“Our country, as well as the region, has been facing a dramatic brain drain for quite some time. All the challenges we face, and will continue to face, cannot be solved unless we have smart people at home. The idea of ​​establishing a center for advanced and postdoctoral research is a step in that direction, to support young researchers from Macedonia, but also from the region, or the world, to come to Skopje and realize a research stay of six months. In the center, postdoctoral and doctoral candidates who will submit a proposal for their research work can compete. It is important to emphasize that they will work through a multidisciplinary approach on topics relevant to our society here, but also for the region,” Marina said.

The essence of this center, the professor adds, comes from a broader platform called the Rector’s Forum of Universities in Southeastern Europe, which includes 33 universities, whose aim is to strengthen opportunities for scientific work with a focus on young researchers.

“The Rector’s Forum has been in existence for about a decade, but in the last four years, its activities have intensified. The focus is on bringing back young, intelligent students, doctoral and postdoctoral candidates. The next forum meeting is scheduled for May 30 and 31 this year in Sarajevo, where the Agreement for the establishment of the regional network of advanced study centers will be signed, and our center will be included,” Marina said.

Regarding the evaluation of the “St. Cyril and Methodius” University in Skopje, which according to the “Webometrics” ranking is ranked 1,598th out of 2,000 universities, the professor says that this cannot be solved overnight and that a lot of effort is needed to improve.

“Of course, we would like to improve this image and have our university ranked among the top five hundred best-ranked universities in the world at the very least, but that cannot be achieved overnight. It is necessary to start with serious financing of scientific work in our country. We have an exceptionally low percentage of GDP allocated for scientific work in the country. I will mention Serbia, they started with that percentage of state financing of science at about 1% of GDP, dramatically increasing it continuously, and the results are already becoming visible,” the professor said.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the first class held at the Faculty of Architecture. As a former student of the faculty where he is now dean, Prof. Dr. Marina says that over the years, he is proud that the faculty is changing for the better, improving, adapting to modern trends, and becoming popular among students.

“The interest in enrolling in our faculty is growing from year to year. We can boast that every academic year, twice as many candidates compete for the places we announce in the competition,” he said.

Interestingly, over the years, we have noticed that the number of female students at the Faculty of Architecture is higher than male students. This pleases us because “male professions” are becoming universal, and our female students in this profession skillfully bring a creativity that gives the profession a different dimension,” Marina explains.

Full video interview is here