January 8, 2019

To: European Commission

Rue Joseph II 70, 1000
Brussels, Belgium

Subject: An open letter on the need for substantial and quality reform in scientific research and the higher
education system in Albania.

Dear President of the European Commission, Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, Director-General of

Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, Ms. Themis Christophidou Deputy Director-General of
Education, Youth, Sport and Culture, Ms. Viviane Hoffmann,

We are a group of concerned senior and early-stage researchers from Albania, currently both
working and studying abroad. The Albanian Higher Education system is presently undergoing a
continuous reformation, and the changes that are occurring could theoretically serve as a substrate
to further catalyse strategic priorities such as the need to ensure an effective system of quality
assurance and accreditation, increasing institutional autonomy, better integrating academic
teaching and scientific research, and improving financing. However, there are many challenges
that still present themselves. Indeed, there is still an on-going public debate concerned with the
quality assurance systems and the professionalism of both public and private Higher Education
Institutions (HEI) in the country.

In this spirit, we are writing this letter to address some of the pressing issues and events related to
the higher education and research status in Albania. We believe that higher education and research
are instrumental in fostering democratic processes, developing the set of skills and competencies
needed for spearheading Albania’s sustainable economic development, and creating a
constructivist, collaborative education and forge a competency-based and meritocratic system.
Therefore, after investigating and tracing some of the progress and current status of the education
system in Albania, with a particular focus on higher education and research infrastructure, we
would like to address and share our concerns and thoughts by emphasising some main issues as
follows:

1. Investment in the university’s facilities

Since the fall of the communist system in the late 90s, there has been and still is inadequate
investment in public universities, even in essential amenities such as desks, blackboards, heating
and cooling or sanitary systems. There is also a significant need for experimental laboratories and
laboratory equipment. We believe it has been one of the main reasons why students and academic
staff remain unexposed and unsupported in the scientific and research-based environment.

Furthermore, libraries, internet access and subscriptions to scientific journals seem to be

considered a luxury investment in Albanian universities. A recent report from a non-profit
Albanian organisation, “Qendresa Qyterare”, and “Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation”, revealed
the decision-makers in public universities had allocated public funds for non-priority expenditures,

1
including expensive car for the rector, costing up to 60,000 Euros, TV subscriptions of 2400 Euro,
unjustifiable high payouts to better secure HEI buildings and to cover judicial decision expenditure
of unfair dismissals from worki. Furthermore, the investigation shows that universities have not
spent any funds on the subcategory of studies and research over an academic year.

Most of the funding opportunities are coming from governmental and nongovernmental
organisations mainly from the European Union and the United States. There is evidence from the
Supreme State Audit Institution of Albania that universities decision-makers for personal needs
may have misused these fundings. Furthermore, according to the National Strategy for Science,
Technology and Innovation (NSTTI) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD)ii, gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) in Albania
represented only 0.1% of GDP over 2009-2018. The progress of the general government
expenditure for education has remained too slow in the past years, and it is the lowest in the region.
The investment in R&D is far below the average GERD compare to other European countries and
the recommendation to allocate 3% of national GDP according to the Lisbon agenda target.

2. Academic promotions and titles awarded with little basis on merit and laws in force
The rule of law is one of the essential principles of the EU. The Albanian Government has made
some progress to enforce the rule of law in many areas in the past years, however, in the field of
Higher Education, the progress has been challenging. Until 2007, Albania had a massive lack of
human resources such as lecturers or researchers holding a doctorate (PhD). To note, before 2007,
some of the academic titles were allocated by a different system than the current one, such as by
president or ministerial orders, with no peer-review process or commission of experts and a lack
of basis on any accepted scientific criteria (i.e., publications, research contributions, and so on). In
2007, a law was put into power with a set of criteria for obtaining academic titles, such as PhD
degree, Associate Professors, Full Professor, and Emeritus Professor. Among the most important
and positive criteria was the publication in indexed journals with an impact factoriii. PhD programs
were opened for the first time in the Albanian Universities. However, this was associated with
controversial application procedures that hampered the process and therefore the quality of
academic titles obtained until today.

I. According to the decision nr. 467 (which was in action until 2018) of the Council of
Ministers of Republic of Albania (date 18/07/2007), to obtain the academic titles “Associate
Professors” or “Full Professor”, it was required to have at least one original article or review
paper published in peer-review journals with Impact Factor. However, after a comprehensive
investigation based on data from bibliographic database such as Web of Science (WoS), the
Albanian scientist, Dr. Taulant Muka and the PhD candidate Arjan Shahini (both members
of this initiative) showed that only 42% of the Albanian academics obtaining “Full
Professor” and “Associate Professor” titles, during the 2008-2016 (out of 1371 academics
promoted), had at least one publication in peer-review journals with impact factors (Figure
I). These figures showed a discrepancy, which suggests that the rest of the allocated
academic titles could not have been according to the law. Among rectors of public and

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private universities in Albania, more than 80% of them did not have any publications as first
or last author, in any peer-review journals with impact factor.

II. Interestingly, the highest increase of some academic titles was obtained in 2011 and 2015
(Figure 1), years that correspond to local elections in Albania. (for the full media debate,
please see the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql7N5pHPuTI&t=3317s). This may
suggest the presence of direct political influence in the past on academic progress. Due to
this societal dynamic, it is believed that these academic promotions may have been given as

Figure 1. Dr. Taulant Muka during his talk in TedxTirana “The education system bringing society to its knees”! Dr.
Muka shows that during the years 2008-2016, based on data provided by Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth
of Albania, there were 1371 titles in total given to “professors” and “associate professors”. Only 42% of them
published research articles in peer-reviewed journals with impact factor as specified by Thomson Reuters/Clarivate
Analytics. Also, in the graph, Dr. Muka shows that the highest increase in number of academic titles were given in
2011 and 2015, years when in Albania there were local elections raising doubts whether these titles were given on
merit or as token of appreciation for political contributions.

a token of appreciation for political contributions of the candidates in elections. Dr. Muka
proved in April 2018 that most of the Albanian academics publish in the so-called “predatory
journals”. The existence of these journals is a severe issue worldwide in the academic
environment, but it becomes an even more acute situation in cases of developing countries,
among them Albania, where candidates publish in exchange of money in no-impact factor
journals. Consequently, they are eligible to obtain academic titles according to existing laws
and regulations. To further illustrate this problem publicly, Dr. Muka wrote a paper with
fake data and with his grandmothers as co-authors (who have only elementary school
education) and submitted it to journals where academics across all levels (PhD, Associate
Professors and Professors) from the Medical University of Tirana were publishing their
articles which facilitated them to obtain academic titles: as expected, the article was accepted
for publication within 24 hours. Meanwhile, an indexed journal with impact factor
(Diebatologia) was used as a control, and as expected it desk rejected the article. This
investigation was made public by a national TV channel, Top Channel, and was handed as a
report to the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth of Albania.
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 III. In 2013, PhD programs were suspended, but only in public universities. The official
reason for this action was that public universities did not have adequate capacities to effort
the PhD programs. However, the real reasons are still subject to speculation. Interestingly,
there is a high number of professors employed full time by the public and working in private
universities at the same time, and who continue to supervise PhD candidates in private HEIs.
Both in public and private HEIs there have been PhD theses and works produced by PhD
candidates who have been shown to be plagiarised, or in the best case, they lack substantial
methodological aspects of scientific work, as concluded by our investigation. Therefore, the
lack of a strategy for quality control and assurance, as well as a national framework for
research ethics and misconduct has resulted in a degradation of higher education and
research system in Albania. This problem will become a major issue in the coming years,
considering that from April 2018 private universities have right to give also titles “Associate
Professors” and “Full Professor” which before were only a privilege of public universities.
Without a regulatory body or framework for misconduct and research quality control and
assurance, this may have further damaging long-term effects on the overall Higher Education
System in Albania. According to bibliographic databases, Web of Science and Scopus,
Albanian private universities account for less than 3% of national scientific output.

All this may suggest that some of the candidates obtaining PhD title in Albania, recently have been
promoted as “Associate Professor” and “Full Professor” in a relatively short time and without
fulfilling the basic requirements as demonstrated above. Most of them have published (in some
cases) plagiarised papers in “predatory journals”. A recent example is the case of the former
Deputy Minister of Education, Sports and Youth of Albania - Mr. Ervin Demo1, who was already
promoted as Associate Professor in 2012 with 100% plagiarised publications as discovered by our
investigation. For the sake of keeping the letter as concise as possible, in this letter is presented
only a few examples of plagiarism committed by Mr. Ervin Demo (Figure A1), the rest of the
plagiarism can be accessed online following the links provided in the footnote or directly through
a google search.

Co-authors of these plagiarised articles were vice rectors, deans, vice deans and members of the
Albanian parliament, suggesting that if this is not prevented, it can have severe implications by
launching people who lack integrity in important decision-making positions. There are also other
major public figures publicly denounced and identified to have plagiarised their thesis, namely the
current leader of the party Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI) Ms. Monika Kryemadhi2,
former Minister of Defence, Mimi Kodheli3, current parliamentary deputy and Chairman of the

1
https://www.gazetaexpress.com/lajme-nga-shqiperia/copy-paste-shikoni-sesi-bejne-plagjiature-zv-ministri-
dhe-deputetja-e-qeverise-rama-583092/
2
http://www.gazetatema.net/2018/12/11/denoncimi-monika
-kryemadhi-plagjiature-me-doktoraturen-nen-kujdesin-e-dhori-kules/
3
http://www.panorama.com.al/fotot-pas-manastirliut-nje-tjeter-ish-ministre-e-qeverise-akuzohet-per-
plagjiature-te-doktoratures/
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Parliamentary Group for negotiation with the European Parliament. Mr. Taulant Balla4,5, and the
current Minister of Health Mrs. Ogerta Manastirliut6. It is believed that this phenomenon is
widespread and so far, the government did not take any measure against the aforementioned people
caught with plagiarism. Interestingly, thesis supervisor of Monika Kryemadhi and Mimi Kodheli
was Mr. Dhori Kule, who use to be the rector at the University of Tirana from 2008-2016 and after
2016 he became the Dean of Faculty of Economy at the same university. This is strong evidence
that governing bodies and academics of the universities are directly or indirectly involved in this
misconducting issue. This is a perceived and actual concern as it impairs belief and respect of
institutions and the rule of law. After the plagiarised articles of Mr. Demo became public, he
resigned from the position of the deputy minister, but he considered the act as political perturbation
and did not accept that he plagiarised although there is clear evidence.

Additionally, no actions were taken by the university authorities to verify the case or retract his
academic title. To note, article 148 and 149 of the Albanian Penal Code of the Republic of Albania
condemns plagiarism with a fine up to two to years of prison7. After revealing these facts, the
Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth, as well as the Prime Minister reacted and were ready to
collaborate with us. Therefore, they offered Dr. Muka the position of Deputy Minister of
Education, Sports and Youth of Albania to further address these issues institutionally. However,
Dr. Muka resigned after two weeks for ethical, moral, and professional reasons, as well as citing
incompatibility with the working model applied in the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth,
as he describes in the resignation letter. In many interviews following the resignation, Dr. Muka
explained there was inadequate documentation of any process in the Ministry (except for the
ministry and chief secretary, no other employ can protocol letters/documents), and communication
was vastly informal (made via WhatsApp and not by institutional emails). Also, there was no will
from the structures of the Ministry and Government to initiate a process in order to address the
challenges and issues raised by us, regarding plagiarism and misconduct in awarding academic
titles.

The phenomenon of plagiarism is not isolated only to the former Deputy Minister of Education,
Mr. Ervin Demo, but it is found at other levels of the HEIs: rectors, deans, head of the department,
head of research units and lecturers as also noted in the “First Report for the Reformation of the
Higher Education and Research”iv provided by the Albanian government. For most of them, you
cannot find an accessible PhD thesis, and therefore it is not possible to evaluate whether their
academic work.

A recent study focused on the nature and extent of the spread of plagiarism among the academic
staff in Albania, showed a deficient awareness on plagiarism and its severity along with the lack

4
https://www.gazetaexpress.com/lajme-nga-shqiperia/doktor-taulant-balla-e-ka-te-vjedhur-doktoraturen-
607277/
5
https://exit.al/en/2018/12/25/massive-plagiarism-scandal-hits-albanian-officials/

6
http://shqiptarja.com/lajm/akuzat-per-plagjiature-reagon-ogerta-manastirliu-shpifje-dokturatura-sipas-
rregullores-se-fnsh-dhe-e-miratuar-nga-mas
7
http://www.qbz.gov.al/Kode/Kodi%20Penal-2017.pdf (Albanian Penal Code)
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of codes and written protocols are deemed to be among the major causes of the appearance and
spread of plagiarism. Also, the Ethics Committee’s scarce meetings on scientific research in
university, poor supervision of quality and compliance with the ethical core principles, and failure
to institute strict administrative measures have contributed to the aggravation of the situation8.
According to data from the bibliographic database, Scopus, more than 70% of the professor’s
council in Albanian universities have an H-index (an indicator of quality and quantity of scientific
output) 0 to 3, similarly to that of the master or freshman PhD students in EU HEIs.

Thus far, there is not systemic research to show the legibility of academic titles given in Albania
in the last 10-20 years. Such initiative would be an essential step to “clear” the academic staff from
people who do not have any academic capabilities and merit in science, as well as to set standards
for the coming years in promoting academic integrity, and therefore encouraging the growth of
scientific output of Albania as a whole. To note, Albania has the lowest scientific output in the
region which may reflect the lack of pressure to prioritise quality control and integrity monitoring
mechanism in Higher Education and Scientific research from governments and the inadequacy of
measures and actions of current HEIs decision makers. Left unchecked, this situation can have
severe implications on current and future decision and policy-making in every aspect of Albanian
life: economy, health, environment, policy, and technologyv.

3. Brain drain and Brain gain

Albania has one of the highest emigration rates. In 2015, an estimated 2.9 million Albanians lived
in the country, and 1.1 million lived abroad (UNDESA, 2015, 2017). Every year, hundreds of
highly specialised and skilled professionals and academics leave Albania for what they believe to
be a better quality of life and work mainly in EU countries. The majority of doctors, engineers,
lecturers, researchers and entrepreneurs as well as students – are tempted by more attractive
opportunities, salaries and living standards. A university degree is also the safest passport out of a
perceived uncertain environment. This phenomenon is not bound to Albania, but it is a global
phenomenon, and we recognise that, but more needs to be done on addressing it. The most recent
Global Education Monitoring Report of UNESCO9 (2018), showed that at least 30 % of Albania’s
most highly qualified and skilled workers emigrate. We believe that a significant contributing
factor to this situation is the perceived and actual problems of the education system in Albania, as
many highly qualified people choose to develop their careers abroad in developed countries (see
the report from UNESCO, 2018).

This continuous cumulative phenomenon, occurred during all the transition periods of post-
communism in Albania with two peaks, in the ’94-’95, and currently as also shown in the recent
report published in March 2018 by United Nations Development Programmevi. The young
generation that is going overseas mainly to conduct their bachelor, master’s degree or PhD studies
are facing an unprecedented attitude from the Albania government. Young professionals and
academics that have studied abroad, obtaining their degrees with all legal standards with excellent

8
http://idmalbania.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ACADEMIC-DISHONESTY-IN-ALBANIA-CONCERNS-ON-PLAGIARISM.pdf
9
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0026/002658/265866E.pdf (UNESCO report)
6
results they do not find adequate support from the HEIs or the government to work in public
institution (especially public universities), institutions which have a real need to employ highly
qualified people with integrity. Executives and decision-makers, like the ones we have identified,
and others not yet identified, who ignore ethics and integrity run the risk of personal and societal
liability in today’s increasingly harsh legal environment of Albania. The case of the Deputy
Minister of Education, Sports and Youth can better demonstrate the essence of this statement. We
believe that this can have further trust-eroding implications for any reforms and programs that try
to improve life and development in Albania. The intentions and objectives of programs and
initiatives that intend to truly reform may be questioned, and higher education can be viewed as
more corrupt, thus increasing the perception of corruption.

Considering the abovementioned issues, and the fact that Albania is aiming to unite with the
European Union family, we seek your support and attention in addressing to the Albanian
government to seriously take constructive measures, to set standards in academic promotions, clear
the higher educational system from people who do not have any academic achievement or merit,
promote brain gain of the highly qualified Albanian people who are willing to contribute in
rebuilding the education and scientific research system in Albania and restore trust in higher
education in Albania and Western Balkans. For your consideration, we have compiled a list of
recommendations and suggestions that may help improving the situation:

1. Reformation of the Academy of Sciences. Criteria for members of the Academy of

Science should include a minimum number of publications in international indexed (i.e.
WoS) journals and books in peer-reviewed publishers.
2. To make a commission with Albanian and international experts to verify and examine
the legitimacy of academic titles given in the last 10-20 years.
3. Introduction and implementation of measures and mechanisms of checking plagiarism
in every HEIs.
4. Publication of all relevant academic profile of academic staff in all Albanian universities.
Currently, few academic staff publish their CV in the website of the Albanian
universities.
5. To set new criteria for rectors, deans, head of departments, and heads of commissions
who allocate academic titles to have documentation of scientific work in peer-reviewed
journals and based on international criteria. For instance, candidates for such positions
can be academics who have at least a publication as first and last author in journals with
an impact factor above a threshold (depending on the field of research), and an H-index
above 5-15 depending on the area of research.
6. To monitor the allocation of new academic titles across all levels (PhD, Associate
Professors and Full Professors) in accordance with laws and regulations and by agreed
Research Ethics and Integrity guidelines.
7. Reconsideration of the new legal criteria for academic titles published in February 2018
by the current government. The new legal criteria do not ensure meritocracy in allocating
academic titles. The particularly similar action of organising a conference paper to the
publication of an article in journals with impact factors or setting similar criteria for
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 every department despite the field or research. This is a practice not found elsewhere in
EU Universities.
8. A comprehensive campaign by the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth to inform
and make more aware academics in Albania about predatory journals. The Ministry can
publish every year a list of peer-reviewed journals (such as the list from Web of Science)
that Albanian scientists are encouraged to publish.
9. Encourage brain gain policies and create incentives that can catalyse brain drain
programs to retain existing human resources and attract Albanian scientists studying and
working abroad, willing to work in Albania.
10. Provision or integration of current PhD and research scholarships and grants to further
qualify promising Albanian students/academics to qualify on a specific subject with the
obligation to come back in Albania for certain period to provide their contribution.
11. Establishment of ethical and research misconduct guidelines and monitoring body (i.e.
National Academic Ethical Committee). Defined guidelines and institution regulated by
law should be established to monitor or follow potential cases of misconduct in the
future.
12. Provide access to scientific journals and funding opportunities or schemes for publishing
in indexed (i.e. Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics) open access journals.
13. Organise training events and curricula for scientific writing, reading and communication.
Where existing, improve and review curricula.
14. Track by periodical (maybe annual reports) from the Ministry of misconduct and
research integrity.
15. Support for the establishment of peer-reviewed academic journals in Albania.
16. Establishment of the Albanian Doctoral Council (ADC) as a legally acknowledged
association of universities in Albania with the mission to provide a forum for Albanian
universities, to articulate their needs and opinions concerning: doctoral training and
research, achieve consensus in different questions related to third-cycle education, and
to granting of PhD or other relevant academic titles. Also, have a place to discuss and
propose the principles and formula for the Ministry of Education, Sports and Youth
concerning the needs and allocation of government-funded grants (e.g., scholarships plus
research expenses) for doctoral students among the universities and develop and
maintain a standard, updated public and transparent database of all doctoral schools,
supervisors and doctoral students in Albania.

The accumulation of these challenges through almost 30 years of transition has created a need and
a momentum to address these issues, and we firmly believe that all the suggestions will help
accelerate the process of development by providing new opportunities for improvement and by
raising the profile of the current initiatives. Adoption of these steps and standards in Albania is
indeed a great opportunity for Albania to increase its visibility and demonstrate leadership in the
region regarding research and academics, raise the research agenda profile and spearhead national
progress towards achievement of the Albanian targets in support of the EU agenda, as well as
advance efforts in promoting and supporting enchantments in technology, science, education and
knowledge, hence protecting the future of next generations. We are confident that through
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continued and persistent efforts, that should characterise the Albanian Government, we will be
successful in addressing and safeguarding education and research in support of the future of the
next generation of Albanians. Please find attached to this letter the form signed by some of the
colleagues supporting this initiative. In addition, to facilitate the access in online sources cited in
this letter, you will find the digital copy of this letter inside a pen drive included in the envelope.

Please, your Excellency accepts our highest considerations.

Sincerely,
Albanian scientists living and working abroad.

i
Autonomy and Financial Management of Public Universities in Albania, 2018 (http://qendresaqytetare.al/wp-
content/uploads/2018/07/Autonomy-and-Financial-Management-Univerisities-in-Albania.pdf)
ii
OECD (2018), Competitiveness in South East Europe: A Policy Outlook 2018, Competitiveness and Private Sector
Development, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/9789264298576-en.
iii
The impact factor (IF) or journal impact factor (JIF) of an academic journal is a measure reflecting the yearly average number
of citations to recent articles published in that journal. Impact factors are calculated yearly starting from 1975 for journals listed in
the Journal Citation Reports
iv
First Report for the Reformation of the Higher Education and Research” provided by the Albanian government
(http://www.arsimi.gov.al/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Raport_Ministria_Arsimit.pdf
v
(Matusiak M., Kleibrink A. (ed.), Supporting an Innovation Agenda for the Western Balkans: Tools and Methodologies,
Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 2018, ISBN 978-92-79-81870-7, doi:10.2760/48162, JRC111430.”
vi
Research Study into Brain Gain: Reversing Brain Drain with the Albanian Scientific Diaspora, United Nations Development
Programme, March 2018.

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Appendix 1

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Figure A1. Plagiarisms of Vice Minister of Education and Sports, Mr. Ervin Demo. Articles of Mr. Demo:
(i) Decentralization and Reforms in Albania Require Economic and Political Active Role of all Actors.
Albert Qarri, Ismail Zejneli, Alba Dumi, Ervin Demo. Social and Behavioral Sciences 58 (2012) 379 – 388.
(ii) In Albanian: Universitetet dhe trasferimi i teknologjisë. Dr. Ervin DEMO, Blerina GJYLAMETI.
ALBANIAN SOCIO-ECONOMIC REVIEW. ISSN 2222-5846 and (iii) Financimi individual kundrejt “Pay-as-
you-go”, Bernard Dosti, Adela Shera, Ervin Demo. ALBANIAN SOCIO-ECONOMIC REVIEW. No 4, 2012.
ISSN 2222-5846. Original articles Mr. Demo has plagiarised: (i) International Business: Challenges in a
Changing World, Janet Morrison. Macmillan Education UK, 2008. ISBN 1403945632, 9781403945631.
(ii) Accelerating Economic Development through University Technology Transfer, Diana Palmintera.
Innovation Associates. February 2015 and (iii) The truth about pension reform, Nicholas Barr. Finance
and Development. September 2001, Volume 38, Number 3.

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