Author: Dallandyshe Xhaferri
"In each room, each student has a bed, a shelf, a closet, a chest of drawers for dishes and food. Most rooms have a balcony, but there are also those rooms that do not. Toilets and showers are at the end of the corridor and are shared," the student portal for dormitory conditions reads. But Entela laughs at this advertisement, remembering that only the paint used to paint the walls has changed in the dormitories and nothing that would directly affect the well-being of students who come from other cities and who choose to live together in the eternal city of youth, in the "Student City ".
Four years ago, students protested not only about the hygienic and sanitary conditions in the dormitories. Looking back, EK insists that despite the promises, nothing has changed. A student of the administration-business branch for three years, EK tells “Sinjalizo” that she continues to live in the building of buildings 26-27 of the University Student Residence number 1. “ The conditions are minimal and we have to take care of ourselves to provide the heater, the refrigerator ,” she declares, adding that in addition to the beds, the room has a table, a closet and a sink.
" We wash dishes, our faces and our clothes in the same sink. We don't even have the space necessary to maintain good hygiene ," says the student. " We take care of cleaning the room ourselves, which means we buy all the necessary detergents ," she adds.
But the Student University Residence promises that the situation will change soon. Asked by "Sinjalizo", it is officially said that buildings 26 and 27 will benefit from complete reconstruction. However, students and dormitory administrators have not yet been notified of such a thing.
" At the moment, the buildings have been turned into summer houses and no one has told us to vacate, or informed us that there will be reconstruction of the building ," says Liljana, the administrator of buildings 26-27, admitting that students from the dormitories that are being reconstructed are currently staying there.
Living under reconstruction
“Sinjalizo” investigated the actual condition of 27 buildings in “Student City”, which is the largest dormitory in the country and has a capacity of almost five thousand beds. Some of them continue to be under reconstruction, although the deadlines for submitting the works have long passed. Building 18 is one of the dormitories that is being reconstructed. This building is included in the project that foresees the reconstruction of three student buildings and has cost 305,684,203 lekë excluding VAT. The contract signed by the winning companies of the tender stipulated that the works would last 13 months, according to data published on OpenProcurement.
Signed on May 5 of last year, the deadline for finishing the works has passed and building 18 is still not ready to welcome students.
Engineer Erald Gjiritri tells "Sinjalizo" that the construction completion date is not his responsibility.
" My goal is to respect the deadline, but it is not my responsibility. Our pace has been maximum and in "Student City" we are the only group that has kept up with the work ," argues the engineer, adding that the plans for the renewed organization have not yet been released.
" The new plans haven't come out yet, but there's still some work to be done ," he says, claiming that the construction team is trying to finish the work before October.
Building 16 of RSU number 1 (one) is another dormitory planned to be rebuilt as a result of the earthquake of November 26, but from field observations it appears that the demolition of this building has not yet started, even students continue to stay there since the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year.
" They didn't tell us that there would be restoration or construction," said one of the students, who described how the walls of the building are damp.
" The walls are cracked and the smell of dampness is felt everywhere. If experts have called this building uninhabitable, it is truly frightening that we, the students, are staying here and are still not informed about this ," she concluded. But the decision to reconstruct this building was made in 2020, when the Council of Ministers approved a fund worth 311,425,288 lek. The dormitory administrator, asked by "Sinjalizo", said that she was not informed about such a thing.
" I have no comment on this. We are not informed yet ," the official commented.
The money taken out to live as a boarder
From the observation of "Sinjalizo" it was observed that three to four students stay in one room on average. The conditions of overcrowding in a negligible space are also confirmed by the activists of the Student Movement.
“ In addition to the depreciation of the buildings, a problem for students is the fee that amounts to 4500 new leks per month ,” says Elvis Gjini. “ In some of the restored buildings, the amount paid by students per month amounts to 6,500 new leks per month ,” adds Gjini, emphasizing that in most of the buildings the furniture is outdated, there is no heating system, and up to 4 students live in an area of 16-20 square meters.
" The amount paid is extremely abusive. 18000 (eighteen thousand) new lekë for a room per month is a price twice as high as in the private market for a room of this size ," concludes Gjini.
The "Pact for the University" is violated, the unorganized students
In the "Pact for the University", the intervention and reconstruction of the dormitory buildings was decided to be carried out within a 3-year period, namely during the years 2019-2021. But currently RSU no. 1 has 29 dormitories under administration, of which only 3 are under reconstruction and have not yet opened their doors to students, despite the foreseen deadlines. For the academic year 2020-2021, only 22 dormitories were at the service of 4200 students, as 4 other buildings are being reconstructed, it is stated in the written response of RSU no. 1. Changing the conditions of the dormitories was one of the main points requested by students during the December protests in 2018, but their organization in the dormitories is completely missing.
" Students living in dormitories do not have any formal structure or organization ," explains activist Gjini, who mentions that any organization is sporadic.
" Based on the Law on Higher Education and the Statute of the University of Tirana, the structure that protects and represents the rights of students, as well as their requests to the relevant structures, are the student councils at the faculty and university level ," says Gjini, adding that their elections have never been held.
" In the last 30 years, their elections were never held and were duplicated by students, who were elected as senators in the Academic Senate and then declared themselves as Council Chairs, but who in reality, not only were they not, but did not even exercise any actual function of their own ," he concludes, after emphasizing that the formula for electing Councils at the University of Tirana has many flaws, which has meant that since 2021, the Faculty of Law has not had a Council Chair.
