STUDENTS WITHOUT BORDERS
By Aghavni Harutyunyan
AZG DAILY
25-03-2011
Some of them go abroad to live independently or to improve their
knowledge, others to establish contacts and to gain new friends. Most
of them end up having the greatest experience of their life. Thousands
of students every year join the EU-funded Erasmus Mundus programme,
one of the most efficient tools Europe has created to bring up a new
generation of youth, free from stereotypes and prejudice. If Erasmus
Mundus supports students, Tempus promotes transfer of expertise
between universities. Both programmes are powerful instruments
to strengthen education and to promote European values and ideals
throughout the world.
“I learned to live independently, to communicate freely and openly,
I gained new friends and new knowledge: it was the greatest experience
of my life”. Shushanik Khachatryan was doing her bachelor studies at
the Armenian State University of Economics, when she was presented
with the opportunity to continue her studies in Thessaloniki, Greece.
She accepted it. And the 10 months she spent in Europe thanks to the
EU-supported Erasmus Mundus project, have changed her life forever.
“During the first five months, I studied management at a Greek
university, then I continued my exchange year taking practical courses
in one hotel. It was great. I’ll be forever thankful to this project,
because it gave me the opportunity to study and live in a multicultural
environment, to deepen my professional knowledge and to create new
and useful contacts. It was a huge life experience,” she says.
Erasmus Mundus supports non-European students in their efforts to
study at a European university for one or two years. On a different
level, another EU-funded programme – Tempus – provides opportunities
for higher education institutions. “Since 1995,” says Lana Karlova,
National Tempus office coordinator in Armenia, “this programme has
helped us to develop curricula and teaching materials, to upgrade
facilities, and to improve university administration.”
Both Tempus and Erasmus Mundus are EU-funded programmes for the
exchange of students and academic expertise between Europe and its
neighbouring countries. According to Ara Avetisyan, Deputy Minister
of Education and Science of Armenia, Tempus and Erasmus Mundus are
the most efficient international programmes in Armenia supporting
education. “When many years ago we were making the first attempts to
find partners,” he says, “the first steps were taken through Tempus.”
Bridging the cultural, linguistic, social divide
Erasmus Mundus is based on financing scholarships to exchange students
between universities in Europe and neighbouring countries. Erasmus
Mundus refers to both undergraduate and postgraduate students, and
it aims at bridging the cultural, linguistic, and social divide. The
scholarship covers all expenses, from plane tickets to tuition fees.
Thanks to the programme, many Armenian students have been able through
the years to explore European universities. At the same time, Armenia
has received students from European universities.
These exchanges have a deep impact on young people’s life, developing
their overall personality and their professional knowledge. After
coming back to Armenia, for example, Shushanik and her Erasmus Mundus
friends have tried to increase the visibility of this programme and
they have established AEGEE-Yerevan, a branch of the international
non-governmental organisation “AEGEE-European Students’ Forum”. “Now
AEGEE is one of the biggest organisations in Europe with more than
15,000 members in 240 academic cities,” says Shushanik, who is now
the president of the Armenian branch.
Transferring expertise between universities
On the other hand, Tempus is specialised in promoting higher
education. It is based on transferring expertise between European
educational institutions and their counterparts in partner countries.
Tempus finances mostly two types of actions: joint projects and
structural measures. The joint projects are based on multilateral
partnerships. Such projects develop, modernise and disseminate
new curricula, teaching methods or materials, they modernise the
management and governance of higher education institutions. The
structural measures contribute to the development and reform of higher
education institutions in partner countries, enhancing their quality
and relevance.
Since 1995, Tempus has supported 42 projects in Armenia, 14 in the
field of university management and 28 on curriculum development.
“These projects cover many different domains,” continues Lana Karlova,
the national coordinator, “we go from environmental studies to
engineering and technology, from medical sciences to tourism, law
and humanities.”
Yerevan State University (YSU) Rector Aram Simonyan has no doubts:
“Thanks to Tempus, a stronger cooperation has been developed between
Armenian higher education institutions. Before the programme, each
of them preferred to act alone.”
Geographic information technology is the future
“In 2010” continues Lana Karlova, “four projects involving Armenian
higher education institutions have been selected for funding.” One of
them – Geographic information technology for sustainable development in
Eastern Neighbouring countries – is the continuation of a successful
cooperation started under a previous Tempus edition. This project
deals with GIS (Gographic Information Systems) that capture, store,
analyze and present data that are linked to locations. Such systems
digitally create and manipulate spatial areas for decision making
purposes, be it in urban planning or agriculture, natural resources
management or archeology etc. In this project Swedish, Spanish and
German universities will cooperate with two institutes from Ukraine,
two from Moldova and three from Armenia. The total volume of the
grant is ~@925,941 for a three-year programme.
According to Sargis Stepanyan, head of the department of economics,
law and management of Yerevan State University of Architecture and
Constructions, in Armenia there is still no programme connected with
GIS, though the growing importance of this sphere is nowadays of no
doubt. “Thanks to the project,” he says, “bachelor’s and master’s
programmes will be developed and laboratories established.”
From: A. Papazian