STUDENTS in the predominantly Albanian-inhabited town of Tetova in western Macedonia are continuing to defy the state by attending the illegal Albanian-language university.
The government in Skopje says the university violates the constitution and the laws of the country by shunning the Macedonian language, and is therefore not officially recognised.
The university opened in February 1995 amid violent clashes between police and Albanians during which one person was killed and 40 injured. Tensions are still running high.
In July 10,000 Albanian-speakers demonstrated in support of six leading members of the university who were sentenced to one year's imprisonment following the disturbances at the opening of the university.
In August, around 2,500 Albanians, demanding a new constitution which guarantees their national rights, surrounded the prison in Tetova where the rector of the university, Fadil Sulemanji, who had been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, started his term.
Dr Sulemanji has recently been transferred from a prison in Bitola to Skopje at his own request after complaints at conditions.
Meanwhile student numbers at the university have risen to 3,000. Classes are held in private houses lent to the university by Albanians living abroad.
Despite intermittent raids and harassment by police, this academic year saw the introduction of two new courses: computer science and physical education.
The new computer science class has just received delivery of 70 new computers. A small university library is being carefully built up although some 10,000 new and secondhand books, bought or donated by the sizeable Albanian diaspora community, are still awaiting transportation from Tirana to Tetova. They are forbidden entry by the Skopje authorities.
Although the government has proposed a new law under which private universities will be allowed, all tuition must again be in the Macedonian language.
"This is an absurd situation," says chemistry lecturer Murtezan Ismaili.
Albanians want the authorities to recognise Tetova University as the third university in the country alongside the existing Macedonian-language universities in Skopje and Ohrid. At present they feel trapped in a vicious circle.
"If I don't continue my studies, I will never have a profession," explains Fatmir Hyseni. "However, if I do manage to graduate from Tetova, my diploma will be invalid because it will not be recognised anywhere."
Despite this, there is great competition to enter Tetova University. This year there were 80 applications for the 20 places on the pharmacy course and there was more disappointment for the hundreds who applied for the limited English language places.
Those who cannot obtain a place at Tetova are forced to try their luck abroad. If Albanian students pay a sizeable bribe they can pass the university entrance exam for Skopje University, but if they refuse or cannot pay they are told there are no more places left.
Attendance of Albanians at Skopje University has risen this year from 2 to 6 per cent, reflecting the desperation of young Albanians to gain qualifications at the expense of their mother tongue, and thereby try to escape the inevitable unemployment of contemporary Macedonia.
The British Council has given a substantial amount of books to Skopje University yet has sent none down to Tetova. When lecturing staff have applied for British and other West European visas to attend academic conferences they have been refused on the grounds that Tetova university is illegal and therefore a non-recognised institution.
For the Albanians, however, the university is now a reality and the question is how to get the state to recognise it.