Dozens of students of the former "Vitrina" university who graduated during the period 2011-2013, are not recognized with diplomas, on the grounds that they graduated in an unaccredited study cycle. The Ministry of Education and Sports has consistently failed to monitor the activity of private universities on curricula and diplomas issued in violation of the law, leaving only the students to suffer the damage from this phenomenon. At the same time, the absurdity goes even further, when these diplomas, unknown by the Ministry of Education and state institutions, are recognized by public institutions of higher education for further studies in higher cycles.
Author: Hume Cana
Matilda Xhixha is a 30-year-old who dreamed of becoming a teacher as a child. For this purpose, the young woman focused her studies in this direction.
"I graduated from the pedagogic high school, "Sadik Stavileci", professional school", she says and adds that she then attended the professional practice at the "Kamez e Re" school, where after finishing high school she continued her studies at the private high school , "Showcase".
"For three years I studied for a Teacher's Degree, Lower Cycle, and after graduating from the non-public higher education institution, "Vitrina", I pursued Master's studies at the University of Durrës," says Matilda.
After completing her Master's degree in "Primary Education Teacher" and completing her internship at the "Kamëz e Re" school, she says she followed the internship in the first and second year, where she also has a letter from the university and the Ministry of Education, which confirms this. But Matilda would be shocked when, after applying for registration for the internship, she was told: "You cannot be accepted, because you have a diploma from the former non-public university, "Vitrina".
"I addressed the Ministry of Education for the recognition of the diploma and received a negative response. After the ministry, I went to the court and in the court I received a negative answer in the First Instance, but now the case is in Appeal", she says.
In the decision of the Court of First Instance in Matilda's case, it is stated that it is impossible to recognize the diploma, since the branch of study was unlicensed by the responsible institution.
When asked about this issue, the Ministry of Education says: "There is no legal provision to determine that the Ministry of Education and Sports has its functional competence to recognize diplomas issued by public and private higher education institutions."
The situation is more difficult for M. GJ., who, before starting her Bachelor and Master studies at "Vitrina" University, worked as a primary school teacher in a private school.
"I started my Bachelor's degree in 2011 and completed my Master's degree in 2016 at the "Vitrina" school. After graduating from school, where I also worked as a teacher during my studies at a state school, I submitted the documentation to the Education Directorate, but then I was informed that the school was not recognized and therefore I was not qualified to keep the job," she says. Now M. GJ. works outside her profession.
LM, RV, who have completed their Bachelor's studies at "Vitrina" University and their Master's studies at "Aleksandër Moisiu" University, are in a similar situation. According to data provided by "Aleksandër Moisiu" University, 40 students have graduated from this university in the Master's program , who have completed their Bachelor's studies at "Vitrina" University.
During its research, ACQJ was able to identify 15 citizens who are in the same situation, where their diploma from the "Vitrina" school is not recognized.
Meanwhile, in the archive of the Administrative Court of First Instance in Tirana, the cases filed for non-recognition of diplomas issued by the non-public higher education institutions "Vitrina" and "Kristal" are not few and indicate a problem that extends much further than the cases identified by the ACQJ.
From 2016, when the first lawsuit was filed before this court, until 2023, there are a total of 51 cases, of which 44 have gone to trial and one case is in the trial process.
Institutions abdicate responsibility
"The trial proved that the Bachelor's program "Teacher - Lower Cycle", at the "Vitrina" University, Faculty of Educational Sciences, was not licensed at the time of the plaintiff's registration," - states the decision of the Administrative Court of First Instance for our character.
But, what contradicts this part of the decision is the response from the University of Durrës, where our character received his Master's degree.
In a response to ACQJ , "Aleksandër Moisiu" University says that there is no VKM or specific order for the recognition of non-public Higher Education diplomas for UDAM.
Also, the University of Durrës says that the commissions set up every year examine the applications of student candidates and verify the documentation submitted by the candidates.
"One of the documents is a Bachelor's degree or equivalent, which must be issued by a higher education institution in the Republic of Albania for a program licensed at the time of registration of the student holding the degree and accredited at the time of issuance of the degree."
"Aleksandër Moisiu" University emphasizes that it verifies in every case the validity of the diploma of candidates for students in the second cycle, Master of Science and Professional Master , in accordance with the Higher Education Law without being influenced by the status of the institution that issued it, which means that for UDAM, the Bachelor's diploma , issued by the former private university, "Vitrina", is recognized for pursuing Master's studies , while for institutions that are subordinate to the Ministry of Education, they are not recognized for employment.
In the last 10 years, 323 students from former private universities have graduated from the second cycle of studies at the University of Durres, of whom 240 hold a Bachelor's degree issued by the former non-public university, "Kristal", and 40 hold a Bachelor's degree from the former non-public university, "Vitrina".
19.798 names in the State Archives, an isolated case or hundreds of unidentified ones?
In 2010, Dhurata Gjozi enrolled at the "Vitrina" high school, where she completed her Bachelor's degree in the "Lower Cycle Teacher" program from 2010 to 2013. At the same educational institution, Ms. Gjozi also chose to pursue a Master's degree , but her studies were cut short due to the institution's closure.
" The Master's program , as is known, was closed for other reasons, not for the students' reasons," says Dhurata, who adds that, after the Master's program was closed , she received the matriculation number and exam grades for all subjects from the Ministry of Education.
"With this half of the Master's degree that I had left, I then went with the Ministry of Education's letters to the "Aleksandër Moisiu" high school in Durrës and they told us that "we have been given an order, we will not accept students who have graduated or who have left school halfway through at "Vitrina".
Once an order was given, then it was removed from power", she says, adding that she did not pursue the case, as she had no opportunity.
"I was unemployed on my profile," says Dhurata, who works as a saleswoman today.
From the confession of Mrs. Gjozi, it is clear that the Ministry of Education has not implemented the Decision of the Council of Ministers No. 539, dated 6.8.2014 to give students, who have not completed their studies, the opportunity to complete them in another educational institution.
Asked by ACQJ about this issue, the Ministry of Education says: "A private higher education institution begins its activity only after obtaining a license. Its licensing is done when it meets the state standards and criteria, approved by the Council of Ministers, according to the proposal of the Ministry of Education and Science."
But, on the other hand, the Ministry of Education is an institution that existed during the time when former private universities, such as "Vitrina", operated in the higher education market in the country, and the question is: Why were they allowed to function, when they were not did they have permission?!
ACQJ asked the Ministry of Education what it has done about this situation, where hundreds of citizens may be involved, but was unable to receive an answer from it, with the ministry preferring to cite only a few articles.
The 15 cases affected by this problem are those that ACQJ managed to verify in a short list of former students of the "Vitrina" university that it had at its disposal.
Meanwhile, according to the State Archives, 85 files with student ID numbers (personal identification numbers for each student) are kept for the former "Vitrina" university, with a total of 19,798 names of former students. The number of former students whose diplomas are not recognized may be several times greater than what ACQJ has managed to identify.
Meanwhile, MAS says that it controls the legality of the activities of higher education institutions, but does not perform any action on students' diplomas.
"Diplomas are a consequence of the direct relationship that is created between the institution of higher education, which provides the service, and the student, who completes his studies and graduates", says the Ministry of Education and Sports.
"It doesn't make sense", the experts agree on the problem
"This doesn't make sense to me," says education expert Valbona Nathanaili, when introduced to the case of our character, who, although she received her Bachelor's degree at the former "Vitrina" University, was accepted and completed her Master's studies at the University of Durrës, her Bachelor's degree is not recognized by state institutions.
Another education expert, Albano Zhapaj, is of the same opinion, who states that this makes no sense from a legal perspective. "If you take over 20 exams for a Master's degree , sure, but also over 24 exams, you have passed through the hands of 24 professors and none of them has understood that you do not have a Bachelor's degree ?! ", he continues.
Meanwhile, Rigels Xhemollari from the organization Qëndresa Qytetare , states that a public university, such as the University of Durrës, has recognized the person's diploma, obtained from these closed private universities, as a valid, legal, relevant diploma and in this way has certified it for another level of study.
"So, it is not possible for a university to issue a second-level diploma, such as a Master's degree , without recognizing and certifying the Bachelor's degree ," he says, emphasizing that the Ministry of Education has worked with two standards, on the one hand it has not licensed, has not recognized these diplomas, has not given them legitimacy, and on the other hand it has not issued a directive that these universities should not accept such diplomas during this period.
And while the Ministry of Education calls the end of the story with former private universities, education experts are of a different opinion.
The expert Nathanaili says that all the diplomas, which were issued by "Vitrina" until the year that was closed, are valid.
"They cannot be invalid, because they were like in the case of the teacher's office, which you say, which opened without being accredited; either the former owner must return all the money, or the ministry must turn a blind eye, until it has allowed it", - she says, putting the emphasis on "the controls of the ministry, which are for this work, that's why it takes inspectors, groups of work, of accreditation".
"There are two ways," says expert Albano Zhapaj, "either to compensate him and the injured party to attend another school, or to recognize his diploma, because if this program has never been accredited, the problem is that they have issued diplomas." .
"The responsibility falls on the Ministry of Education", - adds Rigels Xhemollari, where, according to him, this institution should take measures, so that all those who have received diplomas in these universities, this diploma will be recognized and certified. .
"Their knowledge should be reassessed, even to see if they are able to keep that diploma or not, but not in this way", Xhemollari says, adding that "we cannot leave them out of the system, for because they have completed their degree in these private universities, which have been closed or have problems with the law".
The government turned a blind eye to violations of the law
Only a short time after coming to power, the Rama 1 government would issue a Council of Ministers Decision, which would close several non-public schools, including the former non-public universities, "Vitrina" and "Kristal", because they did not meet the legal requirements.
"Sadness for thousands of families who have invested their savings to give their children an education, but who have poured the money into these pyramid schemes", Prime Minister Rama would say at that time, adding that, "we have managed to have national registers, where it is said that 10 diplomas were withdrawn by the chief".
But, on the other hand, the Berisha government , which was the predecessor of the Rama government , could not have been unaware of the problems with fulfilling the legal conditions that these universities had.
On January 11, 2012 , a meeting was held at the premises of the “Vitrina” university campus with the Deputy Minister of Education, Nora Malaj, accompanied by representatives of the Ministry of Education, more precisely, by the Director of Private Education at the time, Arjan Shahini, and by the Higher Education specialist, Dhimitër Bako. In her speech, Ms. Malaj thanked for the hospitality and emphasized the correctness of the “Vitrina” university and the successes achieved over the years. The text of the video published on the YouTube channel , “Vitrina University”, among other things, states that Ms. Nora Malaj’s speech focused on meeting the criteria, as important elements in obtaining accreditation.
Although the governments changed, the Albanian Ministry of Education remained the same in its role and duties since its creation to guarantee the quality of education and improve it, but this institution failed to play its function for the former non-public universities, having a very large impact on the lives of tens if not hundreds of students. Although the responsibility for allowing the operation of non-public universities in violation of the law or in violation of the law of the time falls precisely on the Ministry of Education, the only thing that this institution says, when asked what is the reason for not recognizing the diplomas issued by the former - private universities, is: "Based on the legislation in force, the process of recognition and counting is not done for diplomas that have been issued within the country".
And while educational institutions of all levels "wash their hands" when faced with such situations, dozens if not hundreds of citizens have lost hundreds of thousands of euros and several years studying to obtain a Bachelor's degree , which the Albanian state does not recognize today, even though the higher education institutions that were closed operated under the noses of state institutions that were supposed to ensure respect for the law.
