Young students in Albania prefer non-teaching careers

2024-10-13 22:30:00, Aktualitet CNA

Young students in Albania prefer non-teaching careers

Illustrative photo, taken from Google

About 82% of high school graduates in Albania were enrolled in universities.

According to the Albanian Academic Network, medicine and computer engineering are the most popular, while teaching remains the least popular - although compared to a year ago, there is a slight increase.

Isa Halilaj, vice president of the Independent Education Union of Albania, says that the reason for this is the fact that, according to him, education "is not among the priorities" of the governments in Albania.

"He will not be preferred as a branch as long as the salary is not doubled. There has been growth and we welcome it, but it is not enough. It is a difficult profession", says Halilaj for Radio Free Europe.

Young students in Albania prefer non-teaching careers

The average salary of a teacher in Albania, currently, is around 600 euros net.

In order to encourage young people to study to become teachers, this branch, from 2022, is among dozens of branches announced as a priority by the Ministry of Education of Albania.

Graduates who choose teaching or one of the other priority branches, such as: mathematics, physics, veterinary medicine, etc., are exempted from the tuition fee and are stimulated with a scholarship.

The scholarship is equal to a minimum salary every month, namely around 400 euros.

To enroll in the priority branches, the grade point average had to be 8.5, and if it fell during the studies, the scholarship would be lost.

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Those who take advantage of it, will have to work for three years where there is a need after their studies.

However, average was dropped as a criterion a year later.

What do new students say?
Rumejsa Bashvogli says that she has chosen the field of Psychology. She says that at no time was she enticed by the offer for priority branches.

"I chose psychology because I have a passion for it and I am curious about human behavior, to help those in need. Why should I choose a branch that is not my passion?", says Rumejsa.

Elida Ranchi also has no interest in priority branches.

"I chose pharmacy", she says to Radio Free Europe.

"I didn't choose the priority branches, because I don't find them interesting. I'm sorry that teaching is not chosen, but maybe it should be valued more as a profession, so that young people choose it", says Elida.

Young students in Albania prefer non-teaching careers

Gevio Tabaku, head of the "Student Portal" platform, says that 42.8% of study programs that are a national priority are at risk of being closed, as students have not shown interest in them.

The number of study programs that are considered a national priority was 82 a year ago, while it is currently 21.

Referring to university enrollment statistics for the year 2024-2025, Tabaku says that this year there are 20% fewer students than the year before, in the ten main public universities of Albania.

The most pronounced decrease is in the Agricultural University - for about 2,000 students.

It is not clear what the exact reasons are, but it is believed that they are also related to the emigration of the population.

What do the experts say?

The employment expert in Albania, Erion Muça, says that the classification of branches as priority has not done much work.

"Many complementary steps were needed, besides the minimum wage... There was disappointment, as 40% of the students benefited from the minimum wage, while the other 60% either had to maintain a high average, or they would pay the tuition bill. This caused disappointment and departures from these branches of study", says Muça for Radio Free Europe.

The head of the Education Union in Albania, Halilaj, says that teaching is not recommended today even by the teachers themselves for their children.

If there used to be a tradition for this profession to be inherited, this no longer happens, he says.

"Seeing the difficulties faced by these teachers-parents, they do not recommend it for their children, because even if they have 20 years of experience, they encounter problems. For example, in the salary increase this year, there have been differences, because a large number of teachers have finished higher education at the time when teaching was a closed 3-year cycle, while today it is considered a 'bachelor' and the experience that they have", says Halilaj.

He adds that, currently, there is a shortage of teachers, but does not provide any figures.

According to him, the institutions do not directly accept this problem, but the fact that decisions are made such as the announcement of teaching as a priority branch, shows that it exists.

On September 9, Albania's prime minister, Edi Rama, asked that retired teachers be invited to contribute to teaching with a reduced schedule, but did not specify much.

Young students in Albania prefer non-teaching careers

"We want to include retired teachers in the labor market as well. We are working intensively on this, in order to start the integration of pensioners in the space of inclusive economic growth", said Rama.

Halilaj says that without a doubling of salaries and without well-studied reforms, there will be no interest in becoming a teacher.

According to him, the most pronounced lack of teachers in the lower and preschool cycle is in Tirana, while in Tropoja, Pukë and other areas there is a lack of teachers mainly for foreign languages ??or mathematics and physics.

He says this is due to the fact that around 600-700 teachers retire every year, as well as due to emigration.

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Medicine and its branches, as well as computer engineering, have been students' favorites for years.

The employment expert, Muça, connects this trend with greater employment opportunities both in Albania and abroad.

"IT (information technology) has taken off and developed greatly with the orientation towards digitalization of many processes and with the advancement of artificial intelligence. In this prism, many young people see themselves as part of these changes. They also think about the fact that, if they don't emigrate, they can work from Albania for companies in any country in the world", says Muça.

"Meanwhile, medical sciences are selected since the recruitment policies [of medical staff] from countries like Italy and Germany are already known," he adds.

The new academic year in Albania started on October 7./ REL