How to Get Into a University in Albania: U-Albania, Matura and Foreign Diplomas

Fee figures: catalogue of 6 October 2026.

Albania has a national application portal, U-Albania, but it is built mainly for Albanian school-leavers who sit the State Matura. If your secondary diploma is from another country, the rules are different: you apply directly to each institution, in programmes that have places reserved for foreign-diploma holders. The rules sit in the Ministry of Education's Instruction No. 12 of 30 June 2023, as amended in 2024 and 2026.

Two routes

• Albanian State Matura graduates (and candidates from Kosovo, who the Instruction covers in the same procedure) apply online on U-Albania. They fill in the application, pay a fee of 2,000 lek at the post office or a second-tier bank, and choose up to 10 programmes in order of preference. Points come from the average of all secondary-school years, the State Matura average and the other criteria that each university sets for its programme.
• Holders of a foreign secondary diploma apply to the institutions themselves, by the deadlines each institution sets, in programmes where it has foreseen quotas for this category. They may also apply to up to 10 programmes at one or several institutions. The application fee is set by the institution and paid into its account.

The calendar of the national rounds is approved each year by order of QSHA and RASH, so check U-Albania for the dates. Private institutions can run their own application on top of the national one; read each university's website.

The minimum average

The Council of Ministers sets a minimum secondary-school average for entry to first-cycle and integrated programmes, in its Decision No. 436 of 3 June 2020, which has been amended since. The average is a simple mean of the final annual grades in all years of upper secondary school and of the State Matura exam grades. Candidates of Albanian origin from Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Preševo, Medveđa and Bujanovac are exempt from it. For people who finished school abroad, QSHA calculates the average; if there are no State Matura exams, a commission decides how it is calculated. Read the current minimum on U-Albania rather than relying on an old figure.

What foreign applicants submit

According to the Instruction, a foreign-diploma applicant gives the institution:

• the application form and a signed declaration;
• the QSHA document confirming recognition of the secondary diploma, with the diploma and the grade list, or proof that you have applied to QSHA;
• a copy of your ID or passport, two photographs and the payment receipt;
• proof of Albanian, if the programme is taught in Albanian.

You can be admitted and enrolled provisionally if the QSHA recognition is still in progress. The institution ranks candidates by its own criteria and publishes the ranking and its selection formula. You have three days to appeal after the results. You can enrol on only one of the programmes you won, and the enrolment is final. See document recognition for Albania.

Language

For programmes taught in Albanian you need proof of Albanian, unless you already completed a study programme in Albanian at an Albanian institution. For English-taught programmes each university sets its own rule: the University of Vlora, for example, accepts TOEFL, IELTS or equivalent, or an earlier diploma taught in English. See bachelor's degrees in English in Albania and IELTS and TOEFL for European universities.

What is on offer

Our catalogue lists 536 bachelor's and integrated programmes at 34 institutions, state and private, and 85 of them are marked as taught in English. Albania publishes no entry scores, so our pages show none.

Step by step

1. Choose the programmes and read the quotas and selection formula on U-Albania and on the university site.
2. Start the QSHA recognition of your diploma, which takes time.
3. Apply to the institution by its deadline and pay its fee.
4. Wait for the ranking list, appeal if needed, and enrol.
5. If you need a visa, ask the university for the admission letter. See student visa for Albania.

Where to look next

• How much it costs to study in Albania
• All 536 programmes in Albania
• Student visa for Albania
• Student housing in Albania
• Student visas in Europe: an overview

Official sources

• U-Albania: national application portal
• Instruction No. 12 of 30.6.2023 on application and registration, updated 2026: copy on the University of Medicine, Tirana site (in Albanian)
• Council of Ministers Decision No. 436 of 3.6.2020 on the minimum average: copy on the University of Tirana site (in Albanian)
• QSHA: notice on recognition of foreign secondary diplomas (in Albanian)
• University of Vlora: international students

Always check current information on the official website of the university before you apply.