Today, the role of universities has changed and universities are not being only seen as creators and transmitters of knowledge but also as institutions that give innovative answers to economic and social challenges of society. The entrepreneurial university model is referred to many as the “Ideal state” of a university in responding efficiently and effectively to challenges and opportunities and being able to be competitive in today’s environment of universities by fulfilling the university’s “third mission”. Even though many definitions exist for the concept of an entrepreneurial university, an overall common definition is lacking due to the fact that each institution follows a unique transformation path which is influenced by various economic and social factors of the environment they operate. The goal of this paper is to contribute to the understating of the above mentioned definition of an entrepreneurial university, how this concept is viewed in public higher education institutions in Albania and to identify which are the most important factors that might facilitate or serve as barriers for Higher Education Institutions (HEI-s) that might want to move towards this institutional approach. A questionnaire was distributed to academics in 5 higher public institutions in Albania and received 372 responses. An empirical study was conducted to contribute to the literature on the entrepreneurial university aspects with a specific focus on Albanian Higher Education Institutions. The results show that even in Albania, a common accepted definition is lacking. Factors such as cooperation with the private sector, appropriate reward systems, presence of role models and flexible structures are among the most important facilitators. While a lack of funding and inadequate links with the private sector are seen as the greatest barriers for public HEIs in Albania in becoming entrepreneurial institutions.

Albanian higher education sector has undergone various changes in the last years. Such changes have brought different implication and challenges for higher education institutions. HEIs need to find new and innovative ways to be able to respond properly and play their role in the society. This paper aims to provide an evaluation of the staus quo of 5 public higher education instituions, that took part in the study, in regard to 6 aspects of the entrepreneurial university model.Interviews were conducted using HEInnovate tool as a theoretical guideline and questions were asked by being grouped in 6 categories: on aspects such as governance and lidership, internationalization, knowledge exchange, human and financial resources, entrepreneurial education and start up support and measures, were conducted in order to have a general overview and identify potential areas of improvement. Entrepreneurship needs to be supported and formilazed by the top lidership and effective organizational structure that promotes entrepreneurshop at all levels of the institution, financial stream needs to be diversified, blended learning needs to be encourgaed and promoted and public HEIs need to increase their international cooperation and presence. The study shows that HEIs need to implement new practies in order to better be prepared to face the current and future challenges. The findings and recommendation can be used to present measures to be undertaken both at institutional level of HEIs and at the level of policy makers in Albania.

In today’s modern world, emotional intelligence (EI) has a strong connection in the work environment and it is considered to be one of the key factors in the well-functioning of institutions, especially of educational ones. The main aim of this study is to identify, whether the directors of the schools of the pre-high educational system in Albania are aware of the concept of emotional intelligence, are trained and if they implement it in their leading style, in order to achieve an overall success in schools. The study also aims to identify the differences between new and senior principals in using EI. The research methodology is quantitative, 183 questionnaires were filled in by teachers in 11 different schools of the pre high educational institutions in Tirana. The instrument used consists of 40 standard statements that cover all five characteristics of the emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-control, motivation, empathy and social skills, by analyzing the level of agreement in a 1-5 Likert scale. The study has shown that principals and teachers of the pre high educational system in Albania have no knowledge on emotional intelligence and as a result they do not implement it. The principals do possess some elements of emotional intelligence as a part of their soft skills, but they are not aware of them and do not use them in increasing the teachers’ work satisfaction. Also, there is no difference in the usage of emotional intelligence between young and senior principals, apart from the fact that the seniors have better developed soft skills. This would help them to come closer to the characteristics of emotional intelligence. The results of the study imply some recommendations for policy makers, school’s principals and mentor teachers in increasing the use of emotional intelligence in the pre high educational system in Albania. The results confirm the necessity to train the principals about the latest news in the field of education, ethics, communication and leadership with a focus on raising leadership within the focus of Emotional Intelligence. The ministry of Education, Sport and Youth should design policies for the professional development of leaders and teachers in accordance with new management strategies such as emotional intelligence.