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Innovation, new technologies, and the needs of businesses from all over the globe have supported the fastest growth of the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry worldwide. Businesses operating in different industries consider outsourcing as a strategy that helps to tap into affordable labor markets and skilled workforce.
Even though the industry is growing, it faces several challenges such as the cost of doing business, higher customer expectations, employee attrition, and health concerns.
Therefore, BPOs are always looking for new destinations where they can expand their activity and better address the aforementioned challenges.
Albania is among those countries that benefit BPOs the advantages that the industry is looking for. Besides the geographic position, the ease of doing business, and linguistic diversity, Albania offers an education system that feeds the needs of the BPO sector.
Besides capital city Tirana, there are seven other large urban centers that host public universities. In the meantime, 19 private universities operate in Tirana and other cities.
Five out of the seven public universities operating in Tirana offer study programs that are optimal for the needs of the BPO industry. In general, the sector offers the best employment opportunity for students that don’t have much working experience. Yet, the considerable number of students that graduate every year is significant for pushing BPOs to a higher level of employment opportunities.
The University of Tirana
Capital city Tirana is an urban and university center and attracts most of the Albanian youth. Tirana is 30 minutes drive away from Mother Teresa International Airport and about 45 minutes’ drive away from Durresi Port.
UT has six faculties that provide soft and hard skills for BPO and KPOs.
The Foreign Languages Faculty has study programs for the English, French, German, Italian, Greek, Turkish, Russian, and Spanish languages. A total of over 1,000 new students have enrolled in the foreign languages Bachelor’s programs for the 2018-2019 academic year.
The Faculty of Economy offers study programs for the most sought-after careers in Albania, such as finance, Business Administration, Economics, and Information Economics. The total number of enrolled students for the 2018-2019 academic year is 1,280.
The Law Faculty offers Bachelor’s degrees in Law and Business Administration. The total number of new students enrolled in the ongoing academic year is 775.
The Faculty of Natural Sciences offers ten different study programs including Information Technology (IT), informatics, and mathematics. A total of 1,100 students were enrolled for the 2018-2019 academic year.
The Faculty of Social Sciences offers six different study programs and a total of 600 students were enrolled for the 2018-2019 academic year.
The Polytechnic University
Moreover, the Polytechnic University of Tirana comprises eight faculties that offer various Bachelor’s degrees including:
Informatics Engineering
Electronics Engineering
Telecommunication Engineering
Shkodra, Luigj Gurakuqi University
The northwestern city of Shkodra is the cultural and historic center. It is the gateway to the Albanian Alps, one of the most important tourist offers of Albania. Shkodra borders with Montenegro and has both road and rail infrastructure connections between both countries. A new waterway connection is expected to begin through Shkodra Lake.
The University of Shkodra has six faculties
The Faculty of Natural Sciences
The Foreign Languages Faculty
The Law Faculty
The Economic Faculty
The Faculty of Education Sciences
The Faculty of Social Sciences
Aleksander Moisiu University in Durres
Durresi is one of the largest cities and at the same time the largest seaport in Albania. It is located on the coast of the Adriatic Sea and it is a tourist destination for the Albanian diaspora and tourists from Eastern Europe and the Balkan region. Durresi hosts an expats community from Europe and other continents.
The University of Durres comprises six faculties
The Information Technology Faculty
The Faculty of Business
The Education Faculty including study programs in English and German languages
The Faculty for Professional Studies
The Faculty of Political and Juridical Sciences
The Faculty of Integrated Studies
It is important to highlight that the Information Technology Faculty includes an Informatics study program in the English language. The other study programs in this faculty are:
Computer Sciences
Information Systems
Information Technology
Mathematics-Informatics
Multimedia and Digital TV
The other public universities are Aleksander Xhuvani University in Elbasan, Eqerem Cabej in Gjirokastra, Fan Noli University in Korca. All these institutions of education offer study programs and quotas that can meet the needs of the BPO sector. The industry has already expanded in these and other large cities such as Fier, Lushnja, and Berat.