The Board of the Academy held its regular meeting

Vushtrri, 11 march, 2019- In the Kosovo Academy for Public Safety was held the twenty-seventh meeting of the Academy Board and the first for this year.

Present at this meeting were: Director General  of Kosovo Probation Service Bajram Bujupi, also Chairman of the Board, Director General  of Kosovo Police Rashit Qalaj, Chief Executive of Kosovo Police Inspectorate Miradije Kelmendi, Director General of Kosovo Customs Bahri Berisha, Director General of the Kosovo Correctional Service Nehat Thaqi, Director General of the Agency for Emergency Management Fadil Kodra and Director General of the Academy Ismail Smakiqi. The meeting was attended by representatives of the permanent partners of KAPS Shpresa Muharremi from OSCE and Remzije Ibrahimi from ICITAP and senior officials from relevant institutions.

Initially Head of the Academy Board Bajram Bujupi welcomed the attendants and then asked them to approve the agenda for this meeting.

In the first item of the agenda, the Board approved the Board's annual work plan for 2019.The purpose of this annual plan is to determine the key steps undertaken by the Board in 2019 in order to carry out its responsibilities so that by setting standards and policies for training and education, members of public safety institutions should be professionally prepared and internationally accepted standards, to withstand all challenges in the field of public safety.

During the meeting of the Board, Director General of KAPS Ismail Smakiqi unveiled the Annual Report 2018, whereby he said:

"KAPS has been working for years with the dedication towards the creation of an educational environment in order to build professional capacities for law enforcement. The achievements of the reporting period are the result of the work of the Academy staff, who have given their contribution either individual or group, in performing with full responsibility and professionalism of the duties and at the same time thanking for the work and cooperation of the Institutions of Public Safety and International Organizations such as ICITAP, the OSCE and the Twinning Project which have supported us in achieving our successes. "

Year 2018 for the Kosovo Academy for Public Safety was a great year. During this year after a long process of evaluations by teams of national and international agencies of experts, Academy won the national accreditation by the National Qualifications Authority and international accreditation from the International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training (IADLEST) of United States of America.

Commenting on the achievements of the Academy, Board members expressed their satisfaction with the achievements of the Academy, namely the joint work of its stakeholders, which are six Public Safety Agencies. At the same time members of the KAPS Board expressed readiness to continue supporting the Academy in its mission.

On the next point Director Smakiqi and Director of Department for Strategic Planning and Legal issues Mr. Shpend Shabani, unveiled "The Strategic Development and Action Plan of KAPS 2019-2022". The aim and vision of 2019-2022 of the Academy is: "In 2022 KAPS will be the Center for Excellence for Public Safety in Kosovo". Director Shabani unveiled six strategic objectives of the Academy, one for each thematic area, 20 specific objectives and 110 activities.

In addition, the Board was briefed informed and debated on these agenda items:
Notification regarding the visit of NQA experts for validation of the professional program "Fire-fighter" and review of the fulfilment of the conditions given by the NQA for all professional programs; Notification regarding the request for additional budget of KAPS sent to MIA; Discussion regarding the offer of German Police University  for drafting a master study program in KAPS.

Board members respectively leaders of Public Safety Agencies pledged to support the Academy in the process of meeting the conditions given by the NQA for all professional programs as well as the request for additional budget of KAPS, since at present the Academy has quadrupled the number of cadets and students compared to previous years.
Board members also expressed interest in establishing a master program in the following years at the Academy in the field of public safety.