In Albania’s public universities, corruption is often described as an “open secret.” Students trade advice on which lecturer is “strict,” which one is “flexible,” and which exam requires more than studying. But the problem does not end at the classroom door. It follows the money, from the moment a grade is negotiated to the moment a university signs a procurement contract.
A recent monitoring report presented by the civic organization Qëndresa Qytetare suggests the perception of academic corruption remains stubbornly high: nine in ten students surveyed across eight public universities say corruption exists in their lecture halls. The most common form students describe is blunt and transactional: direct payments in exchange for grades, reported by 46.6% of respondents (Bogdani, 2025).
Yet students and researchers argue that focusing only on bribes for grades misses the bigger picture. Corruption is not just a “student–lecturer” issue. It is also about weak accountability inside institutions that control public budgets, hire academic staff, and decide how money is spent. The public image of academic corruption usually starts with money changing hands, and in Albania there are periodic cases that reinforce that perception.
In Elbasan, seven professors at “Aleksandër Xhuvani” University were arrested in November 2024, accused by students of demanding €150 to €500 per exam in exchange for passing grades, according to reporting at the time. The case turned into a national headline because it echoed what many students say privately: that in some corners of the system, “payment” is treated as normal (Balkanweb, 2024).
But the same case also illustrates why students do not trust accountability mechanisms. By December 2024, an outlet reported that six professors were reinstated after a court dropped charges, with the Special Anti-Corruption Court reportedly ruling the arrests unlawful and lifting suspensions. For students who watched the story unfold, the message was confusingt: high-profile action can come fast, but consequences can disappear quietly (TEMA, 2024).
But if corruption is so widely perceived, why doesn’t it generate more formal complaints? The most common answer students give is fear. According to a survey’s findings, 43.87% of students said corruption cases they know about are not reported, and 27.47% said they are openly afraid to report. That fear is not abstract. Students describe retaliation risks: being failed, being targeted, or being informally punished in ways that are hard to prove (Bogdani, 2025). The result is a system where corruption can survive even when everyone believes it is there. Not because students accept it, but because they do not believe reporting will produce fair outcomes.
Then there is the side of university corruption most students rarely see in detail: spending. In November 2025, Citizens.al reported that Qëndresa Qytetare exposed public university spending patterns showing €103 million spent by eight public universities in one year, while only 4.2% went to scientific research. The same reporting described district universities where up to 77% of budgets went to salaries and honoraria, with little investment in labs or research (Vukaj, 2025).
On paper, universities are not lawless zones. Albania’s higher education framework establishes governance structures and ethics bodies. But the lived experience many students describe is that these mechanisms are either inactive, slow or too close to the same institutional hierarchies they are supposed to monitor. When students believe they will be exposed, dismissed, or punished for complaining, the existence of a complaint office does not translate into a functioning safeguard. That gap between formal structure and real enforcement is why corruption in higher education becomes institutional rather than episodic.
In conclusion, Albania’s prominent corruption in higher education institutions is a major obstacle in consolidating a just society. This comes from the fact that the phenomenon discourages young people from believing in the development of our society. Corruption in education has different shapes, from monetary exchange to institutional fraud, and each one of them requires special monitoring. Moreover, there is an immediate need for functional control mechanisms in order to render corruption powerless. When each of these elements will be implemented in the fight against corruption agenda, only then will we be able to notice significant and positive change in universities.
This article was created as part of the project “Upholding Integrity: Coalition Building for Fighting Corruption in Higher Education,” organized by the Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS) within the framework of the SELDI Small Grants Programme “Financial Support for Grassroots and Youth CSOs with Outreach to Citizens,” funded by the European Union. All content is the sole responsibility of AIIS and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union or SELDI.net.
References
European Commission. (2024). Albania Report 2024 (Commission staff working document). https://enlargement.ec.europa.eu/document/download/a8eec3f9-b2ec-4cb1-8748-9058854dbc68_en?filename=Albania+Report+2024.pdf
Balkanweb.com. (2024, November 3). They received 500 euros for an exam/ 7 lecturers of the University of Elbasan in prison, the Court announces the session for the evaluation of the security measure. https://www.balkanweb.com/en/merrnin-500-euro-per-nje-provim-7-pedagoge-te-universitetit-te-elbasanit-ne-burg-gjykata-njofton-seancen-per-vleresimin-e-mases-se-sigurise/
TEMA. (2024, December 3). University professors reinstated after bribery charges dropped. Gazeta Tema (English). https://english.gazetatema.net/society/university-professors-reinstated-after-bribery-charges-dropped-i337615
Bogdani, N. (2025, November 18). Korrupsioni në universitete: Studentët paguajnë për nota dhe përballen me materiale plagjiaturë. Reporter.al. https://www.reporter.al/2025/11/18/korrupsioni-ne-universitete-studentet-paguajne-per-nota-dhe-perballen-me-materiale-plagjiature/
Vukaj, E. (2025, November 20). €103 milionë tenderë pa llogaridhënie, Qëndresa Qytetare zbardh shpenzimet e universiteteve. Citizens.al. https://citizens.al/en/2025/11/20/e103-milione-tendere-pa-llogaridhenie-qendresa-qytetare-zbardh-shpenzimet-e-universiteteve/
