VOA: The new academic year begins, but with problems

In Albania, the new academic year started today for over 121,000 students, of which 20,000 young people are starting higher studies for the first time. The students of the University of Medicine in the capital boycotted the first day, in protest against the law, which requires them to work for up to 5 years in Albania at the end of their studies, before receiving their diploma. In other universities in Tirana and in other regions, a lower number of students have appeared this year. Some branches and programs are at risk of closing.

The students of the University of Medicine in Tirana started the new academic year today with a boycott, against the newly approved law, which requires their forced employment up to 5 years after the end of their studies.

They seek dialogue to avoid these obstacles, which is brought to them by the agreement requested by the university, according to which, they will withdraw their diploma of studies after several years of employment in the Albanian health system. They had announced the boycott of studies since the protests they held in front of the Assembly, as the majority approved the new government project in the session, which aims to curb the emigration of young medical workers.

Among over 121 thousand university students, Albania has this year over 20 thousand new students, who enter the faculty auditoriums for the first time, while in all universities there is a decrease in the number of registrations due to internal and external demographic movements .

In the first two rounds of registrations, the University of Tirana has filled nearly 72 percent of the quotas, and at the end of the third round, it can reach 80 percent, which is the average of previous years.

The most sought after branches are law, technology, economics and literature, while the least sought after are physics and biology.

Education authorities in universities and ministries claim that they are trying to adapt internationalization and profiling projects in addition to scholarship support for students who follow priority programs.

Universities are designing a more attractive and competitive offer for studies and scientific research in cooperation with well-known universities of other countries.

The University of Tirana has so far signed 300 international agreements for the mobility of students and lecturers according to research plans in various sciences. At least a thousand students and lecturers, who move to study abroad, have benefited from them.

Meanwhile, in the universities of Elbasan, Durrës, Korça and Shkodra, a lower number of students were registered this year and some branches and programs have been suspended due to the low interest of students.

In Elbasan, only half of the quotas determined by the university have been filled in the first rounds so far, where the most requested branches are nursing and technical medical sciences, while the numbers of economics students have decreased. In Durrës, finance, nursing and professional branches are the most requested programs, compared to history, tourism and philosophy.

In Korça, two programs have no students, while some other programs have less than 10 students. In Shkodër, the most requested programs are the medical branches and less history and foreign languages.

New student registrations in this academic year have been influenced, according to experts, not only by demographic movements, but also by changes in demands in the labor market, for which universities are also trying to make the necessary adjustments./VOA