The number of school-leavers in Macedonia is falling, yet St. Kliment Ohridski University (UKLO) in Bitola claims its number of freshmen is rising. At the opening lecture of the academic year, rector Professor Igor Nedelkovski said first-year enrolment was up 10 percent in a single year, and that growth over the past three years might reach 25 percent.

"This year, for the first time, Macedonia had fewer than 15,000 school-leavers, and we managed to increase our freshman numbers by around 10 percent - maybe even more," Nedelkovski said. Because of the interest, UKLO is opening a fourth extraordinary enrolment round. Close to 1,300 students have enrolled so far, with final numbers expected after that fourth round.

According to the rector, the Faculty of Law has seen the biggest jump in freshmen. The Faculty of Security in Skopje, which is part of UKLO and the only one of its kind in the country, still enrols the most students. Interest is also high in the Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality in Ohrid, and this year the Technical Faculty has seen a serious rise in its engineering programmes.

The opening lecture at the Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies was attended by Bitola mayor Toni Konjanovski and municipal council president Bojan Bojkoski. Konjanovski showcased the summer university internship scheme: last summer around 40 students worked in the municipality, the council and public utilities. "I hope some of you may become our colleagues after you graduate," he told the law students.

UKLO's numbers are good news for Bitola. But they come out of a pool that is draining: when the whole country has fewer than 15,000 school-leavers, every new freshman in one city can mean one fewer student somewhere else. So the real question isn't how many students sign up in October - it's how many will still be in Bitola once they have their diploma. Is a summer internship at the town hall the answer to that, or just a nice photo for the start of the year?