The Story of Borjan Eftimov, President of the University Student Assembly of the Faculty of Law in Skopje, North Macedonia<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Student assemblies are the platform through which young people can express their problems, present their ideas and they can be a starting point from which they will engage in achieving the desired changes, said the President of the University Student Assembly in Skopje \u2013 Borjan Eftimov.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year, students have their first legitimate representative body at the largest university in North Macedonia \u201cSs. Cyril and Methodius\u201d, after a long struggle. The University Student Assembly is a result of the requests for new student organizations introduced in the Law on Higher Education after the mass protests at the informal student plenum in 2015. Borjan was one of the most active members and fighters in those student movements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYoung people, as a progressive version of society, must constantly fight for positive change, progress and development,\u201d Borjan said at the beginning of our conversation when asked why there is so much engagement and activism for youth policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll significant historical and social changes have been made, i.e., were initiated by young people and students. They are the generator of new ideas and times that will hopefully ensue in this geographical region,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Borjan is studying for a master\u2019s degree at the Faculty of Law in Skopje, and he has been participating in this fight since his high school days. He believes that the lack of representative bodies restricts young people in expressing their views and in being part of the decision-making process on matters that are in their interest. Improving the youth standard, creating more spaces for cultural upliftment of the youth and increasing the opportunities for quality socialization are just some of the changes for which such representative bodies should fight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHowever, such forms of association are not in themselves sufficient to bring about all the changes that young people need in a society, mainly because of their bureaucratic nature. The main drivers of change in a society are the informal forms of youth activism. Such activism is in fact a driver of new ideas and mass change,\u201d Borjan stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to him, students from the Western Balkan region face almost identical problems and can line up many solutions by sharing their experiences. \u201cThere is no reason why these people should fight common problems on their own. There is no reason why there should not be international student cooperation, which will be used to share ideas through which young people from one society would help solve the existing problems of their neighbors,\u201d Borjan explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is optimistic that although young people do not currently have much decision-making power, this can be changed through joint efforts, association, cohesion and collective action. \u201cIf we want to achieve anything, we have to do something together. It is not impossible, yet it isn\u2019t easy either,\u201d said the young leader of the student representative bodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus, the student organizations from Skopje in which he is a member have recently started cooperating with students from Kosovo* and Albania, from which initiatives and potential future steps have already emerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnly through mutual association and international solidarity can we, as a generation, be a generator of social change in the entire region, because change is needed everywhere. The priority of young people must be to move towards something better than what is offered to us now,\u201d concluded the President of the University Student Assembly Borjan Eftimov.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Author: Georgi Bozinovski<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This story was produced during the three-month Program for Students of Journalism in the Western Balkans within the framework of the advocacy project \u201cA Better Region Starts with Youth\u201d implemented by RYCO with the support of the Federal Republic of Germany. All journalists\u2019 work is their own and the content of any given article does not represent the opinion of RYCO, and RYCO cannot guarantee the validity and the accuracy of the information that these stories contain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n