TIRANA, November 10 /ATSH/ – Speaking before the Committee on Economy, Finance and Employment regarding the 2027 budget, Minister of Education Mirela Kumbaro explained that the draft of the revised law on higher education includes a legal mechanism for increasing the salaries of academic staff. As they are part of autonomous institutions—namely universities—these individuals are not classified as belonging to the public administration sector.
“Given that university lecturers are part of institutions that hold autonomous status—possessing a degree of independence in determining and managing their payroll funds—we are committed to providing a legal solution within the legislative amendments currently being prepared for Higher Education. Our goal is to pave the way for an initiative to increase lecturers’ salaries. Personally, I am firmly convinced that this issue deserves the direct attention of the Ministry of Education. Having been a university lecturer myself—and having made countless efforts over my 28-year academic career to raise standards—I can assure you that this will be a priority for me, as well as for the Government. We will therefore establish the necessary legal framework to address this well-deserved request from the academic staff of public universities,” said Kumbaro.
The minister emphasized that work continues on the revision of the Higher Education Law. This process has involved incorporating suggestions from both public and private universities, organizing them into a comparative framework, and is now nearing the public consultation phase. According to Kumbaro, the higher education budget for 2027 has received the largest increase for the coming year, with an additional 1.25 billion lekë. /e.i/j.p/p.s./
