the student data together with their identification numbers and grades on the school certificates, as well as the basis of teacher data containing information pertaining to their skills and knowledge, is currently non-functional. The Electronic Higher Education Database, which includes the National Register of Students, albeit existing, presents many issues. The Financial Module which manages the finances and budget of the educational institutions in the central and local level, funcions only partially in a few Regional Educational Directorates. Investments in the direction of development of human resources in utilization of these systems have been extremely reduced and this has resulted in a very limited utilization of them. In 2012, the piloting scheme of the application for the Online System of the State Matura Test using form A2, distribution of the winners as per the Merit-Preference principle, as well as the online registration of students at the universities in both stages of the first round were completed successfully. The limit values of students for the distribution of computer laboratories, respectively 5 desktops/students and one for the teacher; 10 desktops/students and one for the teacher; as well as 15 desktops/students and one for the teacher have been up to 300 students, from 300 to 600 students and over 600 students. The equipment according to the above configurations is connected through internal cable networks with Switch, without any management programme, or application for subject content. Amongst the ICT issues in education, it is worth mentioning the following: - - - the ratio of computer use per student, varies from school to school; approximately, this ratio is 1:27 and in some cases even lower; students may obtain information only in the computer laboratories, but not in the other school locations, i.e. the library; in more than 1/3 of schools, students - - have limited opportunity in obtaining information online; there is a complete lack of digital content in the mother-tongue; only internet content that varies from the used source is used; there is a risk of exposure towards innapropriate content; there is no awareness for children in internet utilization for phenomenon, such as, mocking, cyberbullying or grooming. Despite the investments already carried out, utilization of ICT in the education institutions is limited. There is a need for more investments and attention for the ICT in education in order to provide a society based on knowledge and to widely increase the skills of ICT utilization. Scientific research and innovation Policies undertaken in the field of scientific research during the period of 2009-2013, intended reforming of this important sector for the economy and development of the country. Implementation of this reform in the science system, as noted, resulted in a few modest achievements with the main aim to integrate higher education with science. The Agency of Research, Technology and innovation (ARTI) was established during this period. The agency made a few efforts to increase participation in scientific research projects in the EU and international programmes. The Albanian Government set up funds from the state budget for 550 new vacancies and supported the best PHD students through the Brain Gain and the Excellency Fund Programmes. One of the main indicators of the lack of progress in the field of scientific research is the extreme low number of inclussion of the Albanian research institutions in the international scientific research programmes and benefits from them. This comes as a result of the lack of the necessary institutional and 17