Erasmus + Workshop in Vilnius under the ARMDOCT Program

Erasmus + Workshop in Vilnius under the ARMDOCT Program

Erasmus+ within the framework of the ARMDOCT Capacity Development Program, launched a workshop in theVilnius University on “Institutional Regulation Framework for Doctoral Education: Experience of Vilnius University” on May 3-5.The workshop was attended by the representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Armenia, international and partner universities of the Republic of Armenia, and research institutes.The consortium members of Erasmus + ARMDOCT and GEOTAK projects co-funded by the EU met to discuss cooperation possibilities for the reform of Doctoral Education in Armenia and to strengthen the project outcomes on the national level.

The Coordinator of the “Developing Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Programmes and Strengthening Research Networks in Geoinformation Technologies in Armenia & Kyrgyzstan” (GEOTAK) project Prof. Luis Angel Ruiz Fernández from the Polytechnic University of Valencia presented the current state of the project implementation, the major outcomes and outputs achieved so far. Then, draft curicullum of a joint interdisciplinary PhD program developed by National University of Architecture and Construction of Armenia (NUACA), Yerevan State University (YSU) and Armenian National Agrarian University (ANAU) was presented by Varazdat Hovhannisyan, project Local Coordinator from the NUACA.

The GEOTAK project presentation was later followed by the presentation of “Reforming Doctoral Education in Armenia in line with Needs of Academia, Industry and Current EU Practices” (ARMDOCT) project. ARMDOCT project Coordinator ArevikOhanyan presented the project vision, outcomes and ongoing activities. As it was well noted by the Coordinator the National Policy on Reforming the Third Cycle (PHD) of RA Higher Education was approved based on the Decree of the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia. On the basis of the ratified Policy the corresponding legal documents and by-laws regulating the third cycle of higher education are currently being redesigned and developed by four groups for pilot implementation.

Presentations were followed by a discussion with a number of cooperation proposals presented by the projects’ members. It was highlighted, that both projects have complementary objectives and cooperation is vital to ensure a higher impact on the national level. Partners agreed to meet again and share the experience accumulated within both projects.

Concluding remarks were made by Lana Karlova, Coordinator of the Erasmus+ National Office in Armenia, who once again emphasized the role of all the implemented EU co-funded doctoral education reform programs and the close cooperation with partners for ensuring greater national impact, and added that both teams have done a great deal of work during the project implementation.