TIRANA, Aug. 1 – President Bujar Nishani has met with Education Minister Lindita Nikolla to discuss a controversial higher education law which the president has been asked to veto by the reform’s critics.
The meeting was not public, but the education minister was one of the chief supporters of the reform, and it is likely she asked the president not to delay the law by vetoing it.
Presidential vetoes in Albania are largely symbolic, as the head of state has the constitutional power to veto laws and send them back to parliament for review, however, he can do so only once and the parliament can simply re-approve the laws without any changes.
The meeting came a day after President Nishani met several academic leaders opposed to the law approved in parliament on July 20.
They say it favors private universities and also prevents the poor from going to college due to higher costs.
They add the law deprives public universities of their independence, especially concerning research work, which the state had previously funded only for public universities and now will finance for private universities as well.
The government denies these claims and adds the law will give an end to the low quality education in the country’s universities, be they public or private.
The opposition Democrats have also said they will take the new law to the Constitutional Court as well as scrap it if they come to power in two years time.
