Professional Education for Automotive Specialists and Change of Their Profiles According to the Trends of the Vehicle Market in Albania

Introduction

In the last 30 years, with the change of the regime from totalitarian to democratic, the way of life and the form of mobility have also changed. This has led to an increase and change of vehicles types. Thus, and the need for vehicle repair and maintenance [2] are increased.

Industry of vehicles today in Albania consisting of about 3550 services car repair shops, over 210 spare parts sales units, 15 new car dealerships with over 22.000 employees serving a fleet of 740700 vehicles.

Table 1. Number of vehicles in year 2021 (DPSHTRr – statistics sector)

Number of total in year 2021 in Albania are 740669 vehicles, where the regions Tirana 35% [14], Durrës 13%, Fier 10% and Elbasan 7% have the main part of the fleet of road vehicles. From the table above we see that 80% of the totals are private cars.

The Albanian education system that prepares specialists in the field of automobiles starts from general secondary (gymnasium) or professional education [11].

These specialists then turn to universities for the bachelor or 2-year professional cycle.

According to the data, professional high schools [4] offer 22 basic profiles, where 5 engineering profiles represent 25% of all students.

Table 2. The data for high school student

These students enroll in university to deepen their knowledge and employment opportunities. In Albania have 2 public universities and 3 Professional Colleges serve to prepare these senior specialists for vehicles.

According to INSTAT statistics [6], 84.8% of active enterprises are service providers. Albania's economic development trends [16] with small and medium enterprises necessarily require the accelerated development of short-term 2-year professional study programs, which will prepare "masters in crafts".

This academic year marked a strong turn towards vocational education, enrollment in professional high schools increased, as a result and in university.

Methodology

To assess the potential labor market for the mechanic profile for automobile we have summarized the analytical employment data in the last years and the current and future requirements from vehicle services, from car showrooms, from car parts sales points. We are presenting this data in the bellows tables.

Total number of car service in the territory registered in the National Business Center varies 2900-4600.

The number of car autoservices that have more than 10 employees has increased from 30 to 80 car service.

The number of vehicle services is stable, with a slight upward trend.

New vehicles use increasingly advanced technology to increase traffic safety and reduce accidents.

The changes of new vehicles produced in recent years, towards the use of biofuels and the growing trend of electric vehicles [7], in order to reduce air pollution and achieve a sustainable transport, have changed the profiles from purely mechanical to electromechanical, as reflected in the table below.

Discussion

In Albania there has been a steady increase in vehicles although under average per capita [3] the regional. Currently the import of cars is allowed with the obligation of Euro4 and surely this space will be narrowed more and more quickly. The trend of new cars with 0 km is always growing. The technological level of cars currently circulating has increased, the trend is towards cars that feed on alternative fuels as GPL, hybrid, hydrogen and electric.

Albania is moving towards membership in Europe and as in any sector, including that of car repair and maintenance, is obliged to adopt laws and regulations which will soon direct this sector to cars to create less and less pollution.

The curricula of Universities and Professional Colleges that prepare these senior specialists for vehicles must adapt to these requirements presented by the labor market and new trends in production technologies of road vehicles.

Analysis

The collected statistical analyzes show an increase in the demand for qualified and certified technical specialists in the vehicle repair and maintenance sector. Currently the same numbers of mechanic profiles are required, but at the same time we find that there is an increasing trend for electrical and electronic profiles as well.

The tendency of Auto Services itself is to reduce their number in total, but the few that will remain will have a larger number of employees. There is also a tendency for dedicated car services to be dedicated to a vehicle brand in order to minimize working hours and process costs.

Conclusions

From these results we conclude that improving the curricula of programs that prepare technical staff is a necessity to follow these changes with high growth in the automotive industry.

To increase the quality of students preparing for auto-mechanics it is necessary to dynamically and functionally integrate teaching with professional practice and experience.

Continuous training of academic staff, laboratory improvements and increased cooperation with entities that provide technological innovations in the field of vehicle repair and maintenance are also important factors for the preparation of skilled specialists for this labor market.

References