The Basic Emphasis Will be on the Quality of Education
2018-10-15
Today, the RA Deputy Minister of Education and Science, Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, met with the rectors of private universities. The Deputy Minister mentioned that during the previous discussion a clear task was put forward to think about the enlargement and reunification of higher educational institutions in the light of new changes and particularly of the new law on Higher Education. “It is obvious that today we need a new law which we are working on. One of the most important features of the law is that we will not have distance learning anymore, which may cause some difficulties not only for private but also for state universities. However, the policy we had adopted is clear: education in Armenia will no longer be a field implementing a social function; the main emphasis will be on the quality of education. This means that the Ministry of Education and Science will become a body that will control, ensure and demand the quality of education, as well as develop that policy. The social issues, of course, will not be ignored, but they will not be a priority”, Hovhannes Hovhannisyan mentioned, referring also to the accreditation process of higher educational institutions. “Both the requirements and the consequences of institutional and program accreditation should be clarified. If we take steps towards improving the quality of education, then the type of university is not essential: each – both state and private universities – must abide by the same rules of the game. Today we have a problem with licensing as well, because the accreditation threshold is not clearly defined. The issue of medical specialties is particularly problematic in this regard: the irresponsible activity of one institution often disrupts the rest. We should clearly realize that no unaccountable step will be left without consequences. We do not have reservation to any higher educational institution; none of the universities has an advantage over the others. The experience of the world shows that the high-quality institutions are the private ones, and our goal is to have powerful private universities that focus on the quality of education”, the Deputy Minister said. Hovhannes Hovhannisyan also exhorted to ensure the transparency and visibility of foreign language programs of the higher education institutions in the process of internationalization of the universities, so that they can attract foreign students.
