New York Times: Greek Universities “listed” as American in Albania

Walking through the back streets of the Albanian capital, it seems immediately the popular silhouette shining as a promise: The Statue of Liberty, the symbol of America, the site of opportunity, and also the logo of the University of New York of Tirana (UNYT), where students pay more than $32,500 for what a slogan in the lobby describes as the real European and American “education in the country.

On her elaborate page, U.N.Y.T. I paint a vivid picture of students enjoying a typical American university experience complete with student reunion, college sports and campus social life without having to leave Albania. Although known at the local level as the “University of New York-Tirana” so the name listed in its official statute by the Albanian government has no connection with the campus at Greenwich Village.

Nor is there a dining room, dormitory, gym or stadium covering the web site that covers sports “in construction of more than a year.

The picture of a library, presented on the cover of the school's printed brochure, has actually been taken elsewhere, the school officials agree.

But learning is done in English. And thanks to an agreement with New York State University, this Albanian private institution offers its 650 students the opportunity to get an American degree.

By paying the U.N.Y.T. an additional $100 on credit, for the first three years plus an additional 5,000 Usd for the last year, students can graduate with a degree from Empire State College, a sUNY division based on Saratoga Springs dedicated to adult education and non-traditional learning.

Known by various labels à “valid” or “frandered”, “backed program”, or branch campuses such agreements between universities in the United States, Britain or Australia and various private providers in developing countries have become increasingly common.

While students in Tirana seem satisfied, critics say that with a structure of income based on tuition fees and an accession process subject to the need to recruit paying customers, very often these agreements provide form, but not the essence of an academic education.

Armand Kapllani, graduate of the U.N. Y.T in 2007 and then studies in Southern Methodist University in Dallas said many of its courses in Tirana were at the level of an American high school. We didn't even learn how to use a Nancer calculator. How can you graduate from the station and not use the calculator”, he said.

But Gavin Lowder, director of international programmes in SUNY Empire State, says U.N.Y.T. He followed the same academic guidelines as the rest of the college. There are no separate standards for our Tirana” programme

Konstantin Giakoumis, deputy rector of the U.N.Y.T., said in an interview that “curricla was drafted and jointly approved by the committees of both universities”.

On a recent visit to the Albanian campus, the SNY's impact seemed more like a label than an active presence.

Most courses are taught by members of the local faculty engaged without any contribution from SUNY, who also have few words on content. Of the 15 courses of Empire State, offered in the 2011 autumn catalog, only three appear to be taught by the doctoral instructors.

The pedagogues are not known by SUNY. Not directly”, said Mr. Giakoumis. “Empire State College”, he added, “does not have exams managed by the” centre.

Instead, exams are established and marked by the faculty in Tirana.

Faculty members attending the SNY lectures should be approved by the programme director,” said Mr. Lowder in an e-mail. “As part of the approval process, summarys are reviewed and approved. When possible, the faculty takes exams before semester”, he said.

But he admitted that teaching at U.N.Y.T. Colleges. “does not undergo revision or approval from Empire State”.

For example, Mr. Giakoumis holds a basic degree from the University of Athens and doctors from the Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Greek Modern Studies at the University of Birmingham, but gives lectures in US history and Diplomatic History.

Asked about the statement if the school offers a <x0m American education”, University officials said “the description is echoing interested universities and efforts focused on adopting the best models from American universities”.

Kapllani said a group of three to four students from SUNY visits campus “once or perhaps twice a year”.

According to Mr. Lowder, a team from Empire State recently visited Tirana in October; the second visit this year is scheduled for late February. Because of budgetary quotas, the programme director does not pay visits outside the team if it is not absolutely necessary”, he said.

For students, what matters is the credentials, the prestige of an American brand. And for that, Mr. The captain had no complaints. I had a wonderful time when I was a student. A degree from the U.N.Y.T. is highly respected and opens many doors in Albania”, he said

Anisa Vrenozi, currently a young student, said: my “study experience at this university has been excellent, and I think I've made the best choice for the selection of this University”.

But Philip Altbach, director of the Center for International Education at Boston College, says student satisfaction may not be the right thing.

The request for American or British credentials is so high, the regulation so weak, and the possibility of my being so tempting since universities balance their educational missions against their business interests, in this case the square loses Mahx1> education, he said. The U.S. “Universities had a special responsibility to provide a real standard in any foreign enterprise”, he adds.

The Memorandum of Understanding, a 13-page document formed between SUNY and New York University, Tirana, seems to set high standards. Although students can receive up to 96 credits, or about three years of U.N.Y.T. courses. and also need 32 SUNY credits to graduate, all students need to meet the specific special requirements in the E.S.C.

These include the requirements of SUNY general education, and all courses as preconditions for a chosen student.

Students of Albanian faculty undergo joint approval from both institutions. The student progress is also monitored by both institutions.

But on the ground, then in Tirana the view is less certain. Although the memorandum describes both schools as “parter”, the exact nature of the relationship between SUNY and U.N.Y.T. It's hard to determine.

U.N.Y.T. It's part of the New York College Group itself. The statue of Liberty in the blue silhouette on the NYC initials a Greek company with postal addresses in Athens and Thessaloniki and other branches in Prague and Belgrade.

William Lawton, director of the High Education Observatory without whom, a London-based think tank monitoring academic exchange, said that “has different levels of control, from validity and credit to branch campus. Essentially, the institution's standard offers curriculum; but they don't do”

As part of a report released last month for increased branch campuses, the organisation “investigated New York University in Prague”, which has a similar deal with the Empire State College. “This seemed like some kind of accreditment with the deal”, said Mr. Lawton on an e-mail, and so the program was not included in the report.

In their response, Empire State officials said they did not use the term “acre of” itself, referring to their programmes abroad, but simply as other “educational locations”.

But over the past year, “cretation” has become a symbol of dishonor in British academic circles due to a series of scandals at the University of Wales, which the BBC has shown facts about false diplomats at Fazley International College, for a Montenegrin pop star, and it was found to have allowed students in Rayat London College to pay for the qualifications.

The damage to his reputation was so great that the university, founded in 1893, closed its doors in October.

According to Judith Eato of the Council for Higher Education Recognition in Washington, American universities “do not have the legal authority to accredit or sanction (Profirm) providing a degree from another institution.” Any joint agreement” would affect the competencies of the accrediting organisations”, she said.

Empire State College, like the rest of SUNY, is accredited by the US Center for Higher Education Commission with headquarters in Filadela.

Richard Pokras, a spokesman for the organisation, said in an e-mail, that “SU NY / Empire State College is accredited by our Commission, but New York University, Tirana, is not accredited.

UNY-Tirana has been approved by our Commission as a different “teaching” for SUNY / Empire State College.

Asked whether the accreditors had ever seen his campus, Mr. Giakoumis said: “Inspectors travelled to Greece and Prague, but not to Tirana”. Pokras later confirmed that the other “s are usually not visited”.

On a brief visit at the end of January, a journalist went by watching Keler Gjika attend a classroom in Advanced Finance through practical questions from Damodaran online, a popular website held by Aswath Damodaran, professor at Stern School of Business at New York University.

As students inertically lit up the projected images of the screen, the exercise seemed a long way from an American class and also in stark contrast to the atmosphere at the European University of Tirana, another private college on the other side of the city.

All the classes there were in Albanian, but the lively discussion in classrooms and cafes, and the well-equipped and busy library suggested an institution where curiosity was as important as credentials

Despite his only one Albanian diploma, Rector Tonin Djurovic said the school had no problems filling its 2,500 countries. “Albania was a poor country. An isolated place. People are eager to move forward”, said Mr. Djurovic, former Albanian ambassador to Israel.

Daril Sina, who is lectured in justice, described school instruction with a salary of $3,000 a year as non-free “”.

Kevin Kinser, an expert on intercussive education in SUNY Albany (which is not connected to E.S.C.), said that the link to U.N.Y.T. with the Empire State College “is a way to develop legitimacy within the country so that students don't leave it. Although Mitch Leventhal, the deputy chairman of SNY on global issues, and Gavin Lowder, director of the international empire State College programmes, refused to be interviewed, Lowder answered questions by e-mail. This program is not indicated by taxpayers' dollars”, said Mr. Lowder. This is a self-adanced program. In addition, the programme provides opportunities for the State Empire College faculty to have international experience, which enhances teaching and learning”.

It's also a migrator. For every four-cypress course similar to New York College campuses in Greece and the Czech Republic.

Without necessary investments for buildings or the teaching station and the promise of regular returns, such arrangements are increasingly popular with Western universities with cash.

In Albania, a country that still emerges from long years of isolation under Stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha, the promise of the U.N.Y.T. For “a guarantee for your future” will always find many people.

But, as Mr. Lawton puts it, “the Naziar danger goes against the risk of reputation”. “SUNY is at the top of commercialisation, but in these days the nanopression others will be close behind”, Philip Altbach said.

Based on self-esteem, he warns, “American creditors have assigned the fox to regulate the poultry cage”