Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski rejected criticism that the new higher education law contains overly strict criteria, emphasizing that no Macedonian university ranks among the top 2,500 in the world.

"I was sincerely disappointed, I would even say shocked. Consider the argument that the criteria for selecting qualified professors are too strict. Why strict? Because the law requires colleagues to publish scientific papers in prestigious journals indexed in the Web of Science database - four publications in five years, and the state covers the costs," Mickoski stated on MRT.

He emphasized that full professors now earn approximately 110,000-120,000 denars monthly (approximately 2,000 euros), with a teaching schedule of four to eight hours per week.

Education Minister Vesna Janevska confirmed that numerous revisions were made to the law, including reduced publication requirements and the addition of the "Scopus" database for humanities disciplines.