Albania with the lowest number of foreign students in Europe

2024-11-15 07:27:00, Sociale CNA

Higher education is a good way to generate income from abroad and many countries offer opportunities to attract students from other countries.

According to Eurostat data for 2022, it appears that Albania had the lowest number of foreign students in Europe with only 1,872.

Our country has a much weaker ranking than other countries in the Region. In North Macedonia, over 4,700 foreign students were counted, while in Serbia, over 11,200 such.

Among the European countries, France, Germany and Turkey lead Europe for the high number of foreign students. In 2022, over 263 thousand students had chosen French universities for studies, followed by Germany with 252 thousand foreign students and Turkey with 244 thousand.

Poland, Spain, Italy were among the other countries with the highest number of foreign students with around 90 thousand each.

Among the countries of the Balkan Peninsula, Romania stands out with about 38,000 foreign students.

When young people decide to study in a foreign country, they start from the quality of education and the costs (such as tuition fees - living costs such as rent and food).

Countries such as Germany and France offer quality higher education and low fees, while home countries are usually chosen for low living costs.

Compared to other European countries, Albania offers low living costs, but there is no high-quality educational offer. Albanian universities are ranked last in the accreditation lists and the country seems to be taking no steps to increase the quality even for the locals.

Education experts suggest that Albania should first consider improving the offer of higher education to curb the flight of young Albanians to study abroad.

Data from the OECD show that a stock of about 18,000 Albanian students attend university studies abroad.

However, private universities in conditions where the number of young people is falling rapidly are trying to build offers and educational programs for foreigners.

For example, at the University of Our Lady of the Good Council, there are many Italian students who study in Albania due to the cheaper costs, compared to a program of the same quality as the Italian University./ Monitor Magazine