GÉANT Association is pleased to welcome KREN as an associate following a vote at this week’s meeting of the General Assembly (GA) – GÉANT’s highest governing body comprised of representatives of all its member organisations. KREN joins 15 other associates alongside GÉANT’s 39 member organisations.
KREN is part of DPTICT – the Department of Post, Telecommunication, Information and Communication Technology – and connects higher education and scientific research across Kosovo*, including 18 universities, a data centre and research and education networking site in Prizren.
Established with the support of the World Bank and working with the Ministry of Economy and Environment through the KODE project, KREN aims to improve access to high speed – and better quality – broadband services for students, researchers and educators in Higher Education Institutions.
As an associate KREN will benefit not only from access to the pan-European high speed GÉANT network, but from a range of services supporting trust and identity, as well as access to leading cloud services procured on behalf of the GÉANT community. Furthermore, KREN can contribute to the Task Force and Special Interest Group meetings that are part of the wider GÉANT Community Programme that also offers extensive Learning and Development and knowledge-sharing opportunities.
Agim Kukaj of KREN says: “We are delighted that after working on this project for a number of years that KREN has joined the GÉANT community and we are looking forward to collaborating and sharing experience with GÉANT members, as well as facilitating the connection of our research and education community with other communities in Europe and beyond. We continue to build our research and education network together with various services for our research, scientific and educational community of Kosovo*. Through the KODE project, our Ministry will continue to strengthen education and digital infrastructure, which are critical for growth and creation of jobs as they help foster deeper connections with the global economy.”
GÉANT CEO Erik Huizer adds, “We welcome and look forward to working closely with the representatives of KREN under the shared belief this association will be beneficial to KREN and to the GÉANT community.”
* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.
