Educational and/or National Mission? Higher Education in Skopje 1920‒1944

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A comparative analysis of the work of the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje (1920 - 1941), which was founded by the Yugoslav authorities, and the University "Tsar Boris III" (1943 - 1944), which was established through the efforts of the Bulgarian state, reveals a number of similarities, indicating that the basic principles of the two states were nearly identical in the educational and national sense. Serbia, later Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria used almost the same means in order to achieve the desired goal - political and cultural domination over the Vardar Valley. Cultural-educational, but also national-political aspects were evident through official correspondence and public statements. The rhetoric of Yugoslav and Bulgarian institutions and individuals, along with their publishing activities, lectures, etc., was quite similar. The similarities were also visible through the set scope and objectives of these higher education institutions, as well as through their legislative frameworks and the position of the faculty/university in relation to the administrative center in Belgrade or Sofia. Through their ministries, both states sent emissaries, various commissions and trusted individuals in order to shape the operation of these institutions further. However, economically and politically weak, and lacking sufficient development in scientific and cultural fields, neither Yugoslavia nor Bulgaria manageed to complete the project of cultural assimilation of the local population in Macedonia. The initial aspirations for a quick resolution of national objectives through these institutions were soon replaced by material and social issues. Thus, efforts at Serbization - to a lesser extent, and Yugoslavianization - to a greater extent, and subsequently Bulgarianization, failed to achieve their full potential through the aforementioned higher education institutions. On the other hand, the educational and cultural endeavors of the Yugoslav government during the interwar period gained their true significance for this region and its local population only after the Second World War, with the establishment of the University of Skopje, when the political, and therefore social physiognomy of the Yugoslav landscape was transformed.