UBT a model institution for holding online professional trainings
21/04/2020The COVID-19 pandemic has led Kosovo’s universities and schools to close their ongoing activities. However, owing to its state-of-the-art technology, UBT has successfully shifted its curriculum to online platforms. In this perspective, UBT is implementing the concept of teaching and training everywhere, at any time, within the main idea of lifelong learning, namely with innovative methodologies are developing distance learning online and schools, vocational training and foreign language courses.
Within the framework of tackling the challenges, pros and cons of distance learning in these areas, UBT has assembled experts in the field with whom it held a video conference on the topic: “Education, training and professional development online in pandemic time”, where it was broadcast on UBT TV, Radio “Campus” with a frequency of 100.7 FM, as well as on the official pages on the platforms Facebook, Instagram and Youtube. On this occasion, the Rector of UBT, Prof. Dr. Edmond Hajrizi, emphasized that learning through the Internet has been an easily applicable experience for UBT. According to him, this method has been brought by the institution many years ago. In addition, Hajrizi put it that UBT has used and implemented effective and efficient ways for those who attend professional trainings and foreign language course. Consequently, thanks to virtual platforms, they even in times of online pandemics, continue to acquire knowledge in relevant fields.
“Education and knowledge remain a prerequisite for general development, so we have taken care of vocational education, professional certifications and development and innovative projects, where as an institution UBT plays a model role in this regard, because they create a complementary ecosystem of higher and complementary education and jointly assist in innovative entrepreneurship. As a result, digitalization and digital transformation is an opportunity, which shall be particularly used by small countries like Kosovo with the aim of creating a global market. As a consequence, online services increase the labor market, and may have a positive impact on employement, ” underlined Hajrizi.
Meanwhile, the professor in the field of IT at UBT, Betim Gashi spoke extensively about the creation of various systems that this institution has created for its students, where he said that they aim to facilitate online learning and follow various trainings. In this respect, he assumed that these platforms have given students the opportunity to access distance learning in an interactive and effective way. “Since its foundation, UBT has worked continuously on such platforms, but pandemic time has increased the work intensity of online systems for staff and students, so the institution has been very well prepared, has started distance learning in record time where they are hold and continue to hold all lectures and exercises online. These systems have also enabled students to continue the online trainings at a distance without wasting time “, said Gashi.
Furthermore, the project manager at UBT, Naim Preniqi, pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic has not stopped the institution from being active in the projects it has won, as it showed that in recent years the number of projects has increased, as well as the potential and capacity. of UBT in this regard.
“We are following the step in all projects, where we currently have 7 Erasmus + projects that are active. In the administrative aspect, the financial monitoring, the monitoring of the projects, the coordination with the management staff are developing very well, so despite the pandemic in the online we are very active. It is worth mentioning that during this year, we have applied in 15 projects, and again I believe that we will have the leading role in Kosovo in terms of projects won “, stated Preniqi. While talking about the about the establishment of professional education in Kosovo, amidst others Bejtush Ademi said that UBT is engaging in projects to strengthen vocational schools and involve young people and workers in general, so that they are prepared and competent in the labor market.
“UBT has the role of consultant in the ALLED 2 project, which will analyze the situation and the way of financing projects for professional schools in Kosovo, where it will find a new formula that includes the best international practices for the development of professional schools in the country. . “Even after the pandemic, we are using the technology provided by UBT. Besides that, we have successfully completed the second workshop of this project, a very productive workshop,” he noted.
The Head of Professional and Developmental Products at UBT, Besnik Skenderi, claimed that the pandemic has evolved in terms of online learning. Whereas, as far as he is concerned, there are expected to emerge lots of professions as a result of the situation. In terms of training, Skenderi said they are very important because good training increases the performance of a workshop by 18%.
“UBT has continued with online trainings where the number of participants is increasing day by day. We have training for SPSS, JAVA Programming, MS Excel, and Administrative Assistant. Therefore, we have diversity in groups, both from the banking sector, from the field of health, but we also have many students who are eager to attend them. We have combined the platforms and the teaching for these trainings is currently being developed online”, he emphasized. Following the announcement of the pandemic by the World Health Organization, in order to take preventive measures, the Institute of Foreign Languages at UBT, has continued teaching online virtually.
According to the head of this center, Halil Bashota, this institute trains candidates in attaining proficiency in foreign languages. As far as he was concerned, students who attend online courses are already acquiring theoretical and practical knowledge. “The platforms we use are very accessible, we have been well prepared both in terms of technology and in terms of lecturers, so successfully taught for a few weeks now. Despite that, there has been witnessed an increasingly high number of candidates, who opt to take online foreign language courses owing to the facilities created for distance learning. Recently, UBT has been certified as a testing center for TOEFL, and the cause of this situation has enabled course participants, to be tested and certified by attending these courses from home, it’s worth emphasizing that we’ve provided them with information in this regard, “claimed Bashota.
Furthermore, the project manager at UBT, Naim Preniqi, pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic has not stopped the institution from being active in the projects it has won, as it showed that in recent years the number of projects has increased, as well as the potential and capacity. of UBT in this regard.
“We are following the step in all projects, where we currently have 7 Erasmus + projects that are active. In the administrative aspect, the financial monitoring, the monitoring of the projects, the coordination with the management staff are developing very well, so despite the pandemic in the online we are very active. It is worth mentioning that during this year, we have applied in 15 projects, and again I believe that we will have the leading role in Kosovo in terms of projects won “, stated Preniqi. While talking about the about the establishment of professional education in Kosovo, amidst others Bejtush Ademi said that UBT is engaging in projects to strengthen vocational schools and involve young people and workers in general, so that they are prepared and competent in the labor market.
“UBT has the role of consultant in the ALLED 2 project, which will analyze the situation and the way of financing projects for professional schools in Kosovo, where it will find a new formula that includes the best international practices for the development of professional schools in the country. . “Even after the pandemic, we are using the technology provided by UBT. Besides that, we have successfully completed the second workshop of this project, a very productive workshop,” he noted.
The Head of Professional and Developmental Products at UBT, Besnik Skenderi, claimed that the pandemic has evolved in terms of online learning. Whereas, as far as he is concerned, there are expected to emerge lots of professions as a result of the situation. In terms of training, Skenderi said they are very important because good training increases the performance of a workshop by 18%.
“UBT has continued with online trainings where the number of participants is increasing day by day. We have training for SPSS, JAVA Programming, MS Excel, and Administrative Assistant. Therefore, we have diversity in groups, both from the banking sector, from the field of health, but we also have many students who are eager to attend them. We have combined the platforms and the teaching for these trainings is currently being developed online”, he emphasized. Following the announcement of the pandemic by the World Health Organization, in order to take preventive measures, the Institute of Foreign Languages at UBT, has continued teaching online virtually.
According to the head of this center, Halil Bashota, this institute trains candidates in attaining proficiency in foreign languages. As far as he was concerned, students who attend online courses are already acquiring theoretical and practical knowledge. “The platforms we use are very accessible, we have been well prepared both in terms of technology and in terms of lecturers, so successfully taught for a few weeks now. Despite that, there has been witnessed an increasingly high number of candidates, who opt to take online foreign language courses owing to the facilities created for distance learning. Recently, UBT has been certified as a testing center for TOEFL, and the cause of this situation has enabled course participants, to be tested and certified by attending these courses from home, it’s worth emphasizing that we’ve provided them with information in this regard, “claimed Bashota.