“Professional studies connect the lecture hall with the labour market and the laboratory with businesses, giving degrees greater value when they are designed well,” Kumbaro said at the inauguration.

She said Durres, with its port, industrial, tourism and logistics sectors, was well placed to benefit from programmes tailored to labour-market needs.

Kumbaro said more than 1,900 new students had enrolled at Durres University this academic year, attributing the increase to investment and improvements in teaching quality.

She also highlighted the university’s progress in internationalisation, saying its scientific journal had been indexed in Scopus, while the University of Tirana had this year become the first Albanian university to be ranked by Times Higher Education.

The University “Aleksandër Moisiu” is among institutions holding “reporter” status with Times Higher Education, she said, alongside four private universities, with the aim of being ranked in the future.

Kumbaro said Albanian universities were expanding joint and double-degree programmes with institutions in Italy, Portugal, Germany and Spain, while 26 new programmes were being added to the range of courses taught in English.

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In context of the internationalization initiative, a team of colleagues from the Albanian Health Fund visited the Faculty of Dental Medicine and also delivered a series of lectures on the topic of digital dentistry.

Dean of the Faculty Edit Xhajanka highlighted the tradition of about 25 years of scientific and professional cooperation, but also of friendship with distinguished American professionals and professors.

Xhajanka expressed gratitude to Dr. John Gillan, Prof. Ruzhdie Qafmolla, Prof. Rozarka Budina, Prof. Besnik Gavazi and Prof. Edvin Selmani, who were the first to pave the way to this cooperation and friendship, as well as to all the American professors who join the team that comes to the faculty every year.

The team of prominent American professionals and professors held open lectures for students of dental medicine from November 10 to 14. They focused on advanced innovations in the dental field, the digitization process, as a new experience that aims to be implemented in our country. /j.p/p.s./