"Revival of UBT, jewel in the necklace of Albanian-Austrian friendship"/ Rama decorates the rector of BOKU University

2025-11-06 10:01:00, Politikë CNA

"Revival of UBT, jewel in the necklace of Albanian-Austrian

Prime Minister Edi Rama has honored the rector of BOKU University in Austria, Hubert Hasenauer, with the Star of Public Appreciation, for his contribution and dedication to the transformation of UBT.

Rama said that Hasenauer has now joined the chain of other Austrians who have contributed to Albania over the centuries.

" Today's ceremony is not simply a ceremony of honor, but it is also a symbolic moment that highlights the connection of two ancient traditions of connection between Albania and Austria. The space of such a word would not be enough to describe the history that connected us together. You, professor, join a constellation of stars from Austria that join Albania.

Today, Houbert is the last of a long chain that stretches back centuries and whose origins date back to Vienna, where the sound of Albanian was first heard in the 19th century by Gustav Meyer.

They were people who loved Albania with all their heart and there were many of them. At the beginning of the 20th century, Theodor Anton Ippen, the Austrian consul and diplomat, participated in the consolidation of Albanian institutions. In his diary, it is written that he repeated a tradition that he had learned in Shkodra: first the eyes are greeted, then the hands.

Hubert is not the first to be decorated in these lands, his name will remain here just like his predecessors.

What is striking is that Austria never saw Albania as a periphery but as a light that should not be allowed to go out and in my meetings I have felt that it is the long thread of relations. We have a very trained sense of looking down on someone and this is a spirit that continues even in our days.

Karl Gega said that the roads that unite people are more important than those that divide countries, Aleksandër Moisiu made people tremble with his voice.

In total, there were 30 Albanian families that the Austro-Hungarian Empire ennobled.

Rama said that he has already planted a tree in a spiritual land and given the UBT staff the missing confidence and has reborn this university.

"We came as uninvited friends and imposed a burden on you, you believed in the power of knowledge and kindness. A quiet man and an iron leader, a professor who came to Albania not to give advice, but to plant a new spirit with delicacy, respect and patience, without turning a blind eye to much that could annoy him in our reality.

He treated UBT as a spiritual plot of land and planted a new tree.

Thanks to you, UBT has been reborn not only with hope, but also with faith that is based on an academic body that individually has values, but collectively had difficulty feeling united in a belief.

You, professor, are by no means a scholar to say what you know, but now you are part of us, by obligation. We have a reputation for being violent, but we love unconditionally and without mercy, so you have nowhere to move because you are a jewel in the long chain of the friendship necklace. Tomorrow you will be mentioned together with the other names in this community of souls who are attached to this friendship to which you are contributing to make it stronger. What unites the Austrians: no one approached Albania to take but to give, gratitude.

In addition to the decoration, Prime Minister Rama said that Hasenauer will also be given an Albanian passport.

"Together with the rector, the head of the Academy of Sciences and the minister, we are grateful. I would like you to come to me to receive the Star of Gratitude and prepare for Prof. Skënder's proposal because there are no two without three.

"You will not leave this world as an Austrian, but as an Austrian and an Albanian without your permission," Rama declared./ CNA