A Major Purge in Higher Education: 18 Institutes Already Closed, Five Universities Under Scrutiny

Higher education in the country is getting a purge unlike any it can remember. According to the Ministry's announcements, 18 institutes and one private school have already been closed for unlawful operation, and at least five universities are under monitoring. Several more institutes are on the verge of closure. Minister Vesna Janevska said that irregularities will mean the revocation of accreditations.

Behind the numbers lies a bigger story. For years in Macedonia it was known that part of higher education was a diploma factory - institutions that exist only on paper, accreditations issued without substance, students paying for a title, not for knowledge. If someone is really closing them now, that's welcome. The question is why it took so long and who let them operate for so many years.

The Ministry says the goal isn't to close institutions but to establish higher quality standards and to respect the legal criteria for accreditation. The Quality Agency, in cooperation with foreign experts, is carrying out evaluations. Even the Ohrid student dormitory is under lock and key. It sounds like order finally being introduced - but in a country where every government "cleans up" education, it's worth asking: a purge by criterion, or a purge by list?

Closing bad institutions is a step in the right direction - but transparency is needed. Which institutes, by what criterion, what happens to the students already enrolled there? A reform without clear rules easily turns into a settling of scores. The Macedonian student deserves a diploma that's worth something outside the country - and that isn't achieved by closures alone, but by a system in which quality is measured equally for everyone, not selectively.