Tirana University

University of Tirana

Universiteti i Tiranës
University of Tirana coat of arms
Type	Public
Established	16 September 1957
Rector	Prof. Dr. Mynyr Koni
Academic staff	900+
Students	35,000
Location	Tirana, Albania
Campus	Urban decentralized. (new suburban, centralized campus is under construction)
Colours
Affiliations	Balkan Universities Network Erasmus Mundus UNSHP UNICA EUA AUF UNIMED CMU BSUN ASECU IUC. Partners: University of Bamberg Germany University of Nebraska-Lincoln United States
Website	www.unitir.edu.al

The University of Tirana (Albanian: Universiteti i Tiranës) 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 of Tirana was founded in 1957 as the State University of Tirana (Albanian: Universiteti Shtetëror i Tiranës), through the merging of five existing institutes of higher education, the most important of which was the Institute of Sciences, founded in 1947. Immediately after the death of Enver Hoxha in 1985, the university was renamed the Enver Hoxha University of Tirana (Albanian: Universiteti i Tiranës Enver Hoxha) until 1992.

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.