Skopje, 2 June 2022 (MIA) – Four higher education institutions from North Macedonia received a grant for instating media literacy in curriculums as part of USAID’s YOUTHINK media literacy project, implemented by IREX and the Institute for Communications Studies. Eleven departments from various universities initially applied for this grant. The institutions in question are the “Blazhe Koneski” Faculty of Philology and the “St. Clement” Faculty of Pedagogy at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, the South East European University and the American University of Europe – FON. The schools were selected at the ICS and IREX’s first public call within USAID’s media literacy project in order to inspire higher education institutions to work with students and improve research in this area. The goal is free and uninterrupted use of new media, and recognizing all the risks of the digital era, Aleksandra Temenugova, project coordinator at the ICS, said at an event Thursday in Skopje announcing the winners. “It implies that we should all strive to have equal access to the necessary knowledge, skills and competencies for media literacy,” she said. Project director Mihajlo Lahtov participated at the event, who is currently coordinating multiple activities across multiple institutions in order for media literacy to become part of formal education. “Media literacy is the last link in the chain of our efforts to systematically include media literacy in all stages of education, and to see higher education as the final part of the puzzle we’re trying to assemble, media literacy as a part of formal education,” he said. Representatives of the winners of the grant participated in the project, who will instate media literacy in the faculties’ curricula by March 2023. dk/ba/