The Higher Education Policy Document was presented today at a dedicated event organized by the Ministry of Education and Sports, with the participation of Prime Minister Edi Rama, Minister of Education and Sports Ogerta Manastirliu, as well as leaders and representatives of public and private universities, representatives of the Accreditation Board, representatives of the World Bank, and agencies and institutions related to education.
The Policy Document, a multi-year package of measures aimed at transforming higher education in Albania, seeks to ensure that higher education aligns with international standards, supports the European integration process, and becomes a key factor for the country’s development.
This document expresses the commitment to improving quality and aligning Albanian higher education standards with those of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the European Research Area (ERA). It aims to stimulate the transformation of the country’s universities into engines of economic and social development, further strengthen teaching and scientific research, and encourage and support the internationalization of Albanian higher education.
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Prime Minister Edi Rama:
I sincerely believe this document is of great importance because it is an internal product, not a document coming from outside, not imposed by the government, and not a borrowed translation or externally imposed formula.
There are many positive aspects with significant potential, and now they require focus and demand that everyone plays their role properly. As for the government, we feel very comfortable in these conditions, as this product is the result of co-authorship from everyone, and the likelihood of opposition is minimal. However, joint work will be required, equally intensive and focused, to make the necessary adjustments to the higher education law, as the time needed to review the legal framework has passed. This review is informed by our experiences, new developments, and the alliances established by universities, thanks to an important step we’ve taken. I am very proud of this as a government. We’ve broken down the barrier between the EU and non-EU countries, with Albania at the forefront of this effort. In fact, during the EU summit held here in Tirana, it was decided that even for European universities outside the EU, including our country, the possibility of joining the European University Alliance would be opened.
As the experiences of the University of Tirana, the University of Durrës, and Polis show, this is a path I encourage all universities to follow, as it has extraordinary benefits across all fronts: in terms of exchanges and enriching human resources, increasing the capacity to attract funds beyond the budget by accessing European funds, and sharing expertise to improve the quality of scientific research.
I also strongly believe the three points highlighted by Shqiponja represent a challenge not explicitly written in this document, but which is, in a way, the very reason for the document itself. While we have rightly discussed and interacted about the need to expand the financial base, we have doubled the funding for higher education and quintupled the funding for scientific research—I’m referring to the budget, beyond what universities have been able to benefit from.
Additionally, we paused doctoral programs for a period. We were coming from a phase of significant deficiencies in higher education. It may seem like it was 100 years ago, but in reality, it was only 10 years ago when the situation in higher education was a real disaster, with 18 universities operating like businesses.
What I believe is the most important point is that the change driving scientific research to serve the country’s development should be deepened. Scientific research should not exist just for its own sake, nor should it result in publications of limited value to only a few readers. We need to focus much more on scientific research that directly benefits the country’s development and sectors. This policy document is not scientific research, but in fact, it is exactly what we should expect from scientific research: an internal contribution aimed at further transforming a strategic sector like education.
We have seen positive developments in this direction, but we must hurry to increase the volume and ensure a consistent, continuous, and uninterrupted relationship between the government, universities, and the market. If this does not take a definitive form, and if the market—the needs of the market, which include not just the private market outside the institutional life, but also institutional actors as part of a market the university should consider as its own—does not take shape, then this is absolutely necessary.
One of the most significant developments we are experiencing is at the Agricultural University. The Agricultural University seemed destined to remain a provincial institution, but thanks to the courage and commitment of the rector and team, we managed to put it on a different trajectory, building a new academic reality through its partnership with the University of Vienna. By 2030, diplomas from the Agricultural University in Tirana will be equivalent to those from the University of Vienna, and vice versa. In other words, students from Albania, the region, and Europe will come to the Agricultural University of Tirana to obtain a diploma from the University of Vienna, and this is fully achievable—it is well on its way, and our Austrian partners confirm this.
I hope the same will happen at the University of Shkodra. Finally, I want to emphasize that a special focus should be given to Artificial Intelligence in all universities. It is both a necessity and an extraordinary opportunity for a very simple reason.
Thank you for your patience. Once again, thank you for your contributions. With great respect to everyone, I am confident that with this document, the action plan, and the collaboration we have established with the conference of rectors, we will be able to achieve our ambitious goals. I believe that now, after this document, we need to slightly reformat the conference of rectors—not just having one representative from private universities as the representative of the association of political prisoners, but a more reasonable mix.
Thank you very much!
