des, at least quantitatively, in education since it
came to power in 1944 (see table 5). From a total enrollment of less
than 60,000 students of all levels in the 1938/39 school year, according
to the Tirana press, the number had reached over 570,000 in the 1969/70
school year, with a teaching staff of 22,000. The total enrollment
included pupils in the compulsory eight-year schools and students,
workers, and collective farmers in the eight-year general education,
secondary, trade, and professional schools, the State University of
Tirana, and other higher institutes of learning.

Nearly half of the total enrollment represented adults attending evening
and correspondence courses. An article in the April 5, 1970, issue of
_Zeri i Popullit_ admitted that, of those originally enrolled in
September 1969 in evening elementary, secondary, higher education,
trade, and vocational courses, from 25 to 50 percent either dropped out
or were often absent.

According to available official statistics, nearly 500,000 people were
enrolled in schools and courses in the 1967/68 academic year; this
included all adults who registered for, but did not necessarily attend
regularly, technical and vocational courses, evening classes, or
correspondence courses. In the same academic year the State University
of Tirana and five other higher institutes of learning had a total
enrollment of 12,435 students, of whom nearly 8,000 attended the State
University of Tirana (see table 6). Of the total enrollment, over 4,000
were adults or part-time students.

In the 1945-56 period, that is, before the founding of the State
University of Tirana, the government sent a number of students to pursue
their education in the Soviet-bloc countries, mostly the Soviet Union.
When the break came with Moscow in 1961, all students were either
expelled or withdrawn from all these countries. According to documents
published by the Tirana government after the break, at the beginning of
the 1961/62 academic year there were 1,213 Albanian students already
enrolled in Soviet institutions, and an additional 100 were to enroll
during that academic year. They were all expelled by the Soviets except
for a few who asked for and obtained political asylum. In 1970 an
unknown number of students were attending schools in the People's
Republic of China (Communist China), and a few in Romania and Italy.

_Table 5. Summary of Educational Institutions, Pupils, and Teachers