Last week Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union coincided with the republic’s preparation for participation in the multistage education program: the Eurasian Education Project. Armenian Minister of Education and Science Armen Ashotyan explains in his interview for the Russkiy Mir portal, why it is needed, why Armenian adolescents are interested in getting their tertiary education abroad, and how Yerevan prepares for new programs.
— Why does Armenia need the Eurasian Education Project?
— For the same reason Russia or any other member state need it. It is aimed at creating a common labor market, based on universal educational standards similar to the Bologna process in the EU. For everybody realizes that the common EAU would be impossible without the joint training and distribution of labor resources. The new hi-tech economics is impossible without skilled white-collar and blue-collar workers and the mutual recognition of diplomas.
— How close are our nations to the common labor market?
— The growth potential is available in humanities and it is realized, but not maximally. We have good experience – close contacts between the science and education ministries of different countries, albeit irregular and unsystematic. What is lacking is the disciplining regularity.
— Is the Republic of Armenia interested to have its youth studying at Russian universities?
— Of course, we are interested in the Armenian youth getting education abroad, including in Russia. However, we have two problems here or two limitations. Problem number one is the postponement of military service – in our country everything is very strict and uncompromising in this matter. In four recent years the number of places in national universities with the postponement of military service has been cut fivefold and more is yet to come. For the sake of raising the prestige of military service we changed the law and will strictly regulate the postponement of military service for our students. The matter also regards those students who study abroad, based on intergovernmental and interstate programs. My point is that they will have to interrupt their studies for the sake of military service, which does not always suit the inviting side. For instance, this factor hampers the Russian-Armenian and German-Armenian collaboration in education, both in terms of motivation and the number of students.
— And what is problem number two?
— The second factor hassling us is defectors. We do not object to our graduates working for a time in Russia if they do not stay there for permanent residence. Given the difficult demographic situation in the country, the outflow of young guys at the child-bearing age is much more dangerous than if we get the notorious brain leakage at the output.
— But you can include in the contract with enrollees and the receiving side a strict clause about the return of students, especially if they study on government funds?
— We stipulate in clear terms one condition: the return of our students to their homeland. Thus, we’ve developed a special agreement with our colleagues from Germany and Russia, where our guys and girls study. As part of the approved cooperation program Armenian students do not have the right to non-return.
— Not only Armenia is crippled by demography. Germany and Russia face similar problems. On the other hand, if you bind your students to come back, doesn’t it violate their human rights or the freedom of movement? What if this student becomes an outstanding, world-renowned scientist who will not be able to unfold his or her potential in a small Armenian town?
— Human rights related issues certainly arise in the legal field. The German side unlikely faces similar problems which harass Armenia and Russia as well. In some exceptional cases we can make an arrangement about offsetting the tuition costs, but… Some nations like Russia can afford paying for talent, while Armenia is too small and everything is in full view here… ‘Exceptions’ will pull the plug on the principles of our education policy. Despite all these problems we are still ready and interested to consider the opportunity of increasing quotas for Armenian students at the universities of Russia and the CIS, but with proper regard for those two above-mentioned factors.
— What specific areas of tertiary education or universities are you interested in?
— Here we are not unique. We want these universities to be world-renowned temples of knowledge or to be involved in the Bologna process. Russia and the CIS have different universities. We keep track of reforms going on in the Russian tertiary education and we are quite vanilla in this respect. We’d like to obtain and build up quotas in two main national universities: MSU and SPbSU, in the seven federal and 23 national research institutes plus quotas at specialized universities, which have not been so far been included in the Russian-Armenian educational exchange: MGIMO, the famous Baumanka, Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Institute of Asian and African Nations. In the latter we are particularly interested in Ottoman and Islam studies and are ready to consider any proposals from the Russian side in this field.
— Do Russian partners respond to your requests?
— We’ve already solved two major problems with Russian Education Minister, Mr. Livanov. The first one is the quality of Armenian enrollees and the quality of exam monitoring. And in my opinion, in 2014 we’ve organized the best enrollment for the entire history of joint education programs. Of course, there are some technical problems in need of further elaboration, but the very concept of the Armenian Education and Science Ministry’s involvement in Russian education projects is already an element of mutual trust. And no collaboration is possible within the Eurasian educational project without trust. We are disposed towards mutual trust not only thanks to the traditionally friendly historical background and baggage of Russian-Armenian relationship, but also thanks to personal contacts on all levels. This is definitely an element of diplomacy. Perhaps it is sometimes difficult to differentiate between the state, partisan, or personal contacts, but personal connections and other complex liaison channels are certainly helpful.
Interviewer: Anna Loshchikhina
