Albania: Education and Employment Reforms Linking Professional Education and Labor Market

Abstract

This chapter addresses some of the main challenges of Albania’s policy reforms in education and employment and various obstacles in creating a better synergy between the education system and labor market in the country. Challenges analysis is guided by a multi-level lens of macro-, meso- and micro-perspective. The macro-perspective includes challenges related to changes in political and economic systems and the role of education in the democratic society. The meso-perspective covers barriers associated with changes within the education system and the role of school within young people’s socialization. Lastly, the micro-perspective examines hurdles connected to organizational changes in schools and the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system. The efforts to strengthen the ties between labor market and education are confronted with various difficulties, including limited resources devoted to education; universities being at initial stages of accreditation; the weak power of a college degree; the lack of sufficient resources in public universities; underqualified students invited for admissions in private universities; and the weak collaboration between academia and industry. The chapter suggests various ways to strengthen the synergy between the labor market and education. Recommendations include offering scholarships to students pursuing natural and technical sciences, improving university accreditation and ranking, increasing competition among Albanian universities, and improving educational qualifications of students.