A two-year, (500,000 ($311,000) project aimed at regenerating Kosovo's higher education system has been agreed between Gabriele Mazza, director responsible for education at the Council of Europe, and Michael Daxner, head of the education department of the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo. Mr Mazza defined the contract as a "major contribution to the construction of a viable education system in Kosovo", while Professor Daxner outlined the difficulties encountered by some 400,000 students who have lived in a "very complicated situation" for the past ten years.