This project aims to investigate the pivotal role and the impact of the educational networks and expertise circulation in shaping Albania’s economic policies and the formation of a specialised workforce from the 1960s to the 1980s, a key period during which massive industrial economic projects, often of limited benefit and poorly planned, were undertaken for which much expertise and a qualified workforce were needed. The research will also explore the personal experiences of the university students and experts, and the impact of these exchanges on their perception of different realities (East vs West) beyond the Cold War divisions. Thus, the research will debate the concept of isolation in communist Albania by contextualising it better and rethinking isolation from the perspective of a privileged strata of the society, such as that of experts and students.
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