VZCZCXRO0087
OO RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
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DE RUEHPS #0214/01 0791136
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 201136Z MAR 07
FM USOFFICE PRISTINA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7167
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 1101
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK PRIORITY
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000214 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE, EUR/PPD (CABRAL), EUR/ACE (CERIALE), DRL, 
INL, AND S/WCI, NSC FOR BRAUN, USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI, 
USOSCE FOR STEVE STEGER, OPDAT FOR ACKER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO PGOV PREL EAID SOCI SCUL
SUBJECT: USOP'S FIRST VISIT TO THE NEWLY RE-ACCREDITED 
UNIVERSITY OF MITROVICA 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED -- PLEASE HANDLE ACCORDINGLY. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY:  UN Special Envoy Ahtisaari,s proposal 
for Kosovo,s final status calls for the regularization of 
the university in north Mitrovica as a Kosovar institution of 
higher learning.  On March 11 UNMIK quietly and temporarily 
extended accreditation to the university.  In a March 15 
meeting with USOP -- the first since 1999, when 
Serbian-speaking staff of the University of Pristina 
established their own ¶llel8 institution in Mitrovica 
-- Rector Zdravko Vitosevic downplayed the context of the 
accreditation, saying he was not thinking about relations 
with Kosovo institutions.  More important to him was the need 
to depoliticize the university, upgrade academic systems to 
European standards enshrined in the Bologna Agreement, and 
open relations with foreign institutions.  This first meeting 
was not unfriendly, and the rector left the door open a crack 
for possible U.S. assistance, but much more needs to be done 
to encourage a realistic view of the Ahtisaari package and 
the role of this university in post-status Kosovo.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U)  Following the Ahtisaari package,s proposal that the 
university in Mitrovica be recognized as an autonomous 
Serbian-language institution, SRSG Joachim Ruecker issued 
Executive Decision No. 2007/17 on March 11, extending to the 
institution temporary provisional accreditation under the 
name University of Mitrovica.  (Note: the university still 
claims to be the real University of Pristina, with rights to 
all property, resources, recognition and agreements that 
would entail.  End Note.)  The provisional accreditation is 
to last until August 2008 or until the university is 
accredited by the Kosovo Ministry of Education, Science and 
Technology, whichever comes first.  The Executive Decision 
states that this decision was made in consultation with the 
Prime Minister and Minister of Education of Kosovo, in 
consideration of the fact that &international cooperation 
and support will facilitate integration of University of 
Mitrovica into the educational system of Kosovo in conformity 
with applicable law.8 
 
¶3.  (U)  USOP PAO met with University of Mitrovica Rector 
Zdravko Vitosevic on March 15 -- the first such visit by a 
USOP official since the Serbian-speaking staff of the 
University of Pristina withdrew to the north in 1999 and 
established the ¶llel8 institution.  Vitosevic, 
accompanied by vice-rector Jovanovic, mentioned recent 
meetings with U.S. academics and with Embassy Belgrade DCM to 
show his openness to U.S. contact.  He elaborated at length 
on a version of the history of the &University of 
Pristina,8 including showing off the founding documents, 
which he keeps framed on the wall of his office.  According 
to him, his school currently has 6000-7000 students currently 
enrolled in 13 faculties split between Mitrovica and branch 
campuses in the nearby municipalities of Leposavic and Zubin 
Potok.  The University is working on ties with other schools 
in the former Yugoslavia (Belgrade, Skopje, Sarajevo and 
Banja Luka), as well as with Patras University in Greece. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Vitosevic stated that his number one priority was 
to take politics out of the university, and make it more 
professional.  (Comment:  Vitosevic should add corruption as 
well.  Local newspapers reported on March 16 that from 
1999-2004, before his tenure, the university issued more than 
1000 fake diplomas for prices ranging from 1500 to 3000 euro 
) a charge that Vitosevic reportedly confirmed to the Serb 
daily newspaper Blic.  End Comment.)   According to 
Vitosevic, the university elections last year that led to his 
election as rector were certified by OSCE as fair, leading to 
OSCE,s recommendation to UNMIK that the university be 
re-accredited.  He claimed that this was the reason for the 
SRSG,s accreditation decision.  He denied that the Ahtisaari 
process had anything to do with it, and rejected the context 
of the SRSG,s decision ) renaming it the University of 
Mitrovica and placing it squarely (if autonomously) within 
 
PRISTINA 00000214  002 OF 002 
 
 
the Kosovo higher education system.  He also denied that the 
university leadership was considering establishing relations 
with the Kosovo Ministry of Education (whether in an 
independent or an autonomous Kosovo) or what that would mean 
for his university, saying that this decision could wait. 
 
¶5. (SBU)   Vitosevic claimed as his second priority 
membership in and strict adherence to the Council of 
Europe/European Association of Universities Standards Regime 
known as the Bologna Process, and making the academic and 
management changes that this would require, but didn,t seem 
to recognize that the central focus of Bologna was to foster 
&student centered learning8 to prepare them for the modern 
world.  Vitosevic and Jovanovic both seemed startled at the 
idea that businesses interested in coming to the region would 
be looking to hire employees who were fluent in both Serbian 
and Albanian.  Neither looked happy at the idea that the next 
generation of lawyers might need to be able to practice in 
the new Kosovar legal system as much as the Serb legal system 
-- but, interestingly, they did not dismiss out of hand the 
possibility of U.S. assistance to introduce this new legal 
system into the Mitrovica Law Faculty.  They were more 
circumspect about assistance with English language teaching. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Vitosevic said that there had been no contact with 
the university located in Pristina &because they have shown 
no interest.8  In the one concession of the meeting, he 
offered to use his intercollegiate connections to help 
Pristina re-establish cooperation with the other former 
Yugoslav universities, but then commented that that would 
probably have to wait until final status was settled.  He 
further commented that the final status outcome would be 
&whatever the Americans wanted it to be.8 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  COMMENT:  This first meeting in years between USOP 
and the rector of the University of Mitrovica was not 
unfriendly, but the rector deflected questions about future 
operations and left a lot deliberately unsaid.  The rector is 
not ready to concede that anything has changed, or that he 
needs to plan for the changes that the Ahtisaari package will 
bring.  The message was clear that U.S. contact and 
assistance would be welcome, but not at the cost, at least at 
this point, of viewing the Ahtisaari package realistically or 
establishing relations with Kosovo governmental institutions. 
 We will continue to look for ways to continue the dialogue 
and establish productive cooperation with the university, in 
the interest of reaching out to northern Serbs. END COMMENT. 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  USOP clears this cable in its entirety for release 
to UN Special Envoy Ahtisaari. 
KAIDANOW