Skopje, 23 May 2023 (MIA) – An Association of Hospitality and Tourism schools from the South East Europe (SEE) region was established in Skopje, within the two-day conference organized by Lazar Tanev high school. The goal, as they informed, besides student exchange, is teaching staff exchange between schools in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, etc.

According to Nebojsa Vuković, head of Lazar Tanev high school, the initiative was conceived to unite the Balkans though the hospitality-tourism schools, and it grew with the interest of other schools from the surrounding countries.

"It is interesting that yesterday we had the organization of all the documentation that will be important to create this federation, and at times schools that were interested in the initiative got involved and immediately asked to be included. To our great surprise, the innovative so far is supported by schools from Slovenia to Turkey, even Baku, Azerbaijan got involved, which was a wonderful moment," stressed Vuković.

Vuković clarified that the request and approach to the Federation itself is great, which is why their platform is a little different from other initiatives.

"What we have planned is student exchange, which everyone already does, but we also created teaching staff exchange. The idea and intention strategically placed is creating a unified platform for educational profiles. To make it clearer, chefs, cooking professors in Bursa can come to Skopje for 10-15-20 days and teach in place of our colleagues, who will be in Bursa for that time. Which means that, preparations of the teaching staff will have to be significantly higher, because it is not easy to teach in another country. In contrast, the initiative is supported by universities, added Vuković, noting that they now have many ideas.

The included schools, as he revealed, are from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, etc.

"We have support from the French Embassy, Russian Federation, Azerbaijan, yesterday a school from there joined us. The number of countries participating is getting bigger,” Vuković said.

He was asked if young people are interested in this profession, and if North Macedonia remains a desirable for retaining the staff, if something needs to be changed in the educational process because we see that seasonally quite a few people, especially in this sector, leave for other countries for a higher pay.

"Seriously big question. This year, sometime in September, we changed our approach in student enrollment, and overall enrollment policy. What does this mean? This means that in September we created a program for weekly free cooking, baking, confectionery, and serving courses. About 300 ninth grade primary school students enrolled in these courses or trainings. Last week, and this week they along with their friends who hadn't taken the courses, are visitors at the open days of the school from 5pm to 8pm, and are called "Coffee with parents at the Catering school."

So far, the number is over 300, and I hope that a good part of those students will think about enrolling in our school. On the other hand, we created a mentored class, a selection of the best students in the school that will get to work with university professors who will teach at the school based on contracts, memoranda, for free," said Vuković, adding that they are lucky to have received seriously great support from institutions and the economy.

"Business entities supported us in all possible events that we organized in any way, whether though material support or moral support, people were there. They understood the seriousness of education, that without education, we have no staff. We also got the support from the Ministry and the City of Skopje," added Vuković. ssh/sk/

Photo and video: Andrej Brankovikj (MIA)