As they enter their third day, students from more and more universities across the country join the protests against the education policies of the Ministry of Education and the government. The Agriculture University from Kamza joined the protest, while professors from the University of Shkodra expressed the solidarity with the demands of the students.
Yesterday, the students presented 4 demands to the Ministry of Education, but failed to receive an answer before their deadline:
- Cancellation of the extra fees as defined in VKM 288, charging students for retaking classes;
- 50% reduction in university fees;
- Improvement of the facilities at the dorms;
- Addition of a student representative to the university board, to arrive at an equal number of university and Ministry of Education representatives, as required by the Higher Education law.
Today, students from the University of Agriculture in Kamza presented an additional list of 10 demands, all related to student representation, lowering excessive fees, and fulfilling the legal requirements set by the current Law on Higher Education, largely overlapping with the demands issued by University of Tirana students yesterday:
- Providing all students with the mandatory student card within the 2018–2019 academic year;
- Increase of the 2019 education budget with 8% of the GDP;
- 30% university fee reduction for 2018–2019
- 50% university fee reduction for 2019–2020
- Free education for 2020–2021;
- Improvement of the dorm facilities of the Agriculture University of Kamza;
- Support for student activities and projects with a special faculty fund;
- Support for scientific research by students;
- Support for doctoral students through a fund for scientific research;
- Increase from 10% to 40% of the weight of the student vote for new rectors and deans, increase of student representation in the academic senate to 20%
Today, thousands of students are again expect to march to the Ministry of Education to enforce their demands.
