Prime Minister Edi Rama at meeting with intern students and graduates at launch of fourth call for National Internship Program:

Hello everyone!

I am pleased that we again dedicate to whole process of the Pact for the University, this time about the internship program that, I believe you already know, is an experience created by President Kennedy in the early 1960s when he opened the White House doors to the talented students and it later turned into a ubiquitous practice in the United States and all over Europe.

Internship is a relatively new and unconsolidated practice in Albania. However, what is worth saying is that it is a practice has taken a rather significant form year after year and it provides not only an insight into the institutions, but also the opportunity that once the internship period is over, anyone who goes through this process, he or she can participate in the competition process to take up a job position in the public administration, having the big advantage of having undergone internship program and having gained work experience. So it is an advantage over other competitors and helps overcome the legal gap that actually requires work experience for anyone who seeks to join the civil service.

On the other hand, it is a positive fact that internship program has been expanded beyond the public administration to the private sector. Representatives from the private sector and various private companies are attending this meeting in their capacity as internship program partners and they have helped the number of students and graduates attending the internship program grow significantly. I want to make my speech shorter so that everyone is given the opportunity to say whatever he wishes to say, but I would like to highlight the fact that a new era in the history of the government-university relations has begun, because the conditions are right for both to interact and cooperate in order to open up the university towards the market and bring the market’s needs to the university’s attention and in the meantime provide the historic opportunity for the direct recruitment of the best performing students in the public administration.

Many have frequently thought and a kind of mentality has been created, suggesting that it is not worth trying and studying hard in order to achieve high scores because, at the end of the day, someone else, who is not as good as you are, but possesses other mechanisms, political support and help of influential people, is destined to take up the government job. Indeed, this trend has been irreversibly reverse, because the government vacancies are now made available to best performing graduates with a grade point average 9 to 10 and taking a job position actually should go through a competition process among the best of the bests. This provides the opportunity for every excellent graduate to pick first depending on performance. They are also now given the opportunity to join the public administration without having to undergo the test procedures under a one-year contract in order to gain knowledge and work practice for the job position they have gained without siting a pre-employment test and keep that job position by going through the test procedures later. And certainly, someone who has been working in a job position for a year and has the right skills and willingness, cannot be defeated by someone else who competes for the very same job position, yet he or she lacks direct knowledge of the kind of job has has to deal with.

To conclude, I would like to state that this process will go on by reopening calls for applications. A new call has been launched most recently and the next call is going to be launched by August and all vacancies in the public administration will be made available to best performing students and graduates. I am confident this lays the foundations for a historic transformation of the administration because over the years all these people will gain the needed experience and above all they have taken such positions based on their merit.

I won’t elaborate further so whoever wants to make questions, express concerns, opinions or needs some more explanations, I think this is the right moment to launch such a discussion.

-The national internship program is a good thing as it has helped us to better know the public administration and staff has supported us a lot. This is our chance to join the public administration at an early stage of our career.

– As for the internship programs, I would like to thank you very much for the opportunity and I want to share my experience so far. The staff is wonderful, always ready to assist us. The internship programs offer us the opportunity to better understand how the public administration works. Thank you very much!

PM Edi Rama: Actually, I wouldn’t like to listen ‘the wonderful personnel” stuff only, but whether you have found out something not “wonderful” in the public administration. This is what interests us more and we know pretty well that not wonderful things are more common than the wonderful ones within the public administration, so let’s not waste time with this wonderful stuff, because we are here to listen and learn something more about each other so that we know a lot more when this meeting is over than we knew ahead of it. Otherwise, what’s the point of this meeting then?

–I want to make a question just out of curiosity. I am currently part of the internship program at the Ministry of Justice. Should everything go right, after three months I will be signing a one-year employment contract, which means I will take the position of someone else who had been applied under the third call for the internship program. If this is a procedure that will be applied for the excellent graduates and the national internship program, when it is supposed that I sit a pre-employment test at the Public Administration Department (DPA). I mean that once I finish the one-year internship period, will I be entitled to participate in the DPA test? I wish you every success with the initiative to employ best performing students, but, on the other hand, are we violating the right of other candidates, who, although haven’t performed excellently at university, they still know very well how to do this job. Have we violated the others’ right to take part in a DPA test by taking up these job positions without going through the test procedures at all?

PM Edi Rama: You should all bear in mind that the job position you take up for one year will be open to competition for everyone a year later and if someone else performs better or achieves higher scores than you then it is he or she who will replace you. So it is not the same vacant position announced every year, but there are job positions which become vacant as there are employees who decide to transfer to another job, or other people who retire. You should also bear in mind that no winner emerges in one third of tests organized by DPA. This is the most solid evidence showing that the competition is for real, because I have never met an Albanian to admit that he has been fairly defeated by someone else. All those who fail to achieve what they have wished for; they find the easiest way to explain it by saying “this country will never develop.”

No winner emerges in more than one third of tests organized by DPA, so the vacancies remain as such and that’s why we have announced the free job positions in every institution as procedures take time to complete, but also because not all vacancies are filled through pre-employment test process. So, there are vacancies that are to be filled through pre-employment test and as such won’t be announced again a year later. There are also vacancies when certain public administration employees retire or transfer to other job positions, or vacancies that remain available as none of the participants emerges winner as test is very difficult and extremely rigorous. The winners emerge as such after sitting test for second, third, or fourth time.

So only ten percent of the participants emerge winners at first test. The advantage of those who will work on a one-year contract is that they will gain experience and knowledge about that very job position and it would be easier for them to emerge winners in the employment test. In other words, this is a sort of discrimination, if you will, against other competitors.

– I am an intern at the Coordination Centre against Violent Extremism. As for the positive approach I have found as a student regarding cooperation with colleagues and superiors. As to the critical approach, I would say that students should be provided more opportunities to attend internship programs as it would help them to gain experience and socialize with others. Thank you!

– I applied for the excellence program, but unfortunately I was not qualified after failing to earn 0.05 points, yet I would like to express my appreciation for giving the opportunity to attend internship programs in order to gain work experience and then join the public administration. I actually want to make a question. All 9 interns at the Agricultural and Rural Development Agency (ARDA) are best performing students and graduates with grade point average over 9. Which are the criteria you would apply to select us for the vacancies at this Agency once the internship program completes? Is it the behaviour? The way we express our own selves? Or the grade point average? What are the employment quota?

– Hello everyone! In 2018, I joined the third call for national internship program. I attended the internship program for three months. The institution I was working for praised my performance and offered me the opportunity to sign a one-year contract. In the meantime, IPARD announced several vacancies. I applied to DAP and I emerged winner. It has been a beautiful and valuable experience.

–I joined the national internship program in 2018. Following the three-month internship, I was given the opportunity for a one-year work contract and once the contract completed, the institution announced several vacancies. I applied to DAP and I have now signed a one-year contract as inspector. I would like to express my gratitude for this opportunity to apply and be selected to join the public administration.

PM Edi Rama: I would like to add something to answer the question made by one of you. ARDA is a special institution as it operates under European certificates. So it is closely monitored by the relevant Brussels structures, because it is tasked with managing the European funding for agriculture and rural development and therefore it is a special opportunity to be a field specialist and work at ARDA. But the pre-employment tests organized by ARDA are very strict, because every procedure, not only should comply with the Albanian law, but they are also closely monitored by our partners in Brussels, so there is no chance to violate the ARDA procedures. So everyone should work and study hard in order to succeed in the pre-employment test. The test is typically DAP test and the institution’s representatives are normally part of the commission to assess the candidates’ performance.

You can also discuss issues regarding the pact for the university or other issues concerning the university.

–Recently, DAP announced four vacancies in the city of Shkoder. I applied and a week later I received an e-mail to attend the pre-employment test. Just two days later, I received another e-mail telling that the test will be postponed and third e-mail explained that the procedure had been cancelled for a number of reasons. What is the reason that the four vacancies have not been filled yet and the pre-employment test has been postponed?

PM Edi Rama: I can’t say for surely that the test has been postponed for technical reasons. It is most likely that the reason is exactly what we are discussing at today’s meeting. All vacancies in the public administration have been made available to the best performing students with a grade point average 9 to 10. That’s why many procedures that were earlier announce have been now cancelled as all vacancies have been made available to them. I mean that the four vacancies in Shkodra will be filled by the excellent students with grade point average 9 to 10.

I am sorry if you are not one of them. This is the system we have chosen. The best ones would be given the chance to choose first. This is the first stage of the process. Once the vacancies are filled by the best performing ones, a year later they should undergo the pre-employment test together with everyone else who want to apply for the vacant job positions. Certainly they have an advantage they have certainly gained through hard work, spending more time with books than with the internet compared to others. They were taken for a fool by others, yet they turned out to be the smartest one as the overturned a trend, according to which: “whoever studies hard is a fool.”  This is a transformation process that would consolidate in the next few years and nobody will talk about these things anymore. I mean it would be a totally normal thing that one who joins the civil service and public administration should be one of the best performing ones and not a party militant or someone who enjoys support of the influential people. This fight is going on. It is not a struggle won, but in this time segment, for first time in 30 years, the best performing ones are most advantaged.

What is important is the interns joining the three-month internship program are the ones the gain such advantage that otherwise you wouldn’t gain as the stipulates that in order to join the civil service a candidate should have a work experience. But how a newly graduate is supposed to gain work experience? This is the law’s loophole we are seeking to fill in by giving the best performing students the opportunity to gain work experience in public administration.

-I am currently an Architecture and Urban Planning student. I have applied for the Internship Program and I have emerged as winner. Other interns are provided the opportunity of a job position under a one-year contract. I would like to know whether we at Tirana Municipality are entitled to this opportunity too.

PM Edi Rama: Everyone is entitled to this opportunity, including the interns at the private sector, because it is in the institution’s or organization’s interest to hire an employee who has already undergone the internship program. Why they should seek to hire someone else?

-I am currently a student attending the Master of Science degree program at the Law Faculty, Tirana University. I am an excellent student with a grade point average 10 and, according to the law, I was not obliged to pay the tuition fee. With the most recent changes, when the margin of excellent student included those with grade average point 9 to 10, I had to pay half of the tuition fee. Why the best performing students with grade point average 10 are not excluded from having to pay the tuition fee?

PM Edi Rama: The tuition fee has not been halved. It is the contribution that has halved the students’ burden. So, the tuition fee is the estimated cost for each student. What we have done is that we have decided to act like your parents and the government will pay half of the tuition fee. In this respect, it is the university the one that could say: “It is not necessary to impose a tuition fee and exclude the excellent students with grade point average. And it should normally make such a decision. But this is not a government decision. We just cover half of the tuition fee for best performing ones with grade point average 9 to 10. Meanwhile, the universities could themselves decide to exclude the absolute performing students from having to pay the tuition fee. They should have normally made such a decision and they certainly do so. What you already said is absolutely legitimate, especially considering the fact that you have been previously excluded from having to pay the tuition fee and you are now asked to pay it. This is wrong. The universities should normally make such a decision. We will be talking again about these issues. We have asked the universities to do so, but I am really surprised at the level of the university secretariats. I used to think I have already seen the worst in the public administration as you are lucky enough to see the “wonderful” side of the administration, the one I haven’t seen yet. The university secretariats create confusion, provide contradictory explanations and meaningless and irresponsible answers.

There is another element that is becoming a serious problem. It is not up to the government, as the university is autonomous, but recruitment of the universities’ non-pedagogical personnel is another painful story showing injustice, lack of merit and responsibility, clientelism and other stories of this kind. No other explanation can justify the incredible amount of money the university budged allocates for wages of these people. This money could have been well used for other purposes instead of being used to pay the unusually large university administration. This is unimaginable.

-I am a student at the Faculty of Economics, Tirana University, and I am currently attending the Master of Arts degree program on marketing. I have been shortlisted under the National Internship Program at the Tirana Regional Youth Centre. Why students with grade point average are not included in the category of best performing students? I am making such a question taking notice of a very good practice applied by the Ministry of Interior in recruiting State Police workforce, which turned out to be a very effective process and sow a very high number of applicants. In this way, students with a grade point average 8 are given the opportunity to compete against those with grade point average 9 and 10, because although the latter deserve to be given such an opportunity, but many students might be discriminated when it comes to performance and it doesn’t mean they lack competencies? I am sure such a problem is being raised at the universities too.

PM Edi Rama: Why something else doesn’t happen, that these students further improve by working hard to earn higher scores? If we include students with grade point average 8 in the excellent students’ category, what shall we do with the ones with a grade point average 5? Undoubtedly, many successful professionals hail from the ranks of those with grade point average 9 and 10, yet, when setting an objective criterion, we can’t act on the idea that since Einstein was a poor student then everyone else could be a potential Einstein. We can’t do that. Of course, one of them could turn out to be a genius, but we can’t assume that a failed student will become a genius. We can’t do that.

The word excellent means a grade point average 10. The others are of course very good students, but we expanded the excellent category students in order to halve the tuition fee and stimulate you to achieve higher results. Right now, for example, we are involved in another discussion regarding the fact that nobody applied for a part of the job positions on offer. There is a number of job positions for students and graduates who should not necessarily have a grade point average 9 or 10 and we are mulling over plans to extend the availability to five years and not one year only. At the same time, we are discussing about graduates from foreign universities so that they can have access to such job positions without being excellent ones. Suffice it to graduate from those universities. I remember when I went to Construction Engineering at that time of protest and students claimed they can’t achieve highest scores because of very difficult subjects. So, there are always aspects and things that need to be adjusted, because there can be no perfect solutions without certain side effects that should be addressed in advance.

-I am a Master degree student at the Faculty of Economics. I would like to raise two problems beyond the National Internship Program. I have been selected by the General Directorate of Customs Service. I have seen the directive forwarded by the Ministry of Education to Student Councils, stating that 5 members should be elected. I think that this number should be proportionate to the number of students and it should not be the same for all faculties because our faculty has nearly 7000 to 8000 students. Another problem I would like to raise has to do with an investment in the Faculty of Economics that has been blocked by the University Rector, or at least so we have been told by the Dean, due to the disputes between the Dean and the Rector. We can’t remain hostage to this conflict.

PM Edi Rama: This is intolerable! The digital library has been already made available and the University of Tirana cannot use it, because it lacks the technology system that would allow the use of the digital library and Tirana University students have no access to the digital library just because the Rector, or the Rectory have not provided such a minimum thing. This is intolerable. I don’t know what else should happen and the documents of the Tirana University students are still written and filled by hand just like in the era of agricultural cooperatives. This speaks for itself. There are other aspects too. The worst is that the Rector, instead of finding solutions, he complains. He complains because I raise such a topic for discussion! What should we do? Should we assume this responsibility too? Gathering in front of the Ministry of Education building with calls to address aspects that should be addressed by the universities themselves is the easiest thing to do.

Of course, a solution is needed! We have preferred not to interfere, but it is really a problem. You staged protests and forgot your demands. But I didn’t. When I said I would be the last protester, you laughed and just insisted to meet the 8 demands! But you have forgotten them now. I haven’t forgotten that one of the main reasons that still remains a matter for concern is the real value of the academic degrees, the vetting process of the academic degrees. What is being done to tackle this issue? Zero. Nothing at all. Why? Because this process should be carried out by the university. All over the world, the university is the one to award academic degrees. The university is also the plagiarism checker. It is not the media, the government or the police that should do this, but the university. But not a single step has been made. Why? Because it would trigger a process similar to the vetting of judges and prosecutors and many so-called professors and doctors are merely charlatans.

Their academic degrees have no value of whatsoever. Not because this should be said for political credits, but, because I truly believe that majority of university lecturers are there because of their merits.

Second, you might have forgotten, but I haven’t that you have asked for evaluation of the lecturers’ performance by the students. This is what happens in the whole world. Students should have the right to evaluate the performance of each professor once a year. The evaluation mechanisms are known. It is not the students’ retaliation against their professors, but a consolidated methodology that allows every student to render his or her own opinion. These opinions serve then the Department, the Deanery and the Rectory to figure out what students think about performance of each lecturer and help the latter find out what students think about him when asked to express their opinion secretly. Nothing is happening in this direction too. Why? Because they know quite well that if this is done than a part of them would never gain the students’ vote.

Third, the problem of textbooks, with the lecturers forcing students to buy their textbooks in exchange of a good score. Nothing is happening in this aspect. Likewise, the digital library is remaining hostage due to the lack of technology system. Why? Because they start to trade blame with each other. But we won’t wait too long. I know quite well that whenever any of them or several of the experience a revolutionary vision, they will again blame the Ministry of Education. We won’t wait too long. We will intervene and amend the law if necessary in order to press ahead with these things, but I hope that just like some initial positive signals are being send here and there, all these aspects will be tackled soon in order to provide teaching process an undisputable integrity. Every parent across the country pay for each student today. So, each student is not attending the university on his or her parent’s money alone, but on all taxpayers’ money. And what are they paying for? That a student be taught by a charlatan who pretends to be a scientific degree holder?! It can’t work like this. You are right in this aspect and one day we may lose our patience, because this is intolerable.