How to adapt the education offer to job market needs–A case study of territory reform in Albania

Abstract : Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in developing countries are faced with new and updated demands from the job market and must adapt their offering accordingly. This paper provides a methodological framework to adapt study and training programmes to address labour market needs. The case of territory administrative reform in Albania and the identification of the new skills required will be an illustrative example of that methodological framework. Albania has undertaken important reform that has completely modified its territory planning process from the traditional urban planning approach to a more holistic one referred to as territorial planning and development. However, a successful reform application must be focused on well-trained professionals. The main objective of this research is to address changing job market needs to be induced by new and forthcoming Albanian public policies on sustainable territory administration. Open interviews and structured questionnaires have been used to identify the required skills and competencies. Three skill clusters have been identified: 1) territory management skills, 2) environmental management skills, and 3) rural development policy skills with some specificities related to the scale of activity (central vs local). The results show that a corpus of skills appears to be transversal and useful for a large range of job descriptions at a local and central level.