The consortium members of Erasmus + ARMDOCT and MODEST projects co-funded by the European Union met to discuss cooperation possibilities for the reform of Doctoral Education in Armenia and to strengthen the project outcomes on the national level

It is worth mentioning, that both projects are currently in the phase of implementation and are targeted to the reform of doctoral education in line with the Salzburg Principles.

The Coordinator of the “Modernization of Doctoral Education in Science and Improvement of Teaching Methodologies” (MODEST) project, Ms. Inga Skendere from the University of Latvia, presented the current state of the project implementation, the major outcomes and outputs achieved so far. The research and intellectual outcomes of the project were presented, which may be utilized for the policy design conducted by ARMDOCT project researchers.

The MODEST project presentation was later followed by the “Reforming Doctoral Education in Armenia in line with Needs of Academia, Industry and Current EU Practices” (ARMDOCT) project. The ARMDOCT project Coordinator, the Head of Research Incubator of Eurasia International University Arevik Ohanyan presented the general objectives and the planned policy and institutional reforms of doctoral education, as well as the outcomes achieved throughout the first year of the project implementation. Ms. Ohanyan highlighted, that both projects have complementary objectives and cooperation is vital to ensure a higher impact on the national level.

Both presentations were followed by a discussion with a number of cooperation proposals presented by the MODEST project member and leader of the Quality Assurance working package of the project Marek Frankowicz (Jagiellonian University (Poland)), as well as other participants. It was agreed to draft a road map for cooperation, organize joint workshops, webinars, observe the experience of EU countries involved in MODEST project for policy development to be conducted within ARMDOCT, establishing a shared library, as well as a calendar for both projects etc. Mr. Ohanyan suggested the MODEST project members to join in the policy development activities of ARMDOCT and share the experience accumulated within the MODEST project.

Concluding remarks were made by Ms. Inga Skendere, MODEST Project Coordinator, and Ms. Lana Karlova (Programme Coordinator at National Erasmus+ Office in Armenia), and further recommendations for cooperation were highlighted.