Veronika Kareva

In this paper, the authors analyze the legal and legislative aspects of higher education in the Republic of Macedonia (RM) and their implications in the teaching and learning process. In this regard, the paper will address the issue of the legal definition of the structure and content of study programs as well as setting the legal criteria for advancement in teaching that is the minimum number of publications published in specific journals and types of magazines. These issues are analyzed in the light of university autonomy guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia. Research component of the paper aims to seek adequate answer to the question of to what extent such legal provisions contribute to the learning process more efficient and teaching based on the active participation of students and the creation of possible learning outcomes that match their needs. Working on three key approaches: theory, legislation and practice this paper tries to bring concrete findings...

Learners’ accomplishments depend to a great extent on the knowledge and skills of their teachers. In order to be able to develop students’ potential, teachers need to have competences for a high quality education and opportunities for professional growth. English communicative competence is an important aspect of teacher expertise. The aim of this paper is to show how novice teachers evaluate their own communicative competence, the ways they developed it during their studies and the possibilities for improvement after graduation.  26 novice teachers graduated from the South East European University (SEEU), participated in the study. The results gathered from their reports are expected to identify the areas for improvement in teacher education curricula at this particular university and generally, in the countries where English is taught as a foreign language and by non-native speakers

Student centeredness and the related terms student centered classroom and student centered learning are very commonly used nowadays. The aim of this paper is to examine how university professors understand the concept of student centeredness, if and how they apply it in their everyday teaching situations and to what extent it is really present in today’s university classrooms. The assumption is that apart from language teachers at South East European University (SEEU) in North Macedonia, university professors of content subjects, such as economy, law, and other professionally related courses, do not fully implement student centered learning. They do not seem to be familiar with the scientific background of the concept and the ways to achieve it. The methodology includes class observations of hundred and sixty eight (168) university professors from the five Faculties and the Language Centre at SEEU, conducted during two academic years and interviews with twelve (12) professor. The te...

Background: Blended learning is a new approach to teaching and learning created by combining traditional classroom learning with an online learning platform. In recent years, blended learning has become an increasingly popular form of e-learning. It is particularly suitable for transitioning from completely traditional forms of learning to online learning. Objectives: This paper aims to examine the effect of blended learning on students’ performance and satisfaction and showcase whether students’ satisfaction with blended learning leads to performance improvement. Methods/Approach: A quantitative research design has been utilized for data collection, consisting of a questionnaire administered to a sample of three hundred and nineteen (319) students from bachelor and master study programs at South East European University (SEEU) in N. Macedonia. Data gathered through this questionnaire have been analyzed through structural equation modelling (SEM). Results: The results show that blen...

Motivation plays an immense role and is one of the key factors for successful and qualitative performance in all spheres of personal and professional engagement of individuals. Therefore, educational institutions, including academia, pay special attention to finding tools for motivating students, but also for motivation of their academic staff. Increased motivation has shown to lead to better performance and better performance inevitably contributes to quality enhancement at both individual and institutional level. The aim of this paper is to present an institutional Ranking and Remuneration (R&R) Policy based on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in four areas identified as the most crucial for successful operation of a higher education institution: teaching and learning, research, staff digital profile, service to society and project-based activities. Southeast European University (SEEU) in North Macedonia has developed KPIs in these four areas through an inclusive and transparent ...

Blended learning is a new way of teaching and learning. As the name implies it is a combination of classroom learning with the online learning platform. This way of learning enables students to partially control the process of learning. The study aims to find out the effect of blended learning on students' performance and satisfaction. Students' satisfaction with blended learning does not necessarily lead to students' performance improvement. A structured questionnaire is used to gather data. Three hundred and nineteen (319) collected questionnaires were analysed using multivariate regression from structural equation modelling (SEM). Collected data were analysed using the SPSS statistical software and Smart PLS. The results of the analysis show that blended learning has an impact on both students' performance and students' satisfaction. The course management and interaction have a positive significant effect on students' satisfaction and performance, with the...

Changes of institutional features and increased effectiveness at all levels in higher education institutions involve activities related to quality enhancement in the core academic areas and in the administrative operations. The aim of this paper is to present an approach for measuring the administrative performance at the South East European University (SEEU) in North Macedonia through the principles of total quality management (TQM). Data gathered from three instruments are analysed and discussed: student and internal staff evaluation surveys of administrative services and a job skills inventory from the first phase of the project for performance management and optimisation. Recommendations are expected to contribute to creating a model for staff capacity change that can be followed by other higher education institutions and the public sector in the society, undergoing reforms in its integration processes.

Nowadays, it is difficult to imagine life without a smartphone anywhere in the world. It is an inevitable phenomenon of the modern society and influences all spheres of existence from a psychological, social, educational and technological perspective. However, despite the many benefits it brings, excessive use of smartphones can have some adverse effects. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of in-class smartphone use on students' academic performance. Students from the South East European University (SEEU) in North Macedonia participated in the study through an online survey. We aimed to provide answers to the following questions: How smartphones are used in class? Does that use to contribute to learning that is more successful or distract students from it? What kind of other effects do smartphones have on students while in class? The results have confirmed the hypothesis that in -class smartphone use negatively affects student academic performance measurable ...

Student centeredness and the related terms - student centered classroom and student centered learning are very commonly used nowadays. The aim of this paper is to examine how university professors understand the concept of student centeredness, if and how they apply it in their everyday teaching situations and to what extent it is really present in today’s university classrooms. The assumption is that apart from language teachers at South East European University (SEEU) in North Macedonia, university professors of content subjects, such as economy, law, and other professionally related courses, do not fully implement student centered learning. They do not seem to be familiar with the scientific background of the concept and the ways to achieve it. The methodology includes class observations of hundred and sixty eight (168) university professors from the five Faculties and the Language Centre at SEEU, conducted during two academic years and interviews with twelve (12) professor. The ...

The use of student evaluations of teaching (SET) has become a widespread practice in higher education despite inconclusive evidence reported in the literature around its validity. Not surprisingly, the question of the validity of SET continues to be a current debate in higher education, pointing to the need for more research in this area. This paper is a part of a larger scale study, which aims to contribute to broadening the knowledge and understanding of SET validity by analysing the process within the South East European University (SEEU) in North Macedonia in order to determine whether student evaluations are objective and critical. A likert scale questionnaire, containing 9 questions, was designed for the purpose of the analysis. The questionnaire was sent to all students from the five (5) Faculties: Business and Economics, Law, Contemporary Sciences and Technologies, Contemporary Social Sciences and Faculty of Languages, Cultures and Communications, in both campuses, Tetovo an...

In this paper we present a comprehensive model of instruction for providing consistent, high quality teaching to L2 students. This model, the SIOP Model (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol), provides an explicit framework for organizing instructional practices to optimize the effectiveness of teaching second and foreign language learners. The SIOP Model includes features that promote acquisition of both subject area content (e.g., math, science, literature) and language development (the target language). The SIOP Model is presented in the context of three settings: immigrant students who may or may not have grade-level literacy in their mother tongue, bilingual students who are learning content through a foreign language and students of English as a foreign language who are learning professional content in English through English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course. Our experience from all three settings indicates that there is significant improvement in achieving the learnin...