Albania Pays Brits to Rank its Universities

Albania is to pay a British agency, Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education, QAA, around 700,000 euros to rank the quality of its 35 public and private universities.

The agreement was signed on February 29 between the Minister of Education, Lindita Nikolla, and Douglas Blackstock, QAA's interim chief executive - and comes as part of rolling educational reforms that the centre-left government started in 2014.

Education Ministry Secretary Plarent Ndreca told BIRN that the contract, running for 12 to 14 months, would result in the first detailed and professional ranking of Albanian universities.

"The work will be split into the three phases - preparation of the work frame, the training of the experts and then checks in the field for all 35 Albanian universities," Ndreca said.

The Prime Minister, Edi Rama, said during the signing ceremony that before he took power three years ago, higher education in the country was in total anarchy.

"This situation made us close 18 private higher educational institutions, one public institution and its 16 affiliated branches and suspend the activity of 12 other institutions," he said.

Rama said the British Council had helped the government to contact the Quality Assurance Agency and the reputation of the agency was unquestioned.

The agency's internet page describes QAA as an independent body entrusted with monitoring and advising on standards and quality in higher education in Britain.

"We are dedicated to checking that the 3 million students working towards a UK qualification get the higher education experience they are entitled to expect," they say.

Among its international clients, the agency lists Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Armenia, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.