The pseudo governmental reform in education revokes the license and brings it back under the political appetite. The expected reform in higher education, apart from being an open war to private universities, persecuting some of them unfairly, is greatly diminished and now three months later after it, thing are becoming clear as they really are. What it can be easily noticed is that if we make a comparison between the legal reform and the “pseudoreform, the latter becomes a highly dangerous unconstitutionalprecedent, violating the laws of higher education in Albania. Can it be possible to have a successful reform in education without respecting the law and the Constitution? We note that, by the Council of Ministers’ Decision no. 539 dated 08.06.2014 is set the revocation of license of “Vitrina” University. The Council of Ministers’ Decision is very unfair for several reasons, but according to the Ministry of Education and Sports the main argument for the revocation of license ofVitrina University is that this university started its activity before gaining the license. Actually, such a violation is not defined by law as a condition for the license revocation. The law defines that when the institution does not begins the activity within the first academic year after it has gained the license, it ia invalid. In the case of “Vitrina” University, the licensing requirement is made before the start of the academic year. Ministry of Education and the Council of Ministers have not responded which means the approvement in silence and furthermore, the Council of Ministers’ Decision Nr. 608 dated: 06.05.2009 although they have been aware of the commencement of the university, they gave the license to “Vitrina” University.Many other Universities which came out to be the “Elite” after the control, they have started the activity later the deadline the law defines. This is it that makes their license null, but in real it didn’t happen so. On the other hand, the Ministry of Education and Sports has not held the same attitude (license revocation) and for other institutions of higher education that have started their activity before licensing such as Business Academy University, Logos University, etc., suspended their activity. Not only this, but a few days ago we learn from the press that “Logos” University after its suspension it anyway restarted its activity normally. The government decision was taken at its meeting on 22 October 2014 stating that the decision would take effect immediately, and where the Logos University will return to normal teaching activities in accordance with applicable law and follows the with all the rights and obligations deriving from the law and bylaws in its implementation. If you look carefully at this decision as well as at the previous one, there is no excuse of evidence for why a university is closed, suspended or restarts the activity. We are not against that this University restarts its activity, but in this case and many others, we come to understand that the Ministry of Education and Sports in this reform of higher education bypasses the law completely. Referring what mentioned above it is a sporadic case. From the research results that the Business Academy Universityhas started its activities two years before its licensing, and a suspension measure is somewhat justifiable compared to license revocation.It can also be noticed that those so called “elite” Universities have had many violations of law till the elements of false signatures on issuing diplomas, while Ministry of Education has tolerated. Why? The answer should be givenby the representatives of this institution. From an analysis of the cases, we conclude that the reform besides being illegal it has clear political positioning. However, this pseudo reform will have its costs, undermining the rule of law, increasing the curve of arbitrariness of public administration, severely damaging the image of any private university no matter the quality and ultimately, would have cost to all students and citizens who cannot believe their future guided by the creators of such reforms. Let’s come back to the theme. There have been made not only several internal assessment reports annually toward “Vitrina” but from the Assessment Report till 2012 by the Ministry of Education, it resulted that the activity of “Vitrina” University takes place in accordance with the State and International standards, but the important thing is that the Public Agency for Accreditation (PAAHE) in 2013 appointed experts to prepare Evaluation Reports on Eternal Evaluation. In those reports, which are made by competent persons, as well as impartial and with grades referring to the field they controlled, they present accurately the conveyance toward national and international criteria for higher education. External Evaluation Reports are diametrically opposite to the Report of Ministry of Education. The first presented the situation positively and the latter (Ministry of Education) negatively. For illustration, the report of Ministry of Education argues that the university does not convey the optimal conditions for doing its activity, while the Assessment Report of the experts precisely the Institutional Report compiled by Prof. Dr. Neil Garrod from England describes: The University is located away from developed industrial areas or polluted ones above the allowed standards. The institution is located along the highway Tirana - Durres away from noise pollution. The University territory is reconstructed using modern methods and materials with good quality, which meet hygiene standards for students, academic staff and administration. Building materials shown don’t display harmful elements for health and auditoriums acoustics are appropriate for the teaching process. University surface meets the appropriate rate of 3.8 - 4m2 per student . At the conclusion of the report, the foreign expert appointed by PAAHE writes: I would encourage the institution to keep this method and develop it as widely as possible. In fact, as we mentioned above, arguments and legal institutional reports are not valid for the Ministry of Education and Sports, more than the pseudoreform in higher education to revoke the license and to give it back under the political appetite. Center for “Justice and Solidarity.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Oct 2014 12:19:19 +0000
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