In Albania, more and more young people are opting to study abroad at universities in Europe and the United States. By the end of the 2023-2024 academic year, around 14,000 young Albanians were studying abroad, with over 1,000 of them enrolled in universities in the United States. Voice of America correspondent Pëllumb Sulo brings us the experience of young Arbri Kopliku, who, after successfully completing his studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, is now preparing to start his doctoral studies at Harvard Medical School.
For young Albanians studying in Europe and America, these are the last days of their summer holidays in their homeland, as they will soon return to their lecture halls. Arbri Kopliku, a young man from Shkodra, will also be heading back to the U.S. for further studies in a few days. Over the past four years, he completed his studies in Bioengineering with high honors at MIT, and in early September, he will begin his doctoral studies at Harvard University.
“I will return to the U.S., back to Boston, to start my doctoral studies in a joint program between Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where I did my bachelor’s. I will be studying biomedical engineering, specifically working in a lab that develops new personalized treatments on a nano scale, very small, for cancer specifically, but also to treat many types of cancers using the same technology,” he told Voice of America.
Arbri says that his experience at MIT was quite special as a student, as studying at one of the best universities in the world gave him the opportunity to learn about the latest developments in scientific research, choose his subjects, and interact with professors who were at the forefront of immunology and the fight against COVID-19. Above all, it allowed him to participate in practical learning in laboratories and world-renowned companies.
“It was the post-COVID period,” he said, “and that influenced how science was focused. The fastest-growing laboratories were those producing antibodies and vaccines and advancing in scientific research, especially for infectious diseases.”
This helped him get involved in scientific research and apply theoretical knowledge through major projects at some of the most well-known companies in America, where he completed his internships.
“My first time was at Moderna, the company that produced the COVID vaccine and many other things. My job was to test different combinations of mRNA, which was the vaccine’s content, to make the vaccines more stable at higher temperatures and easier to produce. Then, the following summer, I entered a completely different field, surprisingly suited to the education I had received at school, but it was for biomedical devices. The company produced devices for diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer,” he said.
Boston is home to a large community of Albanians, including many young people from Albanian-speaking regions, who study at universities in Boston. This, Arbri says, was a great opportunity to establish the Albanian Students Association at MIT, through which they participate in fairs, exhibitions, Balkan and European cultural festivals, and interact with the “Besa” association and St. George’s Church in Boston.
A year ago, together with another young Albanian studying in Canada, they founded the nonprofit organization “Albanian Trailblazers,” which offers mentoring and support to young Albanians who want to study abroad.
“We managed to create an organization called ‘Albanian Trailblazers,’ which has grown significantly over the past year. We’ve managed to create a group for workshops where successful Albanians around the world can come and share their professional experiences or passions. We’ve created a group to connect Albanians, aiming to form specific groups like Albanians in Boston, London, or Austria, and achieve the goal of meeting physically, not just virtually,” he said.
The doctoral studies at Harvard University are expected to last almost six years—a long and challenging journey for the young man from Shkodra, Arbri Kopliku—but he remains optimistic about overcoming them, driven by the goals he has for the future.
“A Ph.D. in the U.S. is quite long, about 5-6 years, but thinking beyond that, I have the desire to package the knowledge I gain during my Ph.D. and discoveries in such a way that it becomes a company in the future. To open a company and, why not, involve Albania as much as it can contribute to the development of technologies for treating various diseases, as well as for the production of biopharmaceutical products,” he concluded.
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