Mucaj: Young people in Albania are mostly interested in studying new technologies and medicine

Professor at the University of Tirana, Arjana Mucaj, stated that young people in Albania are mostly interested in studying new technologies, while medical sciences are not far behind. She pointed out, however, that the state prioritizes vocational schools in order to bring new generations into the labor market more quickly, but that there is less interest in them.

“We know very well that today technology is a priority, because it offers great employment opportunities, so there is high demand in the labor market. This encourages young people to choose this field. However, branches of medical sciences are not lagging behind either,” Mucaj told Kosovo Online.

She noted that statistics show there are fewer and fewer doctors in Albania, as many of them are leaving the country, along with a noticeable shortage of nurses.

“Demand in the labor market, both domestically and abroad, is constantly growing. These are the two main fields in which 100 percent of university quotas are filled, and demand is very high. Dentistry is also in demand,” Mucaj said.

According to her, increased interest is also visible in engineering fields, with civil engineering becoming more attractive due to the “construction boom” in Albania.

“This is one of the reasons explaining the increase in the number of graduates applying for this engineering field, but architecture is not far behind either. So, civil engineering and architecture are university fields with a large number of students,” she said.

According to her, social sciences, which were until recently popular among young people, are “declining,” except for economics and law.

“Although the market is saturated, demand is still high. Young people are still interested in these social fields,” Mucaj added.

She pointed out, however, that in Albania the state prioritizes vocational schools in order to bring new generations into the labor market more quickly, but that there is a lack of interest due to low wages and poor treatment by employers. She cited tourism as an example.

“We see that there are shortcomings among business owners in the tourism sector in how they treat employees, in all aspects. Working conditions are not satisfactory. I would say that jobs in tourism are not particularly popular among young people, despite the fact that their willingness to work is high,” Mucaj noted.

According to her, most young people who receive education in Albanian vocational schools for tourism tend to go to Greece.

“Greece has a tradition in tourism. That is why young people leave after finishing vocational schools. It is true that today we talk about high salaries in tourism, but exploitation of young people in these jobs also creates dissatisfaction. A person should go to work with satisfaction, and that depends on salary, but also on other working conditions,” Mucaj concluded.