On October 11, students will start the new academic year. However this year there is still no decision on how the lectures will take place, in terms of being delivered in the classroom or online. Everything will depend on the pandemic situation caused by Covid 19.

Regardless of where the lesson will take place, two professors, Prof. Dr. Vjollca Karapici, Prof. As. Dr. Irena Bogdani and the student Euxhena Jorgji will not be present at the Faculty of Economics at the University of Tirana. They are among the victims caused by Covid 19 across the country. The Dean of this faculty, Prof. Dr. Dhori Kule and the Rector of the University of Tirana, Prof. Dr. Artan Hoxha, led a ceremony commemorating the two professors and the student, immortalizing them by planting three olive trees in the courtyard of the faculty.

The rector of the University of Tirana used this ceremony to deliver messages to professors and students. He highlighted that it is a reminder to all that the virus has not disappeared and that the danger is still present. He openly declared himself in support of the vaccination process, as the best method science has ever invented, opposing conspiracy theories or sermons on the dangers of vaccines.

“I am not in favor of compulsory vaccination,” said Rector Hoxha, “but we all need to understand that individual freedoms are not inviolable when they affect the lives of a wider community and society as a whole.”

The Rector stated that we all want to get back to the auditoriums and return to the normal learning process as soon as possible, however this decision will belong to the specialized health structures that deal with the management of the pandemic situation.