North Macedonia reduces university enrollment quotas by 2,000

North Macedonia's Minister of Education and Science, Vesna Janevska, announced a reduction of approximately 2,000 first-year student enrollment quotas across national universities. The decision aims to align academic offerings with labor market demands, targeting fields with high unemployment rates.

Significant reductions have been applied to programs in business administration, public administration, economics, law, and certain medical fields. Conversely, quotas for technical sciences, informatics, mechanical engineering, and construction remain largely unchanged due to high employability rates, which reach between 98 and 99 percent in those sectors.

Janevska also addressed the legislative deadlock in the Assembly regarding three higher education and science laws, which are currently stalled due to opposition demands regarding the Badinter principle. She expressed hope that political issues would not prevent the passage of these reforms.

Additionally, two fully reconstructed student dormitories in Skopje, ‘Stiv Naumov’ and ‘Kuzman Josifovski-Pitu’, are set to welcome students this academic year. The ‘Stiv Naumov’ dormitory will begin accepting residents on October 1, with monthly accommodation fees increasing from 3,500 to approximately 6,000 denars, though the state will continue to cover a significant portion of the costs.