Albania Students to Rally Against Education Bill

The For the University Movement, the leftist student group that has been spearheading the opposition against the law, called on students to gather on Tuesday afternoon in front of parliament despite the summer recess.

"We are against the reform, which as we have underlined for months through protests and assemblies, commercialises the university, enslaves the students and abuses public funds by financing private colleges," the movement said in a statement.

The movement maintains that the new law on higher education erodes academic freedom by putting universities under the control of the government, while diverting public funds to private universities and increasing fees for students.

The government says the tuition fees in public universities need to go up in order to increase the cash available to higher education.

The government also denies aiming to interfere in university administration, claiming that the new law will offer equal treatment for all universities whatever their ownership model.

The movement however called on MPs to genuinely represent the public interest and reject the new legislation.

"Otherwise the autumn will find us barricaded in the faculties and [student] dormitories," it warned.

The private higher education sector has boomed in Albania over the last decade but has shown signs of crisis in the last few years, with enrolment levels at private colleges falling.