Higher education reforms are a priority and central theme at a global academic and economic level, taking into account the dynamics of the business, the technological change and the change of generations.

This topic was affirmative at the International Scientific Congress "ICON BEST 2018" held today, October 15, 2018. The biennial congress, organized by the University of Tourism and Management in Skopje, is organized for the sixth time unifying the top academic and expert names from the country and abroad. The topic of the Global Education, Skills and Competencies Congress: through quality business education to the needs of the market, has sparked strong attention in the world and is driven by the challenge of a rapidly progressive global business and the inadequacy of some of the staff. The need to synchronize the academic education and the business is urgent and involves reforms that need to be implemented globally.

The Congress was opened by Prof. Zoran Ivanovski PhD, Pro-Rector for International Cooperation at the University of Tourism and Management in Skopje.
At the plenary session with scientific-research lectures addressed: Prof. Zoran Ivanovski PhD, Pro-Rector for International Cooperation and professor at UTMS, Prof. Sasho Kozhuharov PhD, Pro-Rector for Science and Dean at the Faculty of Economics at UTMS, Prof. Zoran Ivanovic PhD from the University of Rijeka, Croatia and Honorary Doctor of Science at UTMS, Prof. Jasmin Kosse PhD, Dean of the Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences at the University "Bulen Ecevit" in the Republic of Macedonia. Turkey, Blagica Novkovska PhD, professor at UTMS, and Prof. Sime Arsenovski PhD, professor at UTMS.

The topics of the congress were segmented into 8 panels: 1. Tourism, 2. Marketing and integrated communications, 3. Human resources, leadership and competences 4. Management, entrepreneurship and new technologies, 5. Economics and finance, 6. Business education and security quality, 7. Policy and legal aspects of education, and 8. Open topics related to business education.

Some of the conclusions of the congress emphasized the need for synchronization of the state, educational, corporate and civic organizations in the direction of generating changes and reforms in one of the most important societies in the society - the education.

The University of Tourism and Management in Skopje, which celebrated 12 years of successful work this year, has consistently prioritized science, research and cooperation with foreign countries, in the direction of equalizing domestic quality standards in education with the world.