Moving into temporary premises

We started teaching on 1st March 2010 in temporary premises in both of our locations.  I say "temporary", but in fact the facilities that we have in the south of Mitrovica would already be the envy of many an institution in western Europe or the USA.  We have been held up a little in the north of the town, but I fully expect to be able to offer the same quality of teaching accomodation to students at both campuses by the middle of May 2010.

When I first saw the building in the south, in early December 2009, it had unplastered walls and the windows had just been installed.  There were no internal partitions, no heating and the wiring had not been undertaken.  The floors were raw concrete and, basically, we could do anything we wanted in the way of final design!

The International Business College Mitrovica team, together with the owner of the building, worked very hard throughout the winter to create a lay-out, establish infrastructure connections and design and manufacture all the required furniture for a school building.  It seems easy, but the amount of detail in a tough project timetable that included basic building work (e.g. plastering of walls and putting in false ceilings) and final details (e.g. hanging beamers from ceilings and arranging janitorial services) is phenomenal.  Lennard, our Operations Manager, was at the forefront of this activity and deserves particular thanks.  Take a bow, Len!

  Source: ©Thom Van Der Veen - 1st March 2010

The take over of the building in the south of Mitrovica on 15th February was one of the early landmark moments in the history of the development of the institution.  I was very proud of all the work that went into the building and for perhaps the first time, much of the planning began to take on the feeling of becoming real!

For the moment then, our students in the south are in a state of the art building boasting four classrooms with plenty of natural light and four large working areas for less formal group work.  We have a library and the whole building is set up with Wi-Fi Internet connection and in all can accomodate over 90 students.  It really is a pleasure to work in this environment - even if it is only "temporary"!

The main entrance to the temporary south building of the International Business College Mitrovica and a project group hard at it in one of the four working areas

Source: ©Thom Van Der Veen - 1st March 2010