
As a result, we introduced it as a new government policy for girls and women in STEM, continued the Prime Minister, announcing that in 2022 we doubled the budget for these scholarships to 2 million euros, while during this term we have awarded a total of 3,978 scholarships for studies in the fields STEM at home and abroad.
At the same time, in April of this year, the first national conference for women and girls in STEM, STEMinists, was held, organized under the patronage of the Prime Minister’s Office, where conditions were created for the networking of girls and women in these fields, as well as opportunities for professional development.
In this ceremony where, in addition to the girls, parents and project teams, teachers and directors of their schools were also present, the Prime Minister emphasized that this is an indicator of the power of cooperation and common dedication, in order for us all to ensure progress great educational, social and economic of Kosovo.
Empowering the girls of the Republic of Kosovo in Engineering is the primary goal of the “EngineeringHER Future” project, which is one of the winning projects of the public call in the field of youth 2023 for individuals, opened and supported by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports .
On Friday, Prime Minister Kurti welcomed the “STEM Ambassadors” network, young men and women from Kosovo and the Diaspora, distinguished in the STEM fields, to the Government building.
Prime Minister Kurti’s complete speech:
In two weeks, it will be 30 years since Lulzon Jagxhiu and I, who is with me, started our studies here at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer and Telecommunication branch as it was called then and today FIEK, i.e. the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering. So exactly 30 years on October 1 this year since we started our studies with a journey that is being followed by a considerable number of young people today. From the mathematical gymnasium, that is, from mathematics to the gymnasium, to computing, to telecommunications, to automatic electronics and so on.
Dear Deputy Minister Durmishi,
Dear members of the “Engineering Her Future” project team
Dear Ms. Erblina Bunjaku, Project Manager,
Dear teachers and school principals,
Dear parents present,
Dear volunteers, STEM ambassadors,
Dear STEMinists,
It is a pleasure that after yesterday’s meeting at the Prime Minister, we are meeting again today in this ceremony which marks the successful implementation of the first part of “EngineeringHER Future”. I am happy as I see the finalization of this phase of the project for the development of girls’ skills in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
By giving girls the chance to contribute to STEM, we open up new opportunities for them and for society as a whole. By increasing diversity in these areas, we can foster innovation and creativity.
That is why we introduced it as a new government policy for girls and women in STEM and in 2022 we doubled the budget for these scholarships to 2 million euros. We offered over 1,300 scholarships for STEM fields in the 2021-2022 academic year, and over 1,600 scholarships for STEM fields in the 2022-2023 academic year. As never before, the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation has intensified support for girls in STEM with 1,382 scholarships in 2022.
During this term, we awarded a total of 3,978 scholarships for studies in STEM fields at home and abroad.
Thanks to these stimulus measures, but also to the highly developed sector of information and communication technology, we have about 1,500 companies in Kosovo that are successful and that have made the trade balance in this sector positive in our Republic.
The participation of girls in studies in the STEM fields at the University of Pristina is 50%, while in the countries of the European Union, it is 17%. So, approximately the ratio of one to three in relative terms, that is, depending on the size of the state. 50% at the University of Pristina are girls in the STEM fields, in the European Union, where they are also trying to increase this percentage, they are 17%.
In April of this year, the Prime Minister’s Office and MAShTI jointly held the first national conference for women and girls in STEM, called STEMinist, meaning from feminist, STEMinist, for the networking of girls and women in these fields, as well as opportunities for professional development.
Today we are together on this special day for these 50 girls, since this project supported by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, have gained the necessary skills and knowledge to open youth engineering clubs in their communities and schools.
In this event, in addition to the girls, we also have you, dear parents, but also the project team and the teachers and principals of their schools.
This is an indicator of the power of cooperation and common commitment, with the aim of all of us ensuring greater educational, social and economic progress in Kosovo.
Thank you and good luck in the EngineeringHER Future program.
Last modified: September 18, 2023