I want to start this talk by introducing
you to my childhood friends Benny
Mira and Anna we were all born in a
small city in the south of Albania
swaboda plays with extremely beautiful
nature and as you can see in the
pictures great opportunities for rafting
mountain hikes but also just to stay a
moment and enjoy breathtaking views the
four of us come from low and
middle-class families today we are at
our 30s but our lives look very
different Benny in general doesn’t talk
much but he studied hard he finished his
bachelor’s and master’s degree but
currently he is working in a call center
and he is disappointed with how things
have turned out for him working in a
call center was the only job he could
get despite having a master’s degree
working in call centers in bars in
restaurants is the only opportunity you
could escape youth unemployment here in
Albania which by the way is high up to
30% last time I met Benny he was hoping
to get the American green card lottery
so you could go to the promised land
America and in this way he could pay
back all the sacrifices of his parents
next let’s let me introduce you to Mira
she is very smart person but ideally
turned young lady who made it through
med school the last two years she has
been doing the residency in the internal
medicine department and she is working
crazy hours but she is not being any and
she is not being paid any single money
for it during our student times we used
to organise many products to improve the
medical education here in Albania we
fought for better auditoriums against
outdated black and white printed
textbooks for more Reading Room’s
but most importantly we made a call for
radical change in the teaching system
which involved unmotivated professors
incapable of transmitting knowledge Mira
says nothing has changed since then we
use the five but people in nowadays are
scared in the only way you could succeed
in life is either to contribute to the
political party because I’m not the son
or the daughter of any chief of the
department
she continues I’m learning German and
soon will move to Germany and work there
as a medical doctor and finally Anna
she’s an extroverted girl as far as I
remember but not that much of a school
person that’s why she enrolled in a
private university and at the same time
she became a member of a political party
and she engaged into politics few days
ago I saw a post on Facebook where it
was announced she was holding an
important ministerial position in the
government and meantime she is also
she also owns a very beautiful apartment
in the city center of Tirana at the age
of 30 which for sure her parents didn’t
buy these are the stories of my friends
but these are not isolated stories
similar stories are shared by the youth
here in Albania but probably from many
countries that are striving in this
never-ending transitions having a
university degree here in Albania
doesn’t help you much in most of the
cases having a university degree does
not guarantee you a better life and with
yogur people are more likely to succeed
and hold important positions in our
society you think that war is the only
way we can cause problems raised over
poverty insecurity injustice and force
people to leave a country we are not in
a war here in Albania and yet we are
facing huge social and economic
challenges people are the best
and hopeless about the future lowering
the quality of education can also bring
a country to its knees why is that why
can’t Benny find a job in the profession
he studied for why can’t we obey Nia the
promised land we have all the natural
resources we need right including oil
and other resources mountains rivers
seas lakes beautiful nature and the
history we have lots to discover and
share with the world what’s wrong with
our health system why young medical
doctors like Mira are massively leaving
this country to note in the last two
three years more than thousands of
medical doctors and nurses have left
this country to go to Germany and why
becoming a member of a political party
rewards you better than education well
we can find the answers in the broken
education system we have built and I’m
going to talk about the higher
educational system the level and
performance of the o’banion professors
in general is low and very bad the
career path to become a professor here
in Albania is in general short and is
little based on scientific output the
level of professors in Albania in most
of the cases is equivalent to that of a
master or a PhD student in the Western
universities and I did a research with
my colleague Ariane II where we found
out that during the year 2008 to 2016
there were 1,300 17:1 titles given
across professors and associated
professors combined we searched their
names in the bibliographic databases in
web of science and Scopus and it was
troublesome to find that only 42% of
them had publications in peer-reviewed
journals so in journals that fulfill the
international standards we found out
that majority of these professors
publish articles in the so called
Zelda journals so in Jonah’s that could
publish everything for money and you see
these two beautiful ladies on the screen
these are my two grandmother’s one is 82
years old and the other one is 87
they have only elementary education but
according to the O’Banion standards
today that can be called scientists do
you agree with me well I made an
experiment I wrote a paper with with
nonsense data with fake data putting
their names as co-authors and I
submitted these papers in these cellular
journals he within 24 hours the papers
whether aware or node of the standards
of these journals the albanian
professors publish their articles there
we also found that 70% of professors and
more than 80% of rector’s of public and
private universities don’t have any
publication as first authors in
peer-reviewed journals but also if we
see at the National Academy of Science
which should bring the brightest mind of
a nation together the situation is the
same more than 85 to 90% don’t have any
documented research in peer-reviewed
journals it is tragic to mention though
that some years ago the academic titles
were given by president orders not based
on peer review commissions or committees
another interesting fact is that up to
60% of academic staffs in universities
such as in the University of Medicine
which I know well because I studied
there have some familiar connection
between them 60% is that by chance the
head of universities the chief of the
departments they fight smart people they
limit their opportunities and they push
them away from the institutions and even
further from the countries they Series
search and education is an opportunity
but not as an opportunity for society
but it’s an opportunity for their wife
or their son for their daughter for
their wife to grow up in Korea but also
for their private business to shine this
is the current situation in the o’banion
education system in the higher education
system we have been told by professors
who are outdated in knowledge and
teaching skills and they are not able to
inspire students but instead limiting
their progress for many years so when
universities have given students diploma
but without giving them the right
knowledge and the right skills and I’m
sure that everyone now in the audience
is asking what are the causes and
consequences of this broken educational
system first we are not filtering the
best people the doctor helping your
mother after stop stroke should be the
best certain that the one who got the
position through through friends the guy
building the block of departments
probably got his qualification thanks to
someone he knows rather than passing the
surveyor exam but for the parents that
are here considered the child the
teacher of your child
did he or she got the job or the
qualification to do it
unmarried but thing bag of Anna she
holds such an important policy decision
position in our society but she does not
have the experience or the qualification
to do it how can she and other observe
the experts of Zelda academics service
members members of committees and
commissions to make the right decisions
for this society they will not be able
to speak on the name of the society but
for the interests of hands that feed
them and sustain this system they will
make wrong and corrupted decisions but
also it will we are wasting money but
most importantly we are wasting people’s
time think back of Benny he started five
years so he did some and he studied for
five years something totally unrelated
to what he is working
the state could have have provided him
guidance and he could have used the time
more efficiently and productively
moreover he has been told by professors
who do not deserve such a privileged
position in our society they install
fear and authority instead of nourishing
the freedom of thought and creative
thinking and we are paying them from our
tax money to be known good professors we
are also wasting the potentials of young
minds here in Albania let’s get all the
news together three millions that live
inside Albania in the last twenty thirty
years they have not been able to produce
even half of the knowledge on Albanian
scientists abroad this is what this
graph is showing to you there is so much
available that the Albanian scientists
abroad are producing that you can’t
imagine and there are not smarter than
people living in Albania the only
difference is that they you study and
but also the lower levels of
universities and the professor’s and
their research and they are limited to
research capacities leave it also our
opportunity as a country to develop our
economy and to support the government to
make the right decisions nowadays
societies are shifting towards the
so-called knowledge-based societies
countries are not fighting anymore for
resources but they are fighting for work
skills intellectual property and
knowledge they used research to define
which is the best investment to develop
our economy the use research to define
whether a policy is working or not and
what could be done to improve it further
imagine the city where I was born
Theravada remember the photos of the
beginning but also I show you these
photos of the mountain of tomorry great
opportunity to develop tourism and maybe
also agriculture which could be the base
of the
economy of the area but the way how we
see it now is as an opportunity to get
marble blocks but at the expense of
destroying the nature and the mountain
is there any research to show whether
this approach is better than the first
one
or any other alternative but let me ask
you are you worried about the quality of
medications in Albania yes right is
there any research to test whether your
concerns are legitimate or not that’s
what the good universities and good
professors do they answer to the
concerns of citizens and they try to
find the truth we need a revolution you
say we have needed a reform for many
years and it’s important now than ever
but how could the reform look like it
might look like we’re doing the real
expert and build a system that is based
on meritocracy and integrity in order to
give the best people the best positions
it might mean having quality checks for
professors and teaching skills the
students so they can have a better life
tomorrow it might mean investing in
research and building knowledge in 2012
I left this country because I was as
desperate as Venice Mira for a better
education I was lucky to go to the top
universities in the world and I found in
myself potentials that I never thought
ahead I left Albania with no idea what
research was and today I count more than
60 scientific publications in
peer-reviewed journals and in this way
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
thanks to this experience I learned the
importance of research of scientific
research which holds the potential to
improve our society by giving us the
tools to make evidence-based decisions
so we can make this world a better place
and I’m sure that the Albanian youth
holds a big uncovered potential and it
certainly starts with shaking up the
system have you heard them saying we
can’t we can’t as individuals we can’t a
society they are not they are speaking
about their limits
not about my limits not about your
limits not about ours a society there is
read more challenge more demand more
that’s what we need to do a society we
need to connect with each other we need
to get together and start stopping
investing in this educational system
that gives the potential the willpower
the dreams and the future of young
people
[Music]
investment in quality education and in
research is the way to save the values
skills and knowledge that is required to
formulate policies and foster
sustainable growth and build stronger
and fairer societies the former
President Barack Obama would say if you
think education is expensive wait wait
and see how much ignorance cost for many
years we have been striving for many
years we have been striving in this
never-ending transition and we are tired
for doing these small steps let’s turn
the wheel and make education by the
quality education our opportunity
[Applause] [Music]
you to my childhood friends Benny
Mira and Anna we were all born in a
small city in the south of Albania
swaboda plays with extremely beautiful
nature and as you can see in the
pictures great opportunities for rafting
mountain hikes but also just to stay a
moment and enjoy breathtaking views the
four of us come from low and
middle-class families today we are at
our 30s but our lives look very
different Benny in general doesn’t talk
much but he studied hard he finished his
bachelor’s and master’s degree but
currently he is working in a call center
and he is disappointed with how things
have turned out for him working in a
call center was the only job he could
get despite having a master’s degree
working in call centers in bars in
restaurants is the only opportunity you
could escape youth unemployment here in
Albania which by the way is high up to
30% last time I met Benny he was hoping
to get the American green card lottery
so you could go to the promised land
America and in this way he could pay
back all the sacrifices of his parents
next let’s let me introduce you to Mira
she is very smart person but ideally
turned young lady who made it through
med school the last two years she has
been doing the residency in the internal
medicine department and she is working
crazy hours but she is not being any and
she is not being paid any single money
for it during our student times we used
to organise many products to improve the
medical education here in Albania we
fought for better auditoriums against
outdated black and white printed
textbooks for more Reading Room’s
but most importantly we made a call for
radical change in the teaching system
which involved unmotivated professors
incapable of transmitting knowledge Mira
says nothing has changed since then we
use the five but people in nowadays are
scared in the only way you could succeed
in life is either to contribute to the
political party because I’m not the son
or the daughter of any chief of the
department
she continues I’m learning German and
soon will move to Germany and work there
as a medical doctor and finally Anna
she’s an extroverted girl as far as I
remember but not that much of a school
person that’s why she enrolled in a
private university and at the same time
she became a member of a political party
and she engaged into politics few days
ago I saw a post on Facebook where it
was announced she was holding an
important ministerial position in the
government and meantime she is also
she also owns a very beautiful apartment
in the city center of Tirana at the age
of 30 which for sure her parents didn’t
buy these are the stories of my friends
but these are not isolated stories
similar stories are shared by the youth
here in Albania but probably from many
countries that are striving in this
never-ending transitions having a
university degree here in Albania
doesn’t help you much in most of the
cases having a university degree does
not guarantee you a better life and with
yogur people are more likely to succeed
and hold important positions in our
society you think that war is the only
way we can cause problems raised over
poverty insecurity injustice and force
people to leave a country we are not in
a war here in Albania and yet we are
facing huge social and economic
challenges people are the best
and hopeless about the future lowering
the quality of education can also bring
a country to its knees why is that why
can’t Benny find a job in the profession
he studied for why can’t we obey Nia the
promised land we have all the natural
resources we need right including oil
and other resources mountains rivers
seas lakes beautiful nature and the
history we have lots to discover and
share with the world what’s wrong with
our health system why young medical
doctors like Mira are massively leaving
this country to note in the last two
three years more than thousands of
medical doctors and nurses have left
this country to go to Germany and why
becoming a member of a political party
rewards you better than education well
we can find the answers in the broken
education system we have built and I’m
going to talk about the higher
educational system the level and
performance of the o’banion professors
in general is low and very bad the
career path to become a professor here
in Albania is in general short and is
little based on scientific output the
level of professors in Albania in most
of the cases is equivalent to that of a
master or a PhD student in the Western
universities and I did a research with
my colleague Ariane II where we found
out that during the year 2008 to 2016
there were 1,300 17:1 titles given
across professors and associated
professors combined we searched their
names in the bibliographic databases in
web of science and Scopus and it was
troublesome to find that only 42% of
them had publications in peer-reviewed
journals so in journals that fulfill the
international standards we found out
that majority of these professors
publish articles in the so called
Zelda journals so in Jonah’s that could
publish everything for money and you see
these two beautiful ladies on the screen
these are my two grandmother’s one is 82
years old and the other one is 87
they have only elementary education but
according to the O’Banion standards
today that can be called scientists do
you agree with me well I made an
experiment I wrote a paper with with
nonsense data with fake data putting
their names as co-authors and I
submitted these papers in these cellular
journals he within 24 hours the papers
whether aware or node of the standards
of these journals the albanian
professors publish their articles there
we also found that 70% of professors and
more than 80% of rector’s of public and
private universities don’t have any
publication as first authors in
peer-reviewed journals but also if we
see at the National Academy of Science
which should bring the brightest mind of
a nation together the situation is the
same more than 85 to 90% don’t have any
documented research in peer-reviewed
journals it is tragic to mention though
that some years ago the academic titles
were given by president orders not based
on peer review commissions or committees
another interesting fact is that up to
60% of academic staffs in universities
such as in the University of Medicine
which I know well because I studied
there have some familiar connection
between them 60% is that by chance the
head of universities the chief of the
departments they fight smart people they
limit their opportunities and they push
them away from the institutions and even
further from the countries they Series
search and education is an opportunity
but not as an opportunity for society
but it’s an opportunity for their wife
or their son for their daughter for
their wife to grow up in Korea but also
for their private business to shine this
is the current situation in the o’banion
education system in the higher education
system we have been told by professors
who are outdated in knowledge and
teaching skills and they are not able to
inspire students but instead limiting
their progress for many years so when
universities have given students diploma
but without giving them the right
knowledge and the right skills and I’m
sure that everyone now in the audience
is asking what are the causes and
consequences of this broken educational
system first we are not filtering the
best people the doctor helping your
mother after stop stroke should be the
best certain that the one who got the
position through through friends the guy
building the block of departments
probably got his qualification thanks to
someone he knows rather than passing the
surveyor exam but for the parents that
are here considered the child the
teacher of your child
did he or she got the job or the
qualification to do it
unmarried but thing bag of Anna she
holds such an important policy decision
position in our society but she does not
have the experience or the qualification
to do it how can she and other observe
the experts of Zelda academics service
members members of committees and
commissions to make the right decisions
for this society they will not be able
to speak on the name of the society but
for the interests of hands that feed
them and sustain this system they will
make wrong and corrupted decisions but
also it will we are wasting money but
most importantly we are wasting people’s
time think back of Benny he started five
years so he did some and he studied for
five years something totally unrelated
to what he is working
the state could have have provided him
guidance and he could have used the time
more efficiently and productively
moreover he has been told by professors
who do not deserve such a privileged
position in our society they install
fear and authority instead of nourishing
the freedom of thought and creative
thinking and we are paying them from our
tax money to be known good professors we
are also wasting the potentials of young
minds here in Albania let’s get all the
news together three millions that live
inside Albania in the last twenty thirty
years they have not been able to produce
even half of the knowledge on Albanian
scientists abroad this is what this
graph is showing to you there is so much
available that the Albanian scientists
abroad are producing that you can’t
imagine and there are not smarter than
people living in Albania the only
difference is that they you study and
but also the lower levels of
universities and the professor’s and
their research and they are limited to
research capacities leave it also our
opportunity as a country to develop our
economy and to support the government to
make the right decisions nowadays
societies are shifting towards the
so-called knowledge-based societies
countries are not fighting anymore for
resources but they are fighting for work
skills intellectual property and
knowledge they used research to define
which is the best investment to develop
our economy the use research to define
whether a policy is working or not and
what could be done to improve it further
imagine the city where I was born
Theravada remember the photos of the
beginning but also I show you these
photos of the mountain of tomorry great
opportunity to develop tourism and maybe
also agriculture which could be the base
of the
economy of the area but the way how we
see it now is as an opportunity to get
marble blocks but at the expense of
destroying the nature and the mountain
is there any research to show whether
this approach is better than the first
one
or any other alternative but let me ask
you are you worried about the quality of
medications in Albania yes right is
there any research to test whether your
concerns are legitimate or not that’s
what the good universities and good
professors do they answer to the
concerns of citizens and they try to
find the truth we need a revolution you
say we have needed a reform for many
years and it’s important now than ever
but how could the reform look like it
might look like we’re doing the real
expert and build a system that is based
on meritocracy and integrity in order to
give the best people the best positions
it might mean having quality checks for
professors and teaching skills the
students so they can have a better life
tomorrow it might mean investing in
research and building knowledge in 2012
I left this country because I was as
desperate as Venice Mira for a better
education I was lucky to go to the top
universities in the world and I found in
myself potentials that I never thought
ahead I left Albania with no idea what
research was and today I count more than
60 scientific publications in
peer-reviewed journals and in this way
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
thanks to this experience I learned the
importance of research of scientific
research which holds the potential to
improve our society by giving us the
tools to make evidence-based decisions
so we can make this world a better place
and I’m sure that the Albanian youth
holds a big uncovered potential and it
certainly starts with shaking up the
system have you heard them saying we
can’t we can’t as individuals we can’t a
society they are not they are speaking
about their limits
not about my limits not about your
limits not about ours a society there is
read more challenge more demand more
that’s what we need to do a society we
need to connect with each other we need
to get together and start stopping
investing in this educational system
that gives the potential the willpower
the dreams and the future of young
people
[Music]
investment in quality education and in
research is the way to save the values
skills and knowledge that is required to
formulate policies and foster
sustainable growth and build stronger
and fairer societies the former
President Barack Obama would say if you
think education is expensive wait wait
and see how much ignorance cost for many
years we have been striving for many
years we have been striving in this
never-ending transition and we are tired
for doing these small steps let’s turn
the wheel and make education by the
quality education our opportunity
[Applause] [Music]
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