Albania

In the 1990s Albania's educational system underwent major structural reforms as the country struggled to emerge from a half century of isolation and rigid centralization. However, efforts to modernize and democratize education have been hampered by the lack of resources, political conflict, and ethnic violence. In 1991 the minister of education reported that nearly one-third of the nation's schools had been vandalized and 15 buildings razed. Underpaid teachers relocated from villages, leaving hundreds of rural schools severely understaffed. Approximately 2,000 teachers fled the country.

Albanian reformers, however, have devoted much of the country's limited education budget to improve instruction, textbooks, and school buildings. Educational exchange programs with other countries have introduced Albanian teachers to European and North American methods and technology.

The educational system consists of preschool (ages 3 to 6), an eight-year compulsory program combining primary (ages 6 to 10) and secondary (ages 11 to 14), and high school (ages 14 to 18). University studies have three levels: the diplome, awarded after three to six years of preparation, depending on the discipline; the Kandidat i Shkencave degree, awarded after two to three years of post-graduate education; and the Doktor i Shkencave degree, granted on the basis of publication, research, and a dissertation.