EU supports introducing information system in high schools

TIRANA, March 14 – Dirk Lange, the Head of the Unit responsible for Albania at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Enlargement, today inaugurated the EU funded project, “Schools Management Information System” implemented for the first time in the “Beqir ȥla” Professional School in Durres.
The project, worth 38,000 Euros, is financed through the “Innovation Fund for Vocational Education and Training schools and centers” of the 2004 CARDS1 program. The total endowment of the fund is 500,000 Euros.
This project began in July 2007 and was successfully completed in February 2008. The aim of the project is to improve the school administration through ensuring reliability, accuracy and efficiency of the school’s statistical data system. The project serves to strengthen the linkage between the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector and the private sector, offering the latter better qualified students from the vocational training system as potential employees. In addition, the project has supported the acquisition of basic school computers and improved the skills of teachers of the “Beqir ȥla” vocational school through training in the usage of Schools Management Information System (SMIS).
“As part of its European integration agenda, Albania is also stepping up efforts to improve the education system, including the creation of modern Vocational Education and Training. I am very pleased that with the support of the European Commission, Albania has now made strides in establishing a VET system in line with European standards”, said Lange.
The implementation of the SMIS software in the “Beqir ȥla” Professional School in Durres is supported by 30 personal computers, one workstation, one server to be installed along with the creation and configuration of the computer network for this school. The entire system is available to the students and faculty of the school, including a user and administration guide of the SMIS software as well as a module training guide.