Major Changes to Leadership, Management, and Organizational Structure: The Case of the European University of Tirana

Abstract

Higher education in Albania, which didn't possess a single institution of tertiary education until after the Second World War, is in jeopardy. Firstly, the structure of these universities, be it public or private, reflects the past (dictatorship) culture of centralized management: confrontational approach to quality, passive administration and lack of enabling structures. Secondly, the organizational structure, based strictly on academic hierarchy, doesn't induce the process of change as the effects of the international economic crisis in Albania have imposed restrictions on state financing to public institutions and have decreased student’s payment potential to private institutions. The European University of Tirana (EUT), established in 2006, remains one of the major and more qualitative higher education institutions in the country boasting 3,200 students. With a corporate management approach named Power to Base (PtoB), EUT has undertaken significant steps in sustaining transformational and lasting change in the university structure and its management. The new EUT university structure, introduced for the first time in Albania, has a self-perpetuating governing body with complete authority and responsibility for all aspects of the university's operation that are essential to the successful delivery of higher education to the people. Mechanisms are in place for constant monitoring quantitative indicators as well as the attitude of key personnel toward the delivery of the changed model. This paper undertakes to illustrate and analyze all of these factors. A successful implementation of the EUT project will provide this young university with the empowerment and growth potential needed for its successful competition in the complex Albanian higher education market.