News

The RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) President, Kamal Shahrabi and RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) Faculty, Albina Balidemaj, Robert Muharremi, and Venera Demukaj participated in the Global Governance Summit held at RIT Dubai. 
The event gathered representatives from the Academic Senates and the Presidents from the Rochester Campus in New York and the global campuses in China, Croatia, Kosovo, and the United Arab Emirates.  

Gender equality is an important issue in Kosovo as in many other countries around the world. Despite important progress made in recent years, challenges persist for the equal participation and representation especially for women. This International Women’s Day, RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) Alumna, Dafina Prekazi (BS ’13), Program Manager at Kosovar Gender Studies Center (KGSC) spoke to us about current obstacles that our society faces in achieving gender equality as well as some recommendations how these can be overcome. 

Congratulations to RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) students, Anyla Zogu, Agnesa Bexheti (Biberaj Scholar), Tringa Isufi, Anesa Jakupi (Biberaj Scholar), and Ali Idrizi (Biberaj Scholar) who - under the mentorship of Prof. Xhevahir Kolgjini - have been selected among the winning teams with their project “Digital Weaving” at the “Imagine RIT- Creativity and Innovation Festival” contest. 

Faton Aliu (MS ’10) is the Founder and President of PECB, one of the world’s leading personnel certification bodies. Headquartered in Montreal (Canada), PECB is a global provider of training, examination, and certification services offering its expertise in multiple fields, including, but not limited to, Information Security, Privacy and Data Protection, Business Continuity, Quality and Service Management, Risk Management, Health and Safety, and Sustainability.

Meet our Alumna, Learta Hollaj (BS ’12) who is the new Deputy Chief of Staff to the President of the Republic of Kosovo, H.E. Vjosa Osmani. Learta was initially engaged as the Chief Advisor for Sustainable Development and Partnerships where she was responsible for the portfolio of energy, environmental and development policies, foreign policies as well as projects and initiatives in the field of gender equality.

The President and Dean of Faculty, Dr. Kamal Shahrabi was pleased to receive at a meeting Mr. William G. Walker, former U.S. Ambassador and former head of the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission. During the meeting, President Shahrabi thanked Ambassador Walker for his important role in supporting RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) in different capacities throughout the years.

Imagine RIT is an annual festival of innovation and creativity held at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, New York. The festival features interactive exhibits and demonstrations of cutting-edge technology, art, and design created by RIT students, faculty, and staff.

Meet our Alumnus, Fitor Murati (BS ’12) who is a Diplomat of the Republic of Kosovo currently stationed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Diaspora in Pristina, Kosovo. During 2018 to 2022, he served in the Embassy of the Republic of Kosovo in Brussels working tirelessly towards advancing Kosovo’s interest in the city with the largest international diplomatic community in the world.

Knowing the importance of experiential learning (Co-Op) for our education system at RIT Kosovo (A.U.K), students and alumni are given the chance to gain a professional experience at companies which we as an institution have partnered with.

RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) students presented the results of a Pilot PeaceTech Survey (Phase I) as part of their Capstone project in collaboration with 2022-23 US Fulbright Scholar Dr. Marcia Byrom Hartwell. 

Erita Çunaku, Jona Ndrecaj and Shkurte Berisha, students of Computing and Information Technologies BS received Best Paper Award in the session Track-6: Information Retrieval of 1^st International Conference on Innovations in Data Analytics (ICIDA 2022)” on November 29-30, 2022 at Eminent College of Management and Technology (ECMT), India.

Meet our Alumnus, Arbias Llolluni (BS ’17) who works as a Product Policy Manager at TikTok in Ireland, Dublin. He completed his Bachelor's Degree with distinctions majoring in Public Policy, Management, and a minor in Legal Studies at RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) graduating in 2017.

The training package consisted of two modules: the general module and the specialized module. The introduction module included the basics on software engineering, agile software development, project management, Linux, and Git. Regardless of the profile that the students have applied for, all of them attended the introduction module.

After a two-year pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) organized its annual fundraising event “Support Kosova’s Next Success Story” on November 1, 2022 at The Russian Tea Room in New York, gathering esteemed members of the Albanian-American diaspora, philanthropists, alumni, supporters and friends of RIT Kosovo (A.U.K).

Students of Computing and Information Technologies BS successfully completed research work on Digital-Social networks under the guidance of Dr. Debabrata Samanta, RIT Kosovo (A.U.K). Name of Students: Erita Çunaku, Jona Ndrecaj and Shkurte Berisha.

Meet our Alumna, Dora Musa (BS ’17) who is the Advisor to the President of Republic of Kosovo.
Her current role at the Office of the President of Republic of Kosovo falls in the sustainable development field with the sole intention of contributing to Kosovo’s pathway toward the establishment of sustainable economic, social, and environmental sectors.

At a meeting held in Louisville, Kentucky in the United States, the board of the Association of Technology, Management, and Applied Engineering (ATMAE) approved the report of the visiting team for the accreditation of all degree programs offered by RIT-Kosovo.

On October 19, 2022, RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) celebrated Women Entrepreneurship Week (WEW) 2022 organized by Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation part of Montclair State University in New Jersey, U.S.  This year WEW 2022 was the largest celebration as over 260 universities and colleges from around the globe joined Montclair State University to celebrate female founders in our communities.

On October 28, RIT Kosova organized the closing event of the project “Streamlining Curricular Development Processes and Establishment of the Task Force for Curricular Development”, funded by the U.S. Embassy’s University Support Grant Program. The project is administered by KUSA and implemented by RIT Kosova (A.U.K). 

The Biberaj Foundation Inc. has awarded ten (10) scholarships to the second cohort of students for the academic year 2022/21 to obtain a Bachelor’s degree at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Kosovo/American University in Kosovo Foundation (“RIT Kosovo (A.U.K”).

Ms. Bërdynaj-Shala is the Ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo to the Commonwealth of Australia. She is a career diplomat of the Republic of Kosovo and she has been part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo since June 2008.

During the month of September and October 2022, the RITK Second Year Seminar Course taught by Ms. Arlinda Hajdari, brought in-person speakers from three major IT companies in Kosovo. The topics included: Digitalization, development, data-driven, and product design.

The RITK Peace and Conflict Center was pleased to host Thomas Niblock, a retired U.S. diplomat and current Foreign Affairs Advisor to the Ministry of Defense of Kosovo, and two Ukrainian journalists, Iryna Synelnyk and Viktoriia Kaidash as guest speakers in the “Has the world helped Ukraine enough?” panel discussion.

Our campus is a place that brings people together. This time, our students in coordination with the Marketing Office, decided to make an event that would allow everyone to participate and enjoy multiple activities - the RITK Autumn Festival.

On August 30^th RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) along with the Bridge 2 Project team had the FIRST KICK-OFF meeting with all Bridge implementing and supporting partners and the US Embassy representatives whereby we all had the opportunity to meet and discuss how to best implement the Bridge 2 Project.

The Board of Trustees, President and RIT Kosovo (American University in Kosovo Foundation) community, invite you, your family and friends to join us at our annual fundraising event “Support Kosova’s Next Success Story” on November 1, 2022, at The Russian Tea Room, 150 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019.

On August 2, 2022, Dr. Kamal Shahrabi, President and Dean of Faculty at RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) met with H.E. Albin Kurti, Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo to discuss cooperation opportunities between the Government and RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) through concrete projects in the field of higher education.

On July 22, 2022, RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) celebrated the graduation ceremony of eighteen students of the Frederick C. Cuny Peace and Conflict Summer School Program, Class of 2022.

RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) is delighted to partner with One Telecommunications in establishing the “One Scholar Program” which will provide financial support to students enrolling at RIT Kosovo (A.U.K). One Telecommunications has pledged up to 50,000 Euros in the form of scholarship funds to enable talented students, primarily from Albania, the opportunity to obtain a high-quality American education at the RIT Kosovo (A.U.K).

On July 12, 2022, RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) was pleased to host Mr. Armend Mehaj, Minister of Defense of the Republic of Kosovo, as a Guest Speaker at the Frederick C. Cuny Peace and Conflict Summer Program.

RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) is pleased to announce the establishment of the “TIVE Excellence Center” scholarship fund to enable talented students from economically underprivileged backgrounds the opportunity of obtaining a high-quality American education at RIT Kosovo (A.U.K).

On June 27, 2022, RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) held the renaming ceremony for the summer program in honor of Frederick C. Cuny, the American humanitarian and disaster relief specialist who is considered a foremost influential thinker, innovator, and practitioner in the humanitarian response field. Fred Cuny designed creative relief operations in more than 60 countries that almost always challenged the conventional wisdom on how to bring humanitarian assistance and how to change social and economic circumstances that affect disasters.

A panel discussion took place on June 23rd at RIT Kosovo among some of the Kosovo region’s key stakeholders to discuss the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report (IPCC) report. The event was hosted jointly between RIT Kosovo and Helvetas, bringing together the climate change actors in Kosovo and abroad. 

On May 24, 2022, RIT Kosovo has organized a Workshop discussion with relevant stakeholders as part of the project “Streamlining Curricular Development Processes and Establishment of the Task Force for Curricular Development”, funded by the University Support Grant Program of the U.S. Embassy in Prishtina and administered by KUSA, and implemented by RIT Kosovo (A.U.K).

On May 20th, after months of hard work, RITK students hosted the TEDxRITKosovo event, and we are pleased to say that it was crowned with great success!
TEDx is a local initiative inspired by TED’s overall mission of discovering "ideas worth spreading". TEDx brings the TED spirit to local communities, allowing people from all walks of life to share and promote encouraging stories.

On the 18th of May, RIT Kosovo took part in the first-ever "International Cybersecurity Exercise: Defense Competition 2022 - Kosovo" organized together with Iowa State University (USA), the Kosovo Security Force (KSF), and Iowa Air National Guard (USA). Approximately 150 hackers and operators participated in this unique event.

The Madam Madeleine Albright project marks the pedestal of this year's achievements by RIT Kosovo students. The initiator of these works of art was Prof. Xhevahir Kolgjini and students from Visual Arts and American Painting Class.

RIT Kosovo has received an invitation to METU’s 6th International Staff Training Week (30th May-3rd June 2022).
The event focuses on exchanging experiences, making assessments of the partnership, sharing best practices, and learning from each other. They expect to host a wide range of institutions from around 20 countries among METU’s network, extending from Europe to the Far East, from Central Asia to the Americas.

The MUN is a simulation of the United Nations and how its organs, such as the Security Council operate. It includes drafting position papers and resolutions as well as intensive diplomatic negotiations related to current international relations topics.

CDO – Ms. Teuta Avdimetaj has been selected as the new Chief Development Officer at RIT-Kosovo. She will officially begin working with us in the second week of April.
CFAO – Mr. Faton Ramadani started working with us on March 15, 2022, as the new Chief Finance and Administration Officer.

On March 25, 2022, the project team organized the workshop with the representatives of the Higher Education Institutions in Kosovo, form the ICT and Energy sector, as part of the project “Streamlining Curricular Development Processes and Establishment of the Task Force for Curricular Development”, funded by the University Support Grant Program of the U.S. Embassy in Prishtina and administered by KUSA, and implemented by RIT Kosova (A.U.K).

On April 4th, 2022, RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) Co-op & Career Office organized the “Spring Career Fair 2022”. The fair was a great opportunity to network with the most prestigious companies in Kosovo. This year’s fair, came up to be a very successful event and one of the largest career fairs which brought over 40 companies to our campus. 
 

RIT Kosovo is proud to announce that its Alumni, Lieutenant Arbenita Haxholli-Grezda, officer from the Republic of Kosovo, graduated from the US Army Logistics University in Fort Lee, Virginia in the United States of America.

RIT Kosovo is honored to present its Alumni, Dr. Fjolla Kaçaniku and her outstanding achievement in Education.
 

RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) Alumni Elected to Join National and Local Government. RIT Kosovo (formerly known as American University in Kosovo) will be well represented by alumni in the national and local government administration in the region.

 

Our student, Alba Ajdarevikj, has been awarded with the Statesmanship Scholars Award, allowing her to attend and assist at the Center of Statesmanship, Law and Liberty at the RIT Main campus in Rochester, New York.

Kalendari i trajnimeve per Vitin e Ri! Apliko tani https://www.rit.edu/kosovo/tdi Na kontaktoni përmes emailit auki@auk.org ose numrit kontaktues +383 49 774 112 / +383 66 00 00 New Year Festive Calendar! Apply now https://www.rit.edu/kosovo/tdi Contact us via mail at auki@auk.org or phone number +383 49 774 112 / +383 66 00 00

On December 14, team of the project “Streamlining Curricular Development Processes and Establishment of the Task Force for Curricular Development”, funded by the University Support Grant Program of the U.S. Embassy in Prishtina and administered by KUSA.

RIT K (A.U.K) faculty and students were part of the many events organized during the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) 2021. RIT K (A.U.K) faculty and students were part of the many events organized during the Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) 2021.

On October 25^th a distinguished and diverse academic panel from Kosovo and Serbia addressed - ‘Albanians and Serbs - Pending Issues’ that builds on the excellent research published by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia.

In order to mark the Women Entrepreneurship Week (WEW), RIT Kosovo is organizing a panel discussion with two women entrepreneurs who are RITK Alumni. The topic of discussion will be on the perspectives of women entrepreneurship in Kosovo and future opportunities. 

Anesa Colakovic has founded the Educational and Cultural Learning Center - Peacebuilding Library in Mitrovica. Mitrovica has 38 schools with approximately 500-700 students per school and it did not have a Library for students. 

To mark this event RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) organized a launching ceremony with the keynote speakers: H.E. Albin Kurti the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, H.E. Mr. Nicholas J. Giacobbe, Chargé d'Affaires of US Embassy in Kosovo, the Honorable Ms. Edona Maloku Berdyna, Deputy Minister of Education of the Republic of Kosovo and the Honorable Mr. Qëndron Kastrati, Mayor of the municipality of Kamenica.

Prishtina, Kosovo – For five consecutive years, Meridian Express has been supporting student’s scholarship for freshmen students through the annual donation gift of 5,000.00€ to RIT Kosovo (A.U.K). The Meridian Express Scholarship provides financial support to freshmen students with exceptional academic talent from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

The Government of Kosovo has announced the new regulations in higher education in regards to Covid-19. Higher education institutions will be permitted to hold classes with 1.5m distance between students. In terms of RIT Kosovo, this means the following: 

The Student Government of RIT Kosovo Students has announced the production of Podcast Episode  3. The RITK student podcast was designed for our students, to provide help, information and entertainment throughout the academic year.

Our Support Next Success Story fundraising campaign is part of Global Giving Little by Little Initiative

Kalendari i trajnimeve për muajin Shtator! Apliko tani https://www.rit.edu/kosovo/tdi Na kontaktoni përmes emailit auki@auk.org ose numrit kontaktues +383 49 774 112 / +383 66 00 00 September training calendar! Apply now https://www.rit.edu/kosovo/tdi Contact us via mail at auki@auk.org or phone number +383 49 774 112 / +383 66 00 00

TOKA and RIT Kosovo were privileged to welcome The President of the Republic of Kosova, Dr. Vjosa Osmani to the campus garden.

Kalendari i trajnimeve për muajin Shtator! Apliko tani https://www.rit.edu/kosovo/tdi Na kontaktoni përmes emailit auki@auk.org ose numrit kontaktues +383 49 774 112 / +383 66 00 00 September training calendar! Apply now https://www.rit.edu/kosovo/tdi Contact us via mail at auki@auk.org or phone number +383 49 774 112 / +383 66 00 00

Kalendari i trajnimeve për muajin Gusht! Apliko tani https://www.rit.edu/kosovo/tdi Na kontaktoni përmes emailit auki@auk.org ose numrit kontaktues +383 49 774 112 / +383 66 00 00 August training calendar! Apply now https://www.rit.edu/kosovo/tdi Contact us via mail at auki@auk.org or phone number +383 49 774 112 / +383 66 00 00

RIT Kosovo launches the new Alumni web section. We aim to support our alumni by allowing them to stay connected with their alma matter as well as publishing their exceptional success stories, spotlights, businesses registry, volunteer work and continuedly supporting upcoming generations. The Alumni web section can be found by the following link: rit.edu/kosovo/alumni

Dillon Berjani completed his bachelor studies at RIT Kosovo in 2016. He completed his Master's Studies in 2017 at the University of Amsterdam and VU Amsterdam in the field of entrepreneurship. Today, Mr. Berjani is a fourth-year PhD researcher at VU Amsterdam and focuses on the impact of entrepreneurship on societies, with a special focus on entrepreneurial initiatives in emerging neoliberalist societies.

Kalendari i trajnimeve për muajin Korrik! Apliko tani https://www.rit.edu/kosovo/tdi Na kontaktoni përmes emailit auki@auk.org ose numrit kontaktues +383 49 774 112 / +383 66 00 00 July training calendar! Apply now https://www.rit.edu/kosovo/tdi Contact us via mail at auki@auk.org or phone number +383 49 774 112 / +383 66 00 00

RIT Kosovo held the “Scholarship Awards Ceremony” event in the Campus Garden. RITK welcomed 57 upcoming freshmen to be part of the first and second round of the “President’s Partial Scholarship”, where the total given amount was 167,000 EUR. We will be having a third round of Scholarships, were the amount of the awards / scholarships will be 53,000 EUR.

On June 18, 2021, the first group of RIT Kosovo Master Students, presented their Capstone Projects, which represented a culmination of their graduate program experience. As part of the Master Capstone project, students work over two semesters in identifying a real-world problem (The Capstone Proposal Stage), conducting research, and providing solutions and recommendations to the problem (The Capstone Development Stage).

The inspiring success stories of our students are one of the reasons why RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) has the epithet of being a continuous stellar university in the region. Our students are a valuable asset; thus, we assure to provide them with the right opportunities to express their extracurricular talents. By considering each contribution as a precious piece that makes our education a puzzle, we guarantee to keep our students inspired, by additionally promoting their projects digitally.

The Department of Economic Policy, Public Policy and International Financial Cooperation - Macroeconomics Division held a lecture with students of the Summer Group at RIT Kosovo, on the topic "Policy Making in Uncertain Times".

Kalendari i trajnimeve për muajin Maj! Apliko tani https://www.rit.edu/kosovo/tdi Na kontaktoni përmes emailit auki@auk.org ose numrit kontaktues +383 49 774 112 / +383 66 00 00 May training calendar! Apply now https://www.rit.edu/kosovo/tdi Contact us via mail at auki@auk.org or phone number +383 49 774 112 / +383 66 00 00

RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) is pleased to announce the establishment of the “Zagragja Family Scholarship”. This scholarship is made possible through a generous gift pledge of over 25,000 Euros by our Board Member and Alum (BSc ’08), Mr. Yll Zagragja.

By the end of each academic year, RIT Kosovo (RIT-K) organizes the Honors Students’ Presentation Day.
During this academic year, a total of eight Honors students successfully passed all requirements to become members of RIT-K Honors Society and presented their Senior Capstone Research Projects on April 29, 2021.

Shpend Thaqi is the co-founder of Sach L.L.C, a multi-million dollar business spread across the Balkans that started from a small pizzeria in the city center, and expanded to 17 locations, two countries and which now employs more than 360 people. Shpend was a master’s student at RIT Kosovo (A.U.K).

Celebration of Teaching and Scholarship recognizes RIT’s outstanding faculty, staff, and students for their excellence in innovation, teaching, and developing the next generation of leaders.

This project will make American university studies accessible to talented students with limited financial means from Kosovo. Your gifts in this project will help provide immediate scholarships to two freshmen students joining RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) in fall of 2021.

The Student Government of RIT Kosovo Students has announced the production of Podcast Series the first episode is now available.RIT Kosovo - Student Government Podcast on Mental health during Covid19, Special guest speaker, Vigan Behluli.

After careful consideration, it has been decided that this year’s Imagine RIT: Creativity and Innovation Festival will be fully virtual for safety and planning purposes. The date remains set for May 1, 2021.

RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) alumna leads one of the most influential think tanks to ensure transparency and accountability in Kosovo

The Biberaj Family Scholarship is made possible through the generous donation pledge of $1.16 mil by The Biberaj Foundation Inc. and participation of RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) and American University in Kosovo Foundation Inc.

The students of RIT Kosovo had the honor of hosting Dr. Chad Briggs and Brooke Binkowski, to talk about the way disinformation and fake news are impacting today’s public discourse

Students are being given the chance to gain a professional experience at companies whom we as an Institution have a partnered with.

RIT is offering an expanded version of Slack, the popular interactive software, with features to improve coursework and project collaborations.

RIT Kosovo (A.U.K) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Kosovo CSR Network.

As they say, in difficult times, we help each other. Our students reacted quickly and started various initiatives to make their contribution to the community. 

RIT Kosovo’s Board of Trustees announced the appointment of Kamal Shahrabi as RIT Kosovo’s new president on Monday, June 1.

I graduated with high honors in Economics/Statistics and Management and started my own company in tech while I was a full time student at RIT Kosovo (A.U.K). 

Coming from a family which always emphasized the importance of a good education, it was not difficult to decide which University I wished to pursue for my undergraduate studies.