TIRANA, Sept. 15 – Prime Minister Edi Rama received 150 students who were admitted to public university in the first round and informed them that “the higher education reform works best for the excellent students.”
Rama underlined that the education reform performs well as a result of transparency in the admission of students based on their results. As Rama spoke, a protest was taking place in front of his office, organized by students who were not selected in the first round. They say the system is unfair because it changed the rules of the game half-way through their high school education.
“Those graduates out there are screaming out loud but they do not know what they want,” Rama said.
However, dozens of graduates who have a high GPA but still could not make it into their chosen programs protested in front of Rama’s office and used eggs, tomatoes and paint to express their anger against the new admission system.
The newly-adopted admission methodology part of the education reform prioritizes excellent students who are granted the opportunity to win enrollment rights in many faculties at the same time.
Only after making a final choice, the available vacancies will be granted to the next applicants in line.
The admission scheme is part of the higher education reform approved last year which also allows private universities to declare themselves public institutions and benefit from public funds.
Critics say the government is trying to help the private sector universities get more applicants.
The controversial reform also includes a hike in tuition fees and the introduction of a highly unsustainable student loan. Currently there are about 11 public universities and 17 private universities in Albania.
SMI seeks changes to admission system
The junior ruling coalition party, Socialist Movement for Integration, said this week it has a solution to the crisis sparked by newly adopted college admission system, which has been met with protests as thousands of high school graduates failed to win the right to attend the university major of their choosing. MPs Monika Kryemadhi and Kejdi Mehmetaj met Thursday with Minister of Education Lindita Nikolla and other senior officials and proposed that graduates must be given the possibility to choose only 3 out of 10 favorite subjects and that the second stage of the selection process be faster and more transparent.
