University of Tirana

The University of Tirana is a public and the largest university in Albania. It was originally established in 1957 as the State University of Tirana through merging of five existing institutes of higher education, the most important of which was the Institute of Sciences, founded in 1947. The main building was planned by Italian architect, Gherardo Bosio at the beginning of 1940. It is situated at the Mother Teresa Square, south of the city center of Tirana.

The primary language of instruction is Albanian, but there are a number of faculties of Foreign Languages which are carried out in English, French, Greek, Italian, Spanish, German, Chinese and other languages.

The university is the largest and highest ranking university in Albania. It includes eight colleges, 50 academic departments, and 41 study programs or majors. Most programs are offered in Tirana; a few smaller affiliated campuses are located in other Albanian cities, including Saranda in the southern part of the country and Kukës in the north. It offers three-year Bachelor, one- or two-year Master, and three- to five-year doctorate degree programs, in accordance with the Bologna system.

The current campus is urban and decentralized. A new large and centralized campus has been planned in the southeast periphery of Tirana. Students dorms are grouped in a separate location called Student City (Qyteti Studenti) in southeast Tirana. UT is the biggest college in Albania and the Balkans, and among the biggest in Europe with 35000 students. In 2013 the college accepted 95 new Ph.D. students. These are students in possession of bachelor's degrees.