Studying abroad has become something like lottery for Armenians. And
only the corresponding consul knows who has won. A lot of people will
agree with us, that the reason that youth today studies abroad is that
the education system is not in good condition these days.
But only the will and knowledge are not enough for studying
abroad. The most important thing is to be lucky. “Financial management”
plays its role too, but that is a different story.
Nowadays there are programs in Armenia, where you can pass exams and in
case of getting good marks, enter a university abroad. But seldom
people have the chance to leave for those countries. The other young
people are happy only until they go to the Embassies of those
countries. Often Embassies don’t give entrance visas to students. And
in this case they often say: “You are very young, you will go and not
come back”. Maybe this is logical for the foreigners, but not for the
young people, and they usually give an honest answer: “But when should
I get education? Yes, I am young, and it is the right time to get an
education.”
“I am left out of university”
Marine Mikaelyan is 20 years old. She left Yerevan Humanitarian College
after finishing her second year of study, because she was sure that she
was a student of another university already, and this new university
was a foreign university. Marine came to our editorial office with the
hope to find a solution for this problem with our help. “One of our
college lecturers used to work at “Alliance Frances” company, where
young people could pass exams and enter a French university in case
they had good grades. In accordance with their rules, I filled out an
application at the Embassy in January and passed my exam on February
21, for which I paid 60.000 dram. I was so happy to find out that I had
filled the third place and had passed my exam successfully. I chose a
university in Strasburg, because I knew people there, who had agreed to
provide me with the necessary finances. This was very important for me,
because I had to make all the expenses on my own. I had chosen the
faculty of modern literature, and when filling out the application at
the Embassy I wrote, that I didn’t have a chance to study their modern
literature in Armenia, and that’s why I had decided to study
there”,-says Marine. In July, Marine got an invitation letter from the
university, where it was written, that she was already a student of
that university. “I never thought that there would be any problems with
the Embassy, because I had passed the exams successfully and was going
there legally to study, but not to work, and I was doing it not on
behalf of their government, but rather, by spending my own money. There
was no problem with my documents, but the Embassy didn’t provide me an
entrance visa. I hadn’t even thought about that because no one had told
me that it could happen. And that is why I left Yerevan Humanitarian
College, where I used to study for free”. I called one of the workers
at the Embassy, who tried to find out the reasons, but later she told
me that she couldn’t help me with anything”,-says Marine. Her French
teacher met with the ambassador but was told, that Marine was young and
wouldn’t return to Armenia. “I am not going to stay in their country at
all, I just want to get a good education there. I was told at “Alliance
Frances” company, that they only organize examinations. So why do they
organize these examinations and then forbid the young people from going
to the country? This is a psychological and financial loss for young
people.” Referring to this, the director of “Alliance Frances” company
Suzan Gharamyan says: “If they have already passed their exams, that
still doesn’t mean that they have already got their visas. The
university has nothing to do with the Embassy. No one can interfere in
their business; each of them does its work.” There is only one very
important thing missing here: Marine told us, that no one had made a
contract with her, where she could learn about what kind of problems
could happen later. “The problem is that I was cheated, nobody told me
what kind of problems I could have later. Why don’t they inform people
beforehand? Why don’t they make contracts with them? Now I am left out
of university, i.e. I can neither go there, nor start over, and even if
I start over, I will have to pay for my studies, and this in case when
I didn’t pay anything for my studies before (-she says confused). Why
do they continue to organize examinations when nobody is allowed to go
there? Is this a new way of making money?” Suzan Gharamyan assures,
that they had to be informed at the Embassy, because they are the only
ones distributing the examinations. “They probably informed some people
and forgot to inform the others. I agree with Marine more, It would be
very good if she could go there, but we can do nothing. As for leaving
the college, it is Marine’s fault, because she didn’t have to do that.
She entered that university, got the invitation and thought that
everything was set”,-says S.Gharamyan.
It is a pity, that our country doesn’t have a good name in the world,
that the consuls and embassies examine our documents and applications
with microscopes. We understand them too, because they are protecting
the interests of their countries. But this is only one side of the
problem. If these kinds of things happen so often in Armenia, why do
they organize these programs? Who is responsible for the psychological
insult of these children? Our government? The embassies? Or the
companies organizing these programs? Actually no one is responsible.
P.S. We also called the French Embassy to ask their opinion.
They asked us to call on Thursday. We will write about the opinion of
the Embassy about this problem in our next publication.