Why Was 2022 a Successful Year for Shkolla Digjitale?

2022 marks another successful year for Shkolla Digjitale, where during this year over 2200 students attended the programming school only in Kosovo, who continue to be trained and to create creative and functional applications from an early age. It is worth noting that only in the city of Pristina there was a 105% increase in the number of active students compared to last year.

New Location of Shkolla Digjitale The continuous success of Shkolla Digjitale since 2015, has enabled its expansion into a much larger and more comfortable space for our students with a pleasant environment, wider halls with modern equipment as well as entertainment spaces. From January, the main offices and the central facility (Headquarters) of Shkolla Digjitale started working in a new location, in the center of Pristina, Rr. Pashko Vasa no. 28 in Pejton.

Increase in Staff Numbers As a result of the successes and the expansion process of Shkolla Digjitale, this year also the number of staff has increased in managerial, technical, creative, administrative and academic positions. All our staff, with their great work and dedication, have helped in educating children and teenagers for the most demanded skills of the century, such as technology and programming. The professional work of the staff has made our students show results in technology that amaze and inspire not only parents but also all professionals in the field.

Franchises and other locations Shkolla Digjitale with its curriculum, teaching methodology, learning management systems, customer relationship management systems - all created, developed, managed, updated and adapted by our staff in Kosovo, for years now operates as a Franchise for the local and international market. Through Shkolla Digjitale franchises, we are teaching and preparing children for the future, in different countries, with over fifty (50+) locations currently. These locations are physically spread in Slovenia, Germany, USA, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mexico, Morocco. While, during this year we have also started in the newest location in Brazil. All those who live in these countries, and wish to attend our program should contact the main center of Berlitz School of Languages, in that country. This has an exception only in the locations in Slovenia, North Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

While in the local market, Shkolla Digjitale operates in the largest cities of Kosovo such as: Prishtina, Ferizaji, Prizreni, Gjakova, Peja and Mitrovica, thus being the computer programming school with the largest coverage in Kosovo, in terms of locations and number of students.

Global Expansion of the School's Alumni Network During this year, we have managed to celebrate the graduation of many students who started their studies in 2016-2017. These students began their studies 3-5 years ago and have now completed the entire school program, joining the school's alumni group. This group is constantly expanding and developing, with the school having opened various groups to create connections among students who have completed the program in Kosovo, Slovenia, North Macedonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Soon, as students in other countries (Germany, Mexico, USA, Morocco, and Brazil) complete the entire program, they will join this group, expanding the school's student network internationally. This will help students, in addition to technological knowledge, to also build relationships among themselves for future professional development and collaboration. Among the main goals of Shkolla Digjitale is to increase collaboration and the sharing of experiences from the alumni network, who have completed the programming course, with current students in the school. This network of our former students continues to grow every year and is present with their successes in providing experiences and professional achievements for the new students of Shkolla Digjitale and preparing them for the job market.

Increase in the number of girls who code With increased awareness, the number of students at Shkolla Digjitale has also grown, especially girls, whose participation in most groups has increased, and currently the percentage of girls learning programming at Shkolla Digjitale is 30%. Our goal is to continue increasing the percentage of girls in the field of technology (STEM) to approach 50% girls and 50% boys in the number of active students at the school.

It is essential to mention that the teenage girls of our school have created creative and functional programs that match, and some even challenge, the professional projects of local and international technology companies - including real projects for clients.

Sustainable Development Goals According to the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) which contains 17 goals to achieve fundamental changes in society, Shkolla Digjitale focuses on four (4) of these goals, thus mentioning Quality Education for a brighter future, Gender Equality for a dignified inclusion, Decent Work and Economic Growth, creating employment opportunities for young people, and fostering development in Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, preparing young people as a reference point for the near future.

Student Successes After the successes shown during the programming course, many students have become part of the School's staff as programming instructors, have opened their own companies through which they are part of the local or international job market, or have become part of Shkolla Digjitale's sister company, Starlabs — which offers Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services. Some of the names of the success stories: Denis Hoti - Founder of Dokoo | Full Stack Developer at StarLabs Elbion Redenica - Co-Founder & Developer at Blockchain Bombers Melos Kuqi - Co-Founder & Developer at Blockchain Bombers Bert Gorani - Programming Instructor at Shkolla Digjitale Bleron Hamiti - Programming Instructor at Shkolla Digjitale Jora Veseli - Full Stack Developer at StarLabs Blinera Ibrahimi - Influencer Marketing Assistant at Deinede Art Rrustemi - Full Stack Developer at StarLabs

Work evaluation through official visits We had the pleasure that during this year, among many official visits, we welcomed to our company: the President of the Republic of Kosovo, Mrs. Vjosa Osmani, the Minister of Public Administration, Digitalization and Media of Montenegro, Mrs. Tamara Srzentić, the Minister of Economy, Mrs. Artane Rizvanolli, as well as business and government representatives from Germany within the framework of the German-Kosovar Economic Forum visit.

During these visits, the co-founders and leaders of Shkolla Digjitale, Hana Qerimi and Darsej Rizaj, informed attendees about the work and achievements of our company and discussed opportunities for collaboration in the field of technology and innovation. Shkolla Digjitale is also part of the Association for Information and Communication Technology in Kosovo (STIKK) as deputy leader on the board of directors, a member of the board of directors in the Kosovo-American Education Fund (KAEF) association, and a member of the German Chamber and the American Chamber.

Opportunities for practical work at StarLabs Ten (10) students from Shkolla Digjitale in Prishtina and Ferizaj, who have been part of the programming course since the age of 12, after completing the final level of the programming course, have benefited from a two (2) month internship at StarLabs, which offers high-quality external ICT services, where the best students have been employed as programmers of this company.

Participation in events Students and staff of Shkolla Digjitale were part of various organizations such as: Albanian ICT Awards, where we won the ICT Rising Star award up to age 16; KosICT 2022 Festival, where six (6) groups of students presented their projects on the main stage; STEAM Engine Conference and the signing of the cooperation agreement between Shkolla Digjitale and organizations and private schools that are part of the technology industry in Kosovo such as: IPKO Foundation, BONEVET, ICK, jCoders Academy, Autostrada Biennale, FLOSSK Free Libre Open Source Software Kosova and UNDP Kosovo; DOKUTECH Conference"; Organization "Portfolio day Event by Raiffeisen Bank Kosova"; Career and Study Abroad Fair; Job Fair - GIRLS IN ICT; "Do it Yourself" Fair; National Fair of Work, Career and Entrepreneurship; Albanian ICT Awards, as jury members in the tenth edition of the Albanian nationwide Innovation and Technology competition; Opening of the week #VajzatnëTIK22, as a panelist in the discussion "The past, present and future of technology"; Campaign "Inspiring Women Entrepreneurs" realized by USAID Kosovo, as success stories in the field of entrepreneurship for the field of Information Technology; TED x RITKosovo, as presenter - Video Interview for the show 'ABC E MENGJESIT', titled: "The Albanian woman, woman of the year in technology. The Albanian Digital School spreading around the world"; Panelist in the discussion "Innovations from Kosovo for German-speaking markets"; Part of numerous interviews in which students and staff of our company have talked about the benefits of the programming course; Part of the "Green Corridor", together with various members to share perspectives on the genuine engagement of Kosovar youth, organized by Manifesta Biennial, UN-Habitat Kosovo, CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati; Part of the German article "Young talents are developing Kosovo into a technology hub", published by Germany Trade & Invest; Part of the 5th Western Balkans Digital Summit; Winners of the Open Source award at "Techfest Albania"; Web Summit - participation in the world's largest technology conference, held in Lisbon, Portugal;

Summer School During the months of July and August, Shkolla Digjitale has brought back its most special two (2) week summer program, for age groups 8-18 years old with a curriculum covering the most attractive fields of technology, all in one package: Building & Fixing Computers, Networks, Cyber Security & Hacking, Video, Audio & Image Editing, Designing Apps and Entrepreneurship. Part of the summer school 2022 were over 400 students across Kosovo, who attended intensive technology lessons, visited successful technology companies, had fun outdoors or played e-sports as well as many other activities.

November Code Fest This year as well, the biggest coding competition for children aged 8-18, November Code Fest (NCF), was organized. The award ceremony of the fifth (5) edition of this event brought together many finalists, students and technology supporters from all over Kosovo, Macedonia and Germany (online) where our students presented their technology projects such as: mobile applications, games, and real websites. On this occasion, we thank the finalists for their work and the jury members: Leart Zogjani from Skins Agency, Darsej Rizaj from Shkolla Digjitale and Ermal Sadiku from LinkPlus, for evaluating the projects fairly and for their advice to the students. The winners of the competition won three months free of charge the course at Shkolla Digjitale while finalists over 16 years old won an internship at the company Starlabs. Adonis Berisha - Best Code Game Orhidea Ollogu - Best Scratch Game Abian Belallari- Best App Invntor Game Arguriana Osmanaj - Best Front - End Lirik Rexhepi Best Back - End Olti Demiri - Best React Native

The opportunity to follow the course online Many students from Kosovo, Albania, Macedonia and beyond have become part of the programming course thanks to online learning. Part of this large online community are also students who live in rural areas and places around big cities, having the opportunity to connect online wherever they are. Teamwork and professionalism of the staff One of the most important points behind the extraordinary success is the teamwork and professionalism of our staff. We appreciate your continued support and trust, therefore on behalf of the staff of Shkolla Digjitale, we want to thank all those who supported us and believed in our quality and services to cooperate with us also during the year 2022. Thank you!