From celebrating the Independence Flag days in Italy to organizing birthday parties in Wien, from encouraging political participation and social activeness form young people to coordinating communication between friends in different countries, the Albanian associations of students who live and study abroad have a range of tasks. We take a look in this issue to the main ones and try to discern their motives and their dynamics.
Roaming the caf顦illed streets of the trendiest neighborhood in the capital during the last week of the year we left behind, one could not fail to notice two big parties on two consecutive days that gathered crowds of young people, mostly students that are studying abroad or alumni from the same background. These parties are the traditional end of year festivities organized by the two largest organizations of Albanian students abroad: Albstudent and ASAN.
The first one is in reality a network of smaller local Albanian student associations mainly in Europe with partner organizations in Italy, Austria and Switzerland. In its activities it lobbies for facilitated practices on the side of the administration for the rights of students abroad and for their integration into the labor market once they have decided to go back home. Through their coordinating position and the vast network of connections these associations are the natural partner of all initiatives to reverse the bran drain phenomenon, well-known in all former communist countries and a real impediment to social and economic development. Hence, Albstudent has voiced also a request for more transparency on the Brain Gain program currently coordinated in Albania by UN agencies. Most of the goals are shared between the two networks, though while Albstudent has called for an administration move to register all students in a database, ASAN has already started work on the project by making available registration on their website and actively encouraging students to sign up.
The process of voting is also a crucial nexus where efforts converge. With more than one million Albanians eligible to vote outside of the borders student associations are joining other voices to lobby the government in order to carte the political will and infrastructure for Albanians abroad to exercise their right to vote.
The main area of advocacy of student associations is the one of educational and labor market and the difficult relationship between the two. Diploma conversions and recognitions form Albanian authorities are often bureaucratic long and expensive procedures ridden with all sort of difficulties. The requirement for job experience are also not very realistic given that the residency permits of students abroad are normally given with restriction on the right of employment.
Both the networks have served as key partners in multiple seminars, workshops and summer camps organized by other NGOs and forums about youth leadership. They have also arranged important meetings when students could voice their request and establish partnerships such as with ministers of education, Tirana mayor, etc.
There is a two-fold rationale for the necessity of such networks. First the need to coordinate students abroad comes from the natural easiness with which an individual is helped by a community. Students that go the first time abroad will have it easier if they contact other members of the Albania and have acess tot heir experience and connections. When it comes to sharing rent or finding a part time job, connections always come in handy.
The second major reason is to facilitate the return of Albanian graduates and their entry into Albanian labor market and society. Despite the rhetoric against brain gain when it comes to real action there is still a lot to be done in order to attract students back home.
Albanian student associations thus are the organic and natural way of association for all those young people whose energy is temporarily concentrated abroad and who hopefully will one day redirect it home.
Albstudent:
Albanian Student Association in Pavia
Albanian Student Association in Bari
Albanian Youth Association in Vienna
Albanian Student Association in Zurich
Albanian Student Association Illyria in Hamburg
Albanian Student Association “New Age” in Milan
Albanian Student Association Voxaquila in Parma
Albanian Student Association in Bologna
