Andeta Kapa
The smell of burning was faint at first. Then screams came from the hallway. On the third floor of an old building in Student City, students rushed out of their rooms. There was no alarm or evacuation plan. Just smoke and uncertainty about life.
KB, a student at the Faculty of History and Philology, tells of a case when a fire broke out in one of the rooms in the old dormitory where he lives.
"It was dinner, the time was somewhere around 7 or 7:30, don't be mistaken. We were sitting in the room and, indeed, we smelled a little like something was burning, but it's not like we reacted. Within 5 minutes we hear noise in the hallway, but we were also tired and, for things that happen in a dorm full of kids, noise is very normal. They knock on our door and the dormitory caretaker comes and tells us: 'Kids, come out because an outlet has caught fire.' It's normal that it will catch fire, the outlets haven't been changed since the time the former dictator built them. Then the fire department came, the fire was extinguished, but the fear remained," he recalls.
Field observation in the Student City buildings in Tirana reveals a fragmented reality. Security conditions vary significantly from one building to another, creating an uneven standard for students.
In reconstructed and new buildings, emergency exits are visible and evacuation spaces are functional.
"We have emergency exits that are open at all times and are used by students. We also have fire extinguishers that are changed regularly. There were also more frequent checks after a fire from a small heater," says AH, a student at the Faculty of History and Philology, who has been living in one of the new buildings for more than two years.
The picture changes significantly in older buildings. There, the lack of emergency exits or their presence in non-functional conditions is evident. In some cases, the spaces that should serve for evacuation are blocked or unusable.
"We have no emergency exits and there are only fire extinguishers on the first floor. The other floors are without any safety measures," says BH, a student at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, who lives in an unconstructed building.
For him, the risk is not hypothetical.
"If there's a fire, I have two choices: stay inside or jump out the window!" he says.
According to the decision of the Council of Ministers no. 319/2017, “On the approval of school design standards”, each building must have a minimum of two emergency exits per floor, located at a maximum distance of 30 meters from each room. The exits must be free, signalized and open in the direction of evacuation.
Jonus Murataj, chief of fire department sector no. 4 at Kinostudio, explains that these standards are essential for ensuring safety.
"Environments must be functional and safe, guaranteeing rapid evacuation and access for all."
However, field observations show that these standards are not applied uniformly in all buildings.
There are 28 dormitories in Student City, 14 of which are reconstructed, while the other 14 are still old. The fee for staying in the new buildings ranges from 5.500 lek per month to 6.000 lek, while in the old buildings it is 4.500 lek per month.
On the fifth floor of building 9-10, the corridor is narrow and noisy from the movements of students. The doors of the rooms are very close to each other and, in some parts, suitcases or personal belongings make the passage more difficult. The lighting is poor in some segments and this creates a feeling of insecurity if an emergency were to occur at night.
The stairs are steep and not very wide. Two students descending at the same time have to almost climb the wall to make room for each other. As you descend from the fifth to the fourth floor, you get the feeling that evacuation would be difficult if there was panic or smoke. There is not much room for quick movement and there are no visible directional signs.
On the third floor, the atmosphere changes a bit. The corridor is more lively, with students constantly coming in and out. However, emergency doors are missing. In a normal situation this may not be noticeable, but in case of danger every second and every obstacle becomes important.
The descent to the first floor becomes busier. The stairs smell damp and the air seems heavy. There is a lack of lighting in some places, while the railings look worn from years of use. The main exit is relatively wide, but if dozens of students were to try to exit at the same time, the entrance and exit would quickly become overloaded.
In the other building, the view is different. The corridors are cleaner and the stairs are more open. Moving from the fourth floor to the bottom is easier and the feeling of security is greater. The doors are wider and can be passed through without much difficulty even with a stream of students. However, the lack of orientation signs or visible information about emergency exits remains a problem.
In building number 13, the main problem seems to be depreciation. The old walls, narrow staircases and overcrowded corridors create the feeling of a space that functions more from the routine of students than from safety standards. In silence everything seems normal, but just imagine a fire alarm to understand how difficult it would be to move quickly from the upper floors to the exit.
Emergency exit signage is missing in the corridors of some dormitories, while in others it is partial. Evacuation plans or emergency procedures are not posted in common areas.
Six years after the “Pact for the University”, promises to improve dormitory conditions remain unfulfilled in a significant portion of the buildings. For many students, security is not standard, it is a matter of fate. This is yet another factor that prevents students from choosing Student City as a residential residence.
According to data from the Municipality of Tirana, only 4.603 students were registered in the 2025-2026 academic year, 620 fewer than the previous year and almost half the number in 2019. The decline is particularly pronounced among first-year students; only 902 were accommodated in the 2025-2026 academic year, compared to 1.570 in 2023-2024.
The Municipality of Tirana says that an inspection was carried out by the Fire Protection Inspectorate in January. But in the same response it admits that only the reconstructed buildings meet the minimum safety standards. This creates an obvious contradiction: if half of the dormitories do not meet the minimum requirements, what were the findings of the inspection and what concrete actions were taken after it?
Asked about fire protection and the situation of the 14 unconstructed buildings, Student Residence No. 1 told ACQJ that “the project for their reconstruction has been approved within the framework of the 'Energy Efficiency Rehabilitation' project, financed by the German Development Bank.”
But the institution did not provide a start date, total funding, a list of priority buildings, or temporary security measures until reconstruction. Fourteen buildings await reconstruction. Thousands of students continue to live inside them.acqj.al
