Within the scope of ERASMUS+ ARMDOCT /Reforming Doctoral Education in Armenia in Line with Needs of Academia, Industry, and Current EU Practices/ capacity building project, a three-day workshop was held in Tsaghkadzor. Representatives of 4 Government departments – RA Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan, Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports Karen Trchounian, Deputy Minister of High-Tech Industry (HTI) Davit Sahakyan, and Deputy Minister of Finance Avag Avanesyan – discussed the diversification of doctoral education funding sources with the representatives of research institutions.

The moderator for panel discussion professor Paola Pittia, Delegate of the Rector for International Affairs and Joint Programs, University of Teramo, Italy, presented to the Government officials the experience of organizing doctoral education in EU countries and talked about the priorities of the concept developed within the scope of the Project.

Vahan Kerobyan, RA Minister of Economy, presented the priorities for the development of economy and highlighted that the academic community can and should be actively involved in the processes of development, evaluation, and implementation of Government programs.

“If we want the scientific component in the economy to be essential, then investments in science must start today. Our ministry pays great attention to the involvement of science in the economy. In the Government program, among other actions, we have allocated an event, which envisages reimbursement of research expenses by private companies. We also prioritize the financing of targeted programs – programs required by the public administration system. At present, jointly with four Government departments, we are working on finding priorities for the link between labor market, economy, and education, as well as mechanisms that can be applied to have qualified specialists in the market in the future,” the minister said.

Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Karen Trchounian highlighted, “With this concept, we must be able to establish the institute of the supervisor, and clarify who can supervise postgraduate students’ researches, as well as we must change many criteria in order to anticipate quality scientific research. We are also discussing the idea of ​​a doctoral school; in addition, the PhD educational program should equally be licensed in order to clarify which institutions and scientific-educational organizations will be able to train specialists with a given qualification,” MESC Deputy Minister emphasized.

HTI Deputy Minister Davit Sahakyan stated that being famous for IT companies, our country now moves to the era of high-tech industry, where science and knowledge are the most important players.

“In the near future, the Government will launch a national venture fund with a large capital, which aims to develop this industry,” said Mr. Sahakyan and emphasized the HTI Ministry’s “From Idea to Business” grant, adding that eight scientific teams have taken part in the project, aiming to turn their scientific productions into businesses.

Speaking about the financing of science in the Q&A session with the academic community, Deputy Minister of Finance Avag Avanesyan also emphasized the establishment of mechanisms for the effective allocation of funds in the process of creating new knowledge. Subsequently through questions, the representatives of the academic community with the representatives of the four government departments, discussed a number of issues of concern in the field of higher education.

The 15 partners of the project, coordinated by Eurasia International University, including 4 EU HEIs, 8 RA HEIs, and 2 research institutes, as well as the RA Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports have gathered together to reform Doctoral education in Armenia and review the national framework, legal regulation documents, and institutional procedures.

The ARMDOCT project is the initiative of the French University in Armenia based on the experience and main outcomes of ERASMUS+ /Promoting internationalization of research through establishment and operationalization of Cycle 3 Quality Assurance System in line with the European Integration Agenda / C3QA project.

Additional information on the ARMDOCT project can be found at the following links:

www.eiu.am, www.armdoct.com #