RA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE PLANS TO CREATE EDUCATION QUALITY NATIONAL REGISTER
Noyan Tapan
April 24, 2008
YEREVAN, APRIL 24, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Ministry of Education and
Science plans to create Education Quality National Register in 2008,
the goal of which is to control the process of bringing the higher
educational institutions’ educational system in line with international
education standards. As Levon Mkrtchian, the RA Minister of Education
and Science, said at the April 23 press conference, the structure’s
founding has a goal of not only controlling, but also to some extent
regulating university education in the country. He said that for
that purpose universities are to first "evaluate themselves," after
which the "self-evaluation" is to be passed to the Quality National
Service, which, in its turn, is to evaluate university education in
country’s higher educational institutions on the basis of them and
is to introduce the results to the Education European Quality Service.
The Minister of Education and Science said that after all this the
Education European Quality Service will already decide how much
"honestly" and "correctly" Armenia evaluates its higher education
system. Positive results will be a basis for Armenia’s joining the
Education European Quality Service.
For bringing the educational system in line with European standards
on the way of European integration L. Mkrtchian first of all singled
out the necessity to carry out content reforms in the system. Only
introduction of the credit system and three-level educational order in
the universities, according to the Minister, does not mean yet that
universities ensure education of international level. The Minister
noted that the content problems have not been solved yet parallel
with positive shifts in this sector of education today.
L. Mkrtchian emphasized that these problems regard both state and
private higher educational institutions. "Today there are nearly 60
thousand students in Armenia, nearly 20 thousand of which study at
private institutions and 40 thousand at state ones. The goal of the
Education Quality National Register is also to evaluate the education
quality of private and state universities. And unless a university
is able to ensure education corresponding to international standards,
its working will be already considered senseless," he added.