Thursday, 8 September 2011
Tigran Sargsyan: “Armenia’s vision of educational development concords with the rationale of Bologna process”
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan attended today the opening of “Higher Education Financing” international two-day conference in Yerevan as organized in the framework of Armenia’s and Poland’s xo-chairmanship of the Bologna process.
The conference is meant to provide a forum for exchange of views on higher education quality and funding mechanisms, ways of ensuring equality and equity for graduate students and other issues. Participants will be briefed on Bologna process-triggered educational developments and strategic trends in Armenia.
Addressing the audience on behalf of the Armenian government, Tigran Sargsyan said to be convinced that the conference would help promote the Bologna process on our country.
“It is a great honor for us to co-chair the Bologna process together with Poland. The holding of this conference in Yerevan is emblematic in that it coincides with Armenia’s 20th anniversary celebrations. In this respect, education is among the government’s key priorities,” the Premier pointed out. Tigran Sargsyan emphasized that knowledge-based economy and knowledge-based society are the government’s main tools in building the future of Armenia. “It is not a secret that modern universities are the key to building a knowledge-based society. This vision of ours meets halfway the developments going on in Europe in line with the Bologna process. Armenian universities are organized in a way to meet the European standards though they are facing serious challenges in terms of education quality,” the Prime Minister stated.
As he said, fair competition is the principle number one in this field. “This means that we should refrain from showing discriminative approaches while funding public and private institutions. Quality has to be the only criteria in deciding whether to support or not universities,” Tigran Sargsyan underscored by noting that ever more stringent rules are applied during the process of certification.
Armenia’s competitiveness standing was said to have soared 6 points according to the national competitiveness report. “Armenia’s education affordability index in both secondary and graduate terms is much higher than its overall standing. Therefore, teaching quality remains the main bottleneck and the government will have to work hard in this area,” the Premier said noting that the Education and Science Ministry’s systemic strategy should proceed from European standards.
“The Bologna process has gone a long way toward promoting educational reform in Armenia,” the Prime Minister noted adding that the question of education funding is still open for discussion. He expressed conviction that the proceedings of the forum will provide a key to any such controversy outlining ways of developing and modernizing education.
Armenian Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan briefed the guests on the pace of ongoing reform. “Not only does the system of higher education administer knowledge but it also brings up well-trained citizens which is important in both statehood building and prosperity terms.In this respect, the government’s new financing strategy implies a 3-year action plan which is also important terms of European integration. The Bologna process is just the platform where we can advance toward full membership of the European educational system through exchange of know-how and experience sharing.
The conference is attended by Lithuanian Minister of Education and Science Gintaras Steponavichius, university rectors, foreign ambassadors and representatives of international organizations.
