Prizren, 06.11.2022 – Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo Albin Kurti, Minister of Economy Artane Rizvanolli, Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation Arbërie Nagavci, and Country Manager of the World Bank for Kosovo Massimiliano Paolucci, inaugurated the Kosovo Research and Education Network (KREN).

At the inauguration ceremony held at the Innovation and Training Park in Prizren, Prime Minister Albin Kurti stated that today we are celebrating the next success, the establishment of the Kosovo Research and Education Network, whereby Kosovo is connected to the Pan-European academic network, which will play an important role for scientific research.

Speaking about Kosovo’s successes in Internet network expansion, Prime Minister Kurti said that Kosovo is a champion in the Balkans and comparable to European countries in terms of penetration of the network, and soon we will celebrate the last connection of villages to the network.

The Minister of Economy, Artane Rizvanolli, noted that our dedication and work is focused on developing the expansion and improving the digital infrastructure, in order to advance the digital transformation of the country and to enable the full realization of the potential of our talented youth.

Minister Rizvanolli said that with KREN, students and researchers will have access to virtual laboratories, software, advanced training, and joint research projects with their peers throughout Europe.

Furthermore, Minister Rizvanolli announced that all primary and secondary schools in Kosovo will be connected to KREN, while memorandums of cooperation have been signed with 16 universities and colleges in Kosovo so far, agreeing on the commitments and tasks of both parties.

Meanwhile, Minister Arbërie Nagavci highlighted that the Education Strategy 2022-2026, that has already been drafted, digitalization is among the key elements and the fifth pillar of the Strategy.

In order to increase the quality of education, she said that it is important for our educational institutions to be digitalized and in the next 5 years we intend to achieve this by digitalizing all school institutions.

KREN Project has been implemented by the Ministry of Economy and supported by the World Bank. All the universities of Kosovo and soon all school institutions will be connected to the KREN system, and it will be used by the Ministry of Education to disseminate the Digital Curriculum. Moreover, with KREN, students and researchers will have access to virtual laboratories, advanced software trainings, and joint research projects with their peers from all over Europe and many other services will be provided, too.