Welcoming our new Policy Residents

The Growth CoLab at CEU welcomed two new policy residents, Shkelqim Berisha and Itgelt Bat-Ochir, this month. Over the next 4 months, Itgelt and Shkelqim will help develop municipal-level growth diagnostics for the Republic of Albania. The effort involves the use of newly emerging structured and unstructured data to describe municipal economies beyond what official statistics allow for. The pilot study will help us learn about the opportunities for and current limitations to conducting growth diagnostics at the municipal level in the Western Balkans.

Shkelqim Berisha (left) and Itgelt Bat-Ochir (right), Master of Public Administration students at CEU and research assistants at the Complexity Science Hub.

Shkelqim holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Pristina and is currently pursuing a master’s degree Public Administration (Quantitative Policy Analysis) at CEU. His academic and professional journey includes significant contributions to education and policy research, such as coordinating research initiatives at EduTask in Kosovo, where he facilitated collaboration between businesses and universities to bridge sectoral skills gaps.

Itgelt holds bachelor’s degree in international relations from the University of Pecs and is pursuing a master’s degree Public Administration (Quantitative Policy Analysis) at CEU. He has interests and experience in economic research, education, and project management.