THE MAIN PROBLEMS OF DISTANCE LEARNING MANAGEMENT
Scientific Proceedings of Vanadzor State University Humanitarian and Social Sciences (ISSN 2738-2915)
2023 vol 1
THE MAIN PROBLEMS OF DISTANCE LEARNING MANAGEMENT AND ITS IMPACT ON THE ECONOMY in RA
Liana Osipyan
Summary
Key words: distance learning, higher education, financing of higher education, rent, education reform
2020 was a significant year both for Armenia and for the whole world as it has been marked in history by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pandemic and emergency measures deriving from it, undertaken from March 2020, changed the mechanisms of the higher education organization.
As of April 1, 2020, around 42.5% of the world’s current population was in quarantine. According to UNESCO data, on April 1, 2020 schools and universities were closed in 185 countries, affecting 1,542,412,000 learners, which forms 89.4% of the total amount of learners.
The maximum amount of the students’ number enrolled on RA universities was recorded in 2020, which may be due to many factors. Let us discuss some of the possible factors:
1․ Facilitation of student admission, unlike the rest of the academic years, students were admitted with one exam that year.
2․ A 13.89% reduction of expenses in connection with the above-mentioned factor, which is a huge number, taking into account that about 1/3 of the population of Armenia is poor.
3․Reducing housing costs – the majority of RA students are from regions and do not have an apartment in Yerevan, therefore, due to the shift to distance learning during the pandemic, they mainly saved the costs of apartment rent and transport.
Basically, these factors are related to accessibility, which is partially solved by distance learning. Thus, we can state that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is great on the education system in almost all countries of the world. Thousands of universities, including those in Armenia, have faced various problems of organizing the educational process in a qualitatively new environment. Research shows that even universities leading in financial, technical and other terms have not managed to avoid problems. The effects of the pandemic are not limited to short-term impacts. Even after the restoration of the normal course of education, the effects of the pandemic will be manifested in the medium and long-term prospects, affecting educational strategies and practices.