Education in Albania

Educational attainment in Albania is high with >25k people graduating university yearly.

Over 16k students are graduating yearly in business-relevant fields, including 7k STEM graduates.

University Programs

• Polytechnic University of Tirana

      - Competitive Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Math & Physics, Information Technology, and Architecture programs

      - http://www.upt.al/en/contact-us

• University of Tirana

      - Largest university in Albania with 35k students

      - STEM programs; Math, Chemistry, IT

      - https://unitir.edu.al/eng/contact/

• University of Vlore

      - Southern Albania

      - Offer technological & engineering based programs

      - https://univlora.edu.al/en/

• University of Shkoder “Luigj Gurakuqi”

      - Northern Albania

      - Specializes in scientific & technical disciplines; math & computer science

      - http://unishk.edu.al/en/translate-to-english-kontakt

Vocational education (VET) & trade school is becoming more popular with nearly 5k people completing training .

VET training has steadily increased in recent years with 5k students finishing associated programs in 2020 .

Prominent Vocational Schools and Training Programs

• Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) facilitating vocational training to address unemployment in younger populations (>25%)

      - German-government sponsored training program prepares Albanian students for future technical disciplines

      - https://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/294.html

• Karl Gega Vocational School (Tirana) 

      - Offers construction, technical training, and other STEM focused education while serving as a model for future VET schools in the country

• Austrian Technical College of Higher Education for IT, “Peter Mahringer” (Shkoder) 

      - Northern Albania; Austrian-government sponsored vocational school supporting technological education for Albanian economic growth

      - https://htl-shkoder.com/

• Tirana Center of Technology

      - Training center specializing in IT & programming education

      - https://tct.edu.al/

• Harry T. Fultz Vocational High School (Tirana)

      - Albanian-American affiliated school specializing in preparing students for future vocational education

The educational system is steadily improving to meet OECD standards and ranks favorably compared to other Balkan countries .

Compared to neighboring Balkan countries like North Macedonia and Romania, Albania scored equal to or significantly higher on highschool student assessment scores (PISA), excelling in Math .

• PISA is an international organization used to assess student education levels through proficiency tests in math, science, and reading

      - More information the PISA test: https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/

• Level 2 proficiency from PISA demonstrates a significant grasp on each subject; The majority of Albanian students scored close to the averages associated with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
• 98.7% of Albanians meet general literacy standards

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40% of Albanians are bilingual & English is the most popular foreign language

• The majority of Albanians are bilingual with English being the most popular foreign language

        - 40 % of Adults speak a foreign language (English, Italian, German, Greek, etc)

        - 60% of Youth speak a foreign language

*source: Albanian Institute of Statistics (INSTAT), PISA