About Us

The University of Arts (Albanian: Universiteti I Arteve), formerly known as the Academy of Arts (Albanian: Akademia e Arteve), is a public university and the main institution that offers higher education of arts in Albania.

Founded in 1966 as the Higher Institute of Arts (Albanian: Instituti i Lartë I Arteve), it merged three artistic institutions: the Tirana State Conservatory, the Higher School of Fine Arts, and the High School for Actors “Aleksander Moisiu”. The institute was able to take advantage of the Russian tradition in classical music and ballet due to the fact that Albania and Russia had close relationships during communism. The school still maintains ties with the Russian School of Ballet and Classical Music. In 1991, the Higher Institute of Arts was promoted to university level and renamed Academy of Arts. On October 12, 2009, the President of Albania, Bamir Topi awarded the Academy of Arts the "Grand Master Order".