Students from University of Pristina have established their own "independent union"

Students from the "Serbianised" University of Pristina have established their own "independent union", the agenda of which includes dialogue with their ethnic-Albanian opposite numbers from the "alternative" Albanian-taught university. Since 1991, this has been operating from makeshift premises.

The new union has likewise called for the commission - set up under the auspices of the Italian lay Catholic St Egidio Foundation in August 1996 - to speed up its efforts towards resolving the problem of education in Kosovo - in other words, negotiating a phased return of ethnic Albanians to their official classrooms and restoring Albanian-taught education in Kosovo.

The new union's attitude is not supported by their university rector, Radivoje Popovic. "Parallel Albanian-taught education", he said in a TV interview, "is the greatest threat to Serbia", since it "encourages a separatist fundamentalist disposition".