– YSEU was one of the pioneer universities to adopt the system of credits, which is a part of the Bologna process. What do you think about it? Does it meet your expectations?
– Since 2006 our university has been working to comply with the requirements of the process of Bologna. Since 2004 our university has transformed to the two-level system of education – BA and MA, which is a requirement of Bologna process too. Since 2006 the university is using the credit system and now all the BA courses are studying under the credit system. Generally our expectations have been met because it is effective. This system in our country has been adopted based on the experience of European universities and to some extent of the American ones. Many representatives of European countries cooperating with our university have appreciated the system we are using, which has a history of four years in our university. Of course we changed separate components every year, but the logic of the system is the same. We are planning to adopt this system in the MA too. The study plans used in European universities have been very useful for us as standards.
– What is the main purpose of adopting the Bologna system?
– The main goal of the Bologna process is the creation of a common education system among the European countries to enable students move in Europe freely. Meanwhile it is important to provide a high level of education to make it consistent with the standards of such countries. In other words, our goal is not only to make t consistent but also provide a high level of education. Besides the mentioned actions we have also activated our international contacts. If we don’t keep contact with European countries, if our lecturers and students don’t visit those countries, we can’t solve the problem of improving the education quality and making it consistent with the European standards. For this purpose we have intensified the international contacts through programs such as Erasmus Mundus and others to make our educational system be accepted by the external world ad solve the problem of mutual recognition of diplomas. From the point of view of time we have to pass through several phases to reach this goal. From the point of view of the education quality and plans we have a lot of improvements. We have shortcomings concerning the implementers, the lecturers and education technologies. However in the future in order to pass through the phase of mutual recognition we have to pass through another phase of accreditation. We have a vision of provision quality, as a result of which we will be able to reach the goal of mutual recognition resulting in international accreditation, thus international recognition as well. I think we are close to the final phase. We are ready to fulfill the accreditation requirements and I don’t think we will need much time.
– Has your university had any specific programs with European universities since the adoption of this system?
– In 2007 our university participated in the Erasmus Mundus program sponsored by the European Union, in the framework of which dozens of students have been retrained in the universities of France, Italy, Greece and Latvia. The program continues this year as well.
– As a rule changes are opposed, especially in the sector of education where some traditions inherited from the Soviet times still prevail. Has this process of Bologna been opposed too?
– Such resistance exists always and I have tried to overcome it from the very beginning. We organized series of seminars and we started it from the adoption of the credit system. In June 2006 our staff was already ready to transform to the new system but at that time different universities asked to delay the adoption for one year. I asked our personnel whether to transform to the new system or no and everyone was for it. Thus, we could successfully overcome the first wave of resistance. Certainly there is silent resistance because the educational system is conservative. However it is not so strong to be an obstacle. If we said that our educational system was not useful at all and we had to transform it to the European system totally, the resistance would be strong. I explained to them that our system of education has both positive and negative sides and suggested to keep the positive sides and replace the negative ones with better factors, which we could find in the process of Bologna.
The ERASMUS MUNDUS is a cooperation and development program in the sector of higher education, which represents the European Union as a center of education in the world. It was adopted by the European parliament in 2001. On December 5, 2003, the project preparation finished and adopted. It was enforced on January 20, 2004. The ERASMUS MUNDUS project is first of all targeted at increasing the interest and quality of the European system of education, and it fully corresponds with the spirit of the process of Bologna. Till now ERASMUS MUNDUS has been focused on post-graduate programs only but now it provides grants for doctorate. Since 2004 fifteen people from Armenia have received grants under this program.