A lot of people in Armenia, especially representatives of universities, have heard about the TEMPUS project. It is over 14 years that this projects sponsored by the European Union is trying to adapt the education system to European standards.
The TEMPUS (Trans European Mobility Program for University Studies) is a project of the European Commission with the purpose of supporting the countries of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, North Africa and Middle East to implement reforms in the sector of education and modernize it. It has the goal to establish efficient cooperation of the EU and project countries in the sectors of education, especially development of multilateral ties and cooperation between the universities of Europe and the countries covered in the project. It also has a goal to create new education programs, materials and methods, modern methods of education management, etc. The project was adopted in 1990 in the EU council of ministers and has been prolonged for 4 times since that time. Currently the project is in the phase of implementing the Tempus IV, which will last till 2013.
TEMPUS in Armenia
Armenia is participating in the TEMPUS since 1995. From the point of view of reaching the goals stimulated by the Bologna process it is hard to evaluate the role of the TEMPUS. It gives an opportunity to the Armenian universities to improve their programs, carry out effective management, improve the institutional capacity, etc. Due to the TEMPUS the Armenian universities can develop closer cooperation with many European universities and increase the mobility of students and lecturers. The coordinator of the Armenian office of Tempus Lana Carlova says that there are good examples of cooperation, which continue till now, many years after the termination of the projects. The Tempus projects, the quantities and capacities are really very impressive. The Tempus takes into consideration the national and regional characteristics priorities of the partner countries. The national priorities are approved as a result of joint discussions on part of the European Commission delegation and the education ministers of the partner countries. As for the regional priorities, these are based on the EU’s cooperation policy with the partner countries.
Priorities of the TEMPUS projects and events for 2009
In the period of 1995-2007 the EU has sponsored 32 projects and 60 private grants worth of 5.5 million Euros. L. Carlova says the Armenian universities, especially state universities, are highly interested in the programs.
Generally 94 European universities have participated in the joint projects, compact projects and structural events, 12 state universities from Armenia, 12 non-academic organizations and 6 universities from Caucasus.
Last year Armenia presented 32 projects, which shows that Armenia is active. Four projects worth of 3.9 million Euros were approved.
Statistics
Introduction:
– JEP, Joint European Project
– SM, Structural measures
– IMG, Individual mobility grant
As it is described above, in 2008 the EU provided huge financial support amounting about 4 million Euro. The reason is the fact that despite all what has been done so far, still there is a lot of work to do. L. Carlova says that students, lecturers and the administrative staff don’t care about the higher education too much. “Students should be the one to order their education, which is not common here. The university should be for students but not the administrative staff. It is up to students to decide their career,” says L. Carlova. She says that there is a problem with languages as well because especially the elder generation representatives don’t know languages.
However she believes the new generation is more flexible and there is an opportunity of improvement. As a result of the projects implemented since 1995 even the administrative staff is changing. This process is also stimulated by periodic visits, which gives an opportunity to people to visit European universities and get acquainted with the best education practices.