ARMENIA: HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENCES

Education in Armenia & its Region: Facebook page

2010-12-23T22:07:00.001+04:00

Dear reader,

Due to work overload, I haven’t had the opportunity to update this blog for a while. Regretfully, since my last post, several major developments have taken place that needed proper coverage. These included:

The reintroduction of foreign language schools in Armenia

The education sector being designated as the most corrupt sector in Armenia by Transparency International

The McKinsey report praising Armenian education reforms (sic)

The ongoing deliberations on a new Law on Science in Armenia

The closure of several private HEIs in Armenia by the government

The ongoing debate in Turkey on the authorization of Kurdish in schools

The ban of headscarf in schools in Azerbaijan

Meanwhile, I have continued to follow-up these developments and have created a Facebook page called “Education in Armenia & its Region” where I post a selection of important and interesting news and articles concerning the education and science sectors in Armenia , Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Russia and Turkey, as well as the European Higher Education Area.

I update the page on daily basis and most of the material is in English.

If you have a Facebook account, you can join me on this new page. You do not need to add me as “friend,” you just have to “like” the page and will automatically receive all the posts as long as you wish. You can also post comments or share articles, news and links.

To join, please click here.

The First Armenian IT Award

2010-07-03T14:35:00.002+05:00

The first Armenian state award for contribution to the development of information technology was given to Mr. Craig Barrett, the former Chairman and Chief Executive of Intel Corporation, the world’s leading producer of microprocessors. The idea of the award came from the Armenian branch of Synopsis, the global IT company, and this year’s award was financed by Vivacell MTS, the leading mobile phone operator in Armenia.

In the awarding ceremony that took place in the presidential palace on 28June 2010, President Serge Sargsian said, “This Award is Armenia’s modest contribution to the global development of information technologies,” and expressed hope that it will also “attract attention of the Armenian youth toward information technologies.”

“We will encourage their studies and work in this area, we will search for and find new ways and means to do it,” he said. “Today, in the presence of Mr. Barrett I am sending a message to our youth: The future belongs to those who are endowed with knowledge, kindness and creativity, who rely on intellectual powers and possess the art of finding solutions,” Sargsian added.

Armenian students were not, however, the only group who were invited to be inspired by Mr. Barrett’s achievements. “This is my idea of the modern businessman,” Mr. Sargsian said. “I want the Armenian businessmen to consider this example. I want all our entrepreneurs to be like that … It’s not about benevolence; it is about the ability to assume responsibility, about the ability to refrain from short-lived and momentary profit if in the long-run it can jeopardize the well-being of the society. It is about not surrendering to the temptations of big money – greed and arrogance.”

Teachers, not Computers, are Magic

Azatutyun.am online news agency reports that, in a news conference the following day, Mr. Barrett emphasized the importance of good education for the development of IT in Armenia which has been declared a top economic priority by the government.

“Computers are not magic in the classroom,” he said. “Teachers are magic in the classroom.”

“I think obviously there is the opportunity to grow the IT industry on the basis of the educational background,” Barrett said when asked about the future of the Armenian IT sector.

News.am online news agency reports that when he was asked about Armenia’s education, he responded that he had met with students of the State Engineering University of Armenia and got an impression that Armenian students are “bright, aggressive and attentive. In short, they do not differ from students in other countries.”

He also said that he is aware of Intel Corporation’s interest in investing in Armenia’s education system and organizing trainings for teachers. “Intel always tries to employ the cleverest and brightest people,” he added.

The former Intel chief described as “very refreshing” his conversations with President Sargsian and other senior officials. As far as IT is concerned, they are all “speaking the same language,” he said.

Educational Profile of Ministers in Georgia & Armenia

2010-07-03T14:28:00.002+05:00

An interesting article by Kate Chkhikvadze in the Financial, a Georgian online magazine, discusses the educational background of Georgian ministers. This inspired me to do a similar study of the Armenian cabinet of ministers.

According to the Financial article, Tbilisi State University (TSU) seems to be the institution where most Georgian cabinet members completed their first degree: Out of the 19 ministers, including the PM, 10 have graduated from TSU, 5 from the Georgian Technical University, 2 from foreign universities, 1 from Rustaveli State Cinema and Theatre University, and 1 from the Holy Seminary of Tbilisi.

A Master’s Degree is possessed by 13 ministers but in contrast with the case with the first degree, the majority holds a Master’s Degree from foreign HEIs in the USA, followed by Germany, the Netherlands and Russia.

Western Touch

As mentioned, the Georgian cabinet includes a significant number of western educated ministers.

Nikoloz Gilauri, the Prime Minister, graduated from TSU, obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in International Economics. He pursued his education at the University of Limerick, Ireland, where he studied Economics and Finances and gained a Master’s Degree in International Business Management from Temple University, USA.

Nikoloz Rurua, Minister of Culture, Monuments Protection and Sports, graduated from Rustaveli State Cinema and Theatre University and continued his studies in the USA. He graduated from the State University of Georgia, USA, with a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree.

The only female minister, Khatuna Kalmakhelidze, Minister of Corrections and Legal Assistance, is one of the two cabinet members who have done both their Bachelor’s and Master’s studies abroad. She graduated from Hunter College with a Bachelor Degree in Political Science. Then she was enrolled in Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, USA.

Kakha Baindurashvili, Minister of Finance, is one of the other western educated ministers. He received a Master’s of Arts degree in Economics from TSU and Master’s Degree in Economic Development from Williams College, USA.

Zurab Pololikashvili, Ministry of Economic Development, received a Bachelor’s degree from Georgian Technical University with specialization in International Banking and later studied at the Instituto de Empresa, Spain (degree unkown).

Aleksandre Kvitashvili, Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs, has a degree of Master of Public Studies from the the New-York University.

Davit Tkeshelashvili who is Minister for Infrastructural and Regional Development graduated from Emory University, USA, with a degree of Master of Law (LLM).

In Love with Law

According to the Financial, the majority of ‘the influential ministers’ has done their Master’s studies in Law.

In addition to Davit Tkeshelashvili and Nikoloz Rurua, and, obviously, the Minister of Justice, Zurab Adeishvili, who graduated from the Royal University of Groningen, the Netherlands, this is the case with the ministers of Defense, Education and Foreign Affairs:

Bachana Akhalaia, Minister of Defense, holds a Master’s Degree in Law from TSU. Dimitri Shashkin, Minister of Education and Science, has a Master’s Degree in Government, Tax and Criminal Law, again from TSU, and Grigol Vashadze, Minister of Foreign Affairs, received his Master’s degree in International Law from Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

Armenian Contrasts

The Armenian ministers have a very different educational profile. All except 3 have completed their higher education in the late Soviet period and half of them have studied in Russia. Unlike in Georgia, no discipline seems to be favored in Armenia.

Based on the information available on the official website of the Armenian government, I examined 18 out of 19 members of the cabinet as the profile of the newly appointed Minister of Labor, Arthur Grigorian, is not available at this time.

It is important to note that most educational backgrounds of the ministers are poorly written and therefore this review may be inaccurate. For instance, for the Minister of Economy it is written: “1993-1995, Yerevan State Institute of National Economy, post-graduate student at the Macroeconomics Department.” Being a student doesn’t necessarily mean that the person completed the program. The official website of the Ministry of Economy does not offer further clarifications.

Or, for the Minister of Justice it is indicated “1975-1983, Yerevan State University, Law Department.” It is unclear what degree the person earned at the end of 8 years of study, if he studied full-time and without interruption.

Out of the 18 members, including the PM, 4 have completed their first degree (5-year specialized degree program that was the norm before the adoption of the Bologna structure) at State Engineering University of Armenia (SEUA-Polytechnic), 3 have graduated from Yerevan State University (YSU), 2 from Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU), 2 from Institute of National Economy, and the rest at various HEIs.

It is interesting to note that 6 ministers have conducted their higher education entirely or mainly (except the first 1-2 years) in Russia. These are: Tigran Sargsyan, Prime Minister; Armen Gevorgyan, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Territorial Administration; Armen Yeritzian, Minister of Emergency Situations; Tigran Davtian, Minister of Finance; Edward Nalbandian, Minister of Foreign Affairs; and Manuk Vardanian, Minister of Transport and Communication.

Those who have completed their 5-year degree program in Armenia and then have studied for a post-graduate degree outside Armenia (cannot say abroad as at the time Armenia and Russia were parts of the USSR) number 3. All these ministers have studied in Russia. They are:

Armen Ashotian, Minister of Education and Science, who after completing his studies in Medicine continued at the Moscow School of Political Sciences.

Armen Movsissian, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. After graduating from SEUA, he completed his postgraduate degree at the USSR Institute of Light Industry.

Gevorg Danielian, Minister of Justice, who earned his first degree in Law at YSU and then a Master’s degree from Institute of State and Law in Moscow, affiliated to the USSR Academy of Sciences.

One minister has studied in Azerbaijan: A native of Karabakh, Seyran Ohanian, Minister of Defense, studied at Baku Military Academy.

Interestingly, 8 ministers have done their entire higher education in Armenia. The most prominent among this group are: Nerses Yeritsian, Minister of Economy; and Haroutioun Koushkian, Minister of Healthcare.

Only one minister has had some western experience. This is, of course, if we ignore that Gevorg Danielian, Minister of Justice, has served in the Soviet Army stationed in the former German Democratic Republic for 2 years and has strangely included this in his educational profile.

So the only exception to the rule is Armen Gevorgian, Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Territorial Administration, who simultaneous to his post-graduate studies at St Petersburg's Gertzen All-Russian Teacher Training University, completed a Master's degree in Programming of Educational and Training Systems at Twente University, the Netherlands.

Relevant Education

Most Armenian ministers seem to be involved in a field that is relevant to their educational background. There are, however, some interesting exceptions.

Hasmik Poghosian, Minister of Culture, for instance, has no academic background in arts and culture; she has studied Biology at YSU. The official website of the Ministry of Culture adds that she took piano lessons at school.

Hranoush Hakobian, Minister of Diaspora and the only other female minister, has studied Mathematics.

And more: Gerasim Alaverdian, Minister of Agriculture, has graduated from SEUA-Polytechnic whereas Vardan Vardanian, Minister of Urban Development, has studied at the Armenian State University of Agriculture.

Science in Turkey for More Autonomy

2010-07-03T14:16:00.003+05:00

The debate on the need and the ways to restructure the science system is currently taking place not only in the post-Soviet countries of our region (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Russia) but also in Turkey. For a decade, Turkish authorities have tried, with limited success, to improve the effectiveness and the efficiency of the country’s science system.

According to a report based on extensive interviews with 135 scientists, via Turkish Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey has not been able to achieve the status of a “scientific society” mainly due to the system’s heavy dependence on the state and political interference.

The 2009 Science Report by the Turkish Academy of Sciences, or TÜBA, states that Turkish universities and scientific research and development centers are lacking, and support for scientific initiatives is insufficient.

Citing data from the Turkish Statistical Institute, or TurkStat, the report notes that out of the total 6.89 billion Turkish Liras (4.4 billion USD) spent on R&D in Turkey, industry contributes 43.8 percent whereas the state contributes 52.2 percent. According to TÜBA, the private sector should ideally contribute 3–4 times as much as the government to R&D.

In addition, the fact that only 338 domestic patents, out of 2,268 applications, were accepted in 2008 means “there is a big gap to cover,” according to the report.

Lack of University Autonomy

“One of the most fundamental functions of the university culture being formed is, without question, independence and autonomy,” TÜBA notes in its report, adding that there is an insufficient level of autonomy at Turkish universities and within the Higher Education Board, or YÖK, which is the governing and regulating body.

According to the report, Turkey gets just three 0.5 points, for a total of 1.5 points, on the 8 criteria for university autonomy identified by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in its 2003 Education Policy Evaluation.

These 8 criteria are:
- owning its buildings and facilities
- having the freedom to get resources
- using its budget for self-determined goals
- using its own initiative to build its academic structure and programs
- having the authority to hire and fire academic personnel
- determining the salaries of its personnel
- determining the number of students it will accept to its programs
- independently determining student tuition fees

For each of these criteria implemented in full, a country receives 1 point, while it gets 0.5 point for partial implementation.

Mexico, Holland and Australia topped the OECD’s list of 14 countries with 7 points each, while Turkey came in second to last with 1.5 points. Japan received just 1 point, putting it at the bottom of the list.

Waste of Resources

According to the TÜBA report, the science system in Turkey – which is largely affected by the country’s universities and the Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey, or TÜBİTAK, with TÜBA itself playing “a small but important” role – “does not have the authority to govern itself.”

“The decision-makers in power generally make decisions that determine the scientific activity in Turkey, such as the governing of the universities and the founding of new universities,” the report notes, adding that the resources dedicated to scientific activities are often allocated based on political calculations rather than need.

This leads, according to TÜBA, to situations where “expensive scientific equipment or infrastructure items may remain idle at units lacking the ability to use them.”

TÜBA plans to release a report on the state of science in Turkey on an annual basis. We hope that this initiative will be contagious to other academies of science in the region.

A Well-deserved Promotion of an Institute

2010-07-03T14:12:00.001+05:00

According to a government decision dated 17 June 2010, the Alikhanian Yerevan Physics Institute, better known as YerPhl, was granted the status of national research laboratory.

Following a report by an international commission of experts that was formed last year, the strategic development plan of YerPhl, including the issue of its renaming, was approved. Professor Yuri Hovannisian headed the international commission composed of world-famous scientists and experts.

According to the official Armenian government website, Prime Minister Tigran Sargsian thanked the commission for having exercised huge efforts to meet the task set before them. “We will continue consulting renowned scientists to get professional advice on important issues,” he said.

Noting that the program had some opponents, the head of government said that the commission members were confident that, if provided with consecutive approaches, the NRL might well turn into a truly unique center of excellence.

This does not seem impossible or difficult to achieve for an institution that has successfully preserved a significant part of its Soviet-era scientific excellence and capacity, and has been able to attract and integrate some young and talented research staff into its activities over recent years.

For background information on the Alikhanian National Research Laboratory, please click here.

Keeping the Academy Intact despite Changes in Science Funding

2010-07-03T14:05:00.001+05:00

One of the main themes of the ongoing debate on the reorganization of the science system in post-Soviet transition countries is the role that the national academy of science should play in the future configuration.

Here, we would like to present excerpts from an interview that News.az Azerbaijani news agency has conducted with Mr. Asef Hajiyev, member of the Azerbaijani parliament (Milli Majlis) from the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, member of the parliamentary committee for science and education, and a correspondent member of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan.

Mr. Hajiyev represents the conservative side of the debate as he argues for preserving the academy’s preeminent position in planning and conducting research despite the advent of new funding mechanisms. In line with like-minded people in Armenia, Russia and elsewhere, he even favors allowing the academy to carry out post-graduate education.

News.Az: What are the amendments to the Law on Education planned by the Milli Majlis?

AH: A bill regulating the funding of scientific research at private universities has been presented to the Azerbaijani parliament for discussion and approval. Under the amendments, private universities will have to spend at least 2 percent of their revenue on scientific research in their institutions. This expenditure should mostly be made in the form of grants.

Ten years ago we discussed the need for the private sector to allocate 0.5 or 1 percent of its revenue to scientific research. At that time, the proposal was put for public discussion. Now, the proposal has been integrated into the new bill.

These are very positive amendments according to which grant competitions will be declared by private universities. These grants may be won either by the private universities holding the contests or by other educational institutions. This system will lead to competition among scientists.

The amount of funds allocated to scientific research will not be limited by the amendments to the legislation since the state will also provide grants. The state grants will take the form of orders. For example, the state will declare that it is interested in scientific research in a specific field and hold a grant contest.

A scientist will win the grant on the basis of competition. Meanwhile, the state will receive reports on the work done by the scientist. If a scientist fails to do the work … they may be punished or not allowed to receive grants in future.…

... This system is applied throughout the world and now it will be used in Azerbaijan. In other words, the Soviet era slogan 'Science is the meeting of people’s interests at state expense' no longer applies in Azerbaijan.

What path should Azerbaijan take, that is, should it fund scientists working in universities or those working at the National Academy of Sciences?

This was set out in the decree of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev dated 21 October 2009 on the creation of the Science Development Foundation.

Under this decree, state grants can be provided to scientists at the academy and scientists working in universities. I think the Academy of Sciences and universities should not provide grants only to their own scientists; all scientists should be involved in the process.

Will the allocation of 2 percent of the income of universities and other educational institutions be enough for scientific research?

Certainly, these funds are not sufficient but this is a first step. The obligation that the bill puts on educational facilities to spend at least 2 percent of revenue on scientific work comes from the established concept that if 2 percent of the state budget is allocated to scientific development, science will start to make itself pay. For example, Russia has adopted this practice in its state budget.

Research work in the West is done in universities while in Azerbaijan it is done in the institutes of the National Academy of Sciences. May parallels be created with scientists engaged in research in the academy system and universities?

Every country has developed historically in its own way. The history of science in Azerbaijan is linked to the Academy of Sciences. Reform of the organizations involved in research work should not mean the dismissal of the 9,000 people working at the National Academy of Sciences only in order to comply with the Western system for science funding.

How will Azerbaijan benefit from the transfer of the functions of the Academy of Sciences to the universities? Today, it is impossible to compare the research done in the Academy of Sciences with the work done at universities since the level of research at the Academy of Sciences is very high.

There is no need to turn scientists into university instructors. Instead, the academy should be allowed to train staff. The Academy of Sciences can train people for bachelors' and masters' degrees....

A growing number of people are calling for the Academy of Sciences to be shut down.

How will Azerbaijan benefit from the destruction of such a body as the Academy of Sciences and the transfer of its structure to the universities? No one knows the implications of this step though I am sure it would have a negative impact since the people working at the academy are involved only in science, while those who teach at universities are involved in the educational process.

There is no need to share out institutes of the Academy of Sciences among the universities. It is at the least surprising that people speak in favor of shutting down the Academy of Sciences.

They say that the number of people who have a scientific degree in the universities is higher than in the Academy of Sciences. However, the scientific level must never be measured by the number of scientific degrees.

The same people explain … that the National Academy of Sciences of the United States is separate from the state and is a club. I would like to say that the National Academy of the United States is financed from the state budget. If the U.S. National Academy was a club, President Barack Obama would not have visited it.…

To read the interview in full, please click here.

Turkish Education: A Disturbing Picture

2010-07-03T13:58:00.003+05:00

The 3rd issue of ‘Education Monitoring Report’ concerning the state of the secondary education in Turkey was recently published. Based on data from the Ministry for National Education, data collected in household surveys and interviews with 138 students, the report indicates fundamental and alarming dysfunctions in Turkey’s education system.

The Education Monitoring Report aims to monitor government reforms dealing with the educational system and inform policy-makers and the public about the current state of education in Turkey. It is prepared by the Education Reform Movement that was founded by Sabancı University’s Istanbul Policy Center in 2003.

More than 2,000 per Day

According to the 2009 report, the dropout rate in Turkey is extremely high: On average, almost 2,000 students leave school each day. Students drop out of school mainly due to a lack of qualified teachers, low family incomes, and pessimism about their higher-education prospects.

The report estimates that more than 360,000 students dropped out of school during the 2008-2009 school year. The report shows that out of 50 percent of the country’s boys and girls aged 15 to 19 who do not go to secondary school, 26 percent of the boys and 50 percent of the girls do not work either. The respective average rates for Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries are 8 and 9 percent.

Bia Turkish news agency summarizes the other main findings of the report as follows:

- Access to secondary education is dependent on significant regional disparities. 78 percent of the 14-17-year-olds are enrolled in secondary school in the Southern Marmara region, whereas this ratio reaches a mere 44 percent only in the South-East of the country.

- The parents' education level is an important influence: 17 percent of daughters of illiterate fathers and 94 percent of the daughters of university graduates go to a secondary school.

- 15 percent of all male secondary school students enrolled in 2008-2009 school year dropped out of school. The proportion rises to 23 percent at vocational schools.

- In 2009, the per capita expenditure for secondary education amounted to TL 2,273 (1,136 USD), the figure for vocational and technical schools lay at TL 2,937 (1,558 USD) per student.

- Per capita expenditures for students significantly vary among different provinces: Public spending on secondary education per student in 2009 amounted to TL 1,379 (690 USD) in Istanbul and TL 3,508 (1,754 USD) in Amasya (northern Anatolia).

- In comparison to the previous year, 175,000 more children benefited from pre-school education in 2010. Three out of five 20-72-month-old children were enrolled.

Remedies

In order to address this shocking situation, the relevant authorities must bring a new vision to secondary school education that focuses on students, Mr. Aytuğ Şaşmaz, one of the experts who assisted in preparing the report, told Turkish Hurriyet Daily News (the article has somehow disappeared from the website).

According to Şaşmaz, the number of siblings the student has is another key factor in whether or not students continue with schooling, especially for girls.

The findings show that there is a need for immediate action to conduct an overall review of the school curricula and improve the quality of teacher training.

“Let the graduates from teaching faculties be fewer in number, but more qualified,” Nebat Bukrek, the chairperson of the educational trade union Eğitim Sen’s Istanbul branch, told Hurriyet.

According to Şaşmaz, face-to-face interviews have shown that teachers are not motivated to attend retraining programs to improve their performance. He said teacher training has to be more interactive and that a long-term strategy must be drafted and implemented by the Education Ministry.

The report also reveals that many young people are not motivated to continue with their secondary school education because they do not believe they will be able to enter university, because the educational system is based on rote learning and exams and because they do not feel secure in the school environment. 75 percent of students who drop out of secondary school do so after the first year.

According to the report, currently around 4 percent of the state’s budget goes to education, a figure they say must be increased to 6 percent.

The report also indentifies that the expectations of the students differ due to their social and ethnic origin, gender or regional disparities. "Efforts should be taken to take these differences into account in order to strengthen the young people's participation in social life during secondary school. One of the reasons for the high number of students dropping out of school is the fact that these differences are not being considered. This reinforces social exclusion", the report argues.

More Open Ears in the Ministry

Strong political will and the consensus to transcend party politics is needed to undertake major reforms in Turkey’s education system in order to improve the current situation, according to the Education Reform Movement coordinator Ms. Berktay.

According to her, public servants working in the Education Ministry must adopt a more child-oriented mentality. “This requires a shift in the ministry’s paradigm, which is not easily achieved,” she said, though she noted that the group’s previous reports have gotten good feedback from the ministry.

“We are seeing more and more open ears in the ministry taking what we say seriously,” Berktay said.

Ms. Berktay also believes that policies in education must be based on statistical data analysis and be flexible and open to new data and trends, both national and global. “We must equip ourselves with the needed skills and qualifications to adapt to the challenges in this fast-changing world,” she told Hurriyet, adding that students in Turkey should receive an education that allows them to enter both national and international labor markets.

Graph via Hurriyet.

Armenian ICT Leaders Lament the State of Higher Education

2010-06-20T20:51:00.003+05:00

The regular informal meeting of Armenia’s ICT leaders took place 12-13 June 2010 in Tsakhkadzor, a resort town near Yerevan. The forum brought together different actors in the ICT sector, including approximately 70 corporate directors and NGO representatives. This year, the main theme of the gathering was education.

Jointly organized by the Union of Information Technology Enterprises (UITE), the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Education and Science, this year’s ‘meeting without ties’ – an allusion to its informal format - focused on the lack of effective ties between Armenian HEIs and industry.

Ironically, the lack of such ties was illustrated by the total absence of HEI representatives at the event. The Minister of Education, Mr. Armen Ashotian, did not attend the gathering either. It was announced that he had to visit the family of late Prime Minister A Markarian on the 51st anniversary of his birth (!). Like his predecessors, Mr. Ashotian seems to prefer the ceremonial aspect of his position over more challenging and fundamental undertakings.

Déjà-vu

Almost nothing new was raised or discussed at this year’s forum which is really unfortunate as it shows nothing much has been done to improve the situation since last year (to read my post on last year’s meeting please click here).

The most interesting talks were given by 3 rather outspoken individuals: Mr. Karen Vardanian, Executive Director of UITE; Mr. Arman Atoyan, the young director of X-Tech; and Mr. Haik Chobanian, Director of Nork Information-Analytical Center.

Mr. Chobanian discussed the absence of genuine motivation among Armenian students. According to him, children should like to learn whereas now they just learn to avoid punishment or to be praised, and to get a certificate.

Mr. Karen Vardanian echoed Chobanian in an interview with H1 public television’s ‘Interactive’ news magazine. He said university education has become a way to postpone military service for boys and a way to increase the dowry for girls.

Mr. Vardanian also claimed that there is a shortage of almost 1,500 specialists per year in the ICT sector and the shortage has blocked or postponed many foreign direct investments in Armenia.

In his news conference, via Arka online news agency, Mr. Vardanian said that Armenian universities should be transformed into centers of science and technology. “It is a common practice all over the world that private technology companies, the state and other organizations sponsor universities since the main aim of such a partnership is the identification and fulfillment of concrete technical objectives that are necessary for practical applications,” he said.

Mr. Vardanian said that these objectives should be passed on to universities, and students should get involved in relevant projects.

“Many countries such as Israel have already taken this road. This makes it possible not only to restore full-scale activity at universities but also to develop the army by expanding its intellectual and technical capacity,” he said. Vardanian added that the Armenian Ministry of Defense should become a key ICT player.

Proposing this new role – sponsoring ICT education and training – to the Army was probably the only new idea raised this year.

Iran Student Resistance Still Alive but for How Long?

2010-06-20T20:46:00.002+05:00

The anniversary of Iran’s 12 June 2009 disputed election went away in peace. University student protests, however, continue in different forms.

Tara Nesvanderani writes in Politico that Iran’s hard-line regime may seem to have the upper hand but student resistance is alive at campuses across the country.

On 10 June this year, the opposition leaders cancelled public protests on the anniversary of the disputed presidential election for fear of casualties and “to preserve people’s lives and property.”

Student protests have become a regular flash-point since a government crackdown began blocking mass street demonstrations this year. At least one third of detainees arrested since these protests began one year ago are students, according to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

Students on at least a dozen campuses have carried out more than 20 protests over the past 4 months.

In Tehran’s Azad University, for example, students held 2 days of protests in the month of May. There were mass arrests, and student activists were expelled. The university had to cancel classes.

Students have also been brazen in confronting top officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Revolutionary Guards Chief Commander. Hundreds of students protested the unannounced presidential visits at Tehran University on May 1 and at Shahid Beheshti University on May 10.

On May 18, students at Khajeh Nasir University in Tehran doused green paint—the color of the opposition Green Movement — on a car carrying Maj. Gen. Aziz Jafari, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards chief.

Students in Tehran also have protested at lectures by Ahmadinejad’s top adviser, Mojtaba Samaereh Hashemi, and a Revolutionary Guard commander, Saeid Ghasemi. They waved banners, chanted slogans and demanded freedom for political prisoners.

In the past 6 months, the most active campuses have been Amir Kabir University, Iran University of Science and Technology, University of Tehran and Shahid Beheshti University.

To read Nesvanderani’s article in full, please click here.

Deviating from the Desired Path of the People

As a response to the continued student protests, it seems that the Ministry of Science and Technology is planning a large-scale crackdown on the university community. It is important to note that the government has not been very soft with the opponents so far. In addition to imprisoning and dismissing many students, the government has already dismissed a number of instructors or has forced them into early retirement.

According to Radio Zamaneh, via Payvand Iranian news agency, Iran’s Minister of Science and Technology, Mr. Kamran Daneshjoo, has declared that all those who deviate from "the desired path of the people" will have no place in Iranian universities.

As we have already noted here several times, Mr. Daneshjou who has been accused of plagiarism and fabricating some of his credentials was the head of the election headquarters during the disputed election last year.

Mehr news agency, via Payvand, reports that in a meeting with professors and heads of universities, the Minister of Science announced; "being a member of the academic elite is not a license to do whatever they want." He added that universities are not a place "for political games" and said; "universities are a place of science and faith; they should not be transformed into a training ground for some people's foot soldiers."

Armenia’s Areni Cave Reveils Its First Significant Secret

2010-06-13T22:32:00.008+05:00

This appears to be the most significant archeological discovery in the region this year: An international team of researchers have found the world’s oldest leather shoe in Armenia. In fact, the discovery happened 2 years ago but was not announced pending extensive laboratory tests.

The shoe was found in 2008 in a cave located in Vayots Dzor region, near wine-growing Areni village, along with other evidence of human occupation. Discovered in 1997, the cave is known as Areni-1.

Worn and shaped by the wearer's right foot, the shoe had been stuffed with grass, which dated to the same time as the leather of the shoe — between 5,637 and 5,387 years ago.

Near perfect preservation of the shoe was due to the cool, dry conditions of the cave in which it was found. The cave floor was also lined with sheep dung, which acted as a sealant over the discoveries.

The purpose of the cave or even the reason the shoe was in the cave, remain unknown.

With Armenia lacking modern radiocarbon test facilities, 4 samples of the shoe’s cowhide leather were sent to specialized laboratories in California, USA, and Oxford, England, for examination. Scientists there took more than 18 months to confirm that the item dates back to around 3,500 BC, an era known as the Chalcolithic period, or Copper Age.

Previously, the oldest leather shoe discovered was on the famous Otzi, the "Iceman" found frozen in the Alps, a few years ago and now preserved in Italy. Otzi has been dated to 5,375 and 5,128 years ago, a few hundred years more recent than the Armenian shoe.

Otzi's shoes were made of deer and bear leather held together by a leather strap. The Armenian shoe is made of cowhide. Older sandals have been found in a cave in Missouri, but those were made of fiber rather than leather.

A Dream Comes True

The Armenian shoe discovery, published Wednesday in PLoS One (to read, please click here), an online journal, was made beneath one of several cave chambers, when an Armenian doctoral student, Diana Zardarian (in picture, via RFE-RL), noticed a small pit of weeds. Reaching down, she touched 2 sheep horns, then an upside-down broken bowl. Under that was what felt like “an ear of a cow,” she said. “But when I took it out, I thought, ‘Oh my God, it’s a shoe.’ To find a shoe has always been my dream.”

The 27-year-old PhD student conducted excavations in Areni-1 in a team of fellow researchers of Armenia’s Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography and archaeologists from University College Cork, Ireland, and the University of California, Los Angeles, USA.

The research was funded by the National Geographic Society, the Chitjian Foundation, the Gfoeller Foundation, the Steinmetz Family Foundation, the Boochever Foundation and the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA.

Better Than a Mongol Shoe

Because the cave was also used by later civilizations, most recently by 14th-century Mongols, “my assumption was the shoe would be 600 to 700 years old,” Dr. Areshian, one of the lead scientists of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA, told The New York Times.

He added that “a Mongol shoe would have been really great.” When separate laboratories dated the leather to 3653 to 3627 B.C., he said, “we just couldn’t believe that a shoe could be so ancient…These were probably quite expensive shoes, made of leather, very high quality.”

The Tip of the Iceberg

According to the experts, the Areni-1 cave may provide unprecedented information about an important and sparsely documented era: The Chalcolithic period when humans are believed to have invented the wheel, domesticated horses and produced other innovations.

Along with the shoe, Areni-1 has yielded evidence of an ancient winemaking operation, and caches of what may be the oldest known intentionally dried fruits: apricots, grapes, prunes. The scientists also found skulls of 3 adolescents in ceramic vessels, suggesting ritualistic or religious practice; one skull, Dr. Areshian said, even contained desiccated brain tissue older than the shoe, about 6,000 years old.

“It’s sort of a Pompeii moment, except without the burning,” Mitchell Rothman, an anthropologist and Chalcolithic expert at Widener University who is not involved in the expedition told The New York Times.

“The shoe is really cool, and it’s certainly something that highlights the unbelievable kinds of discoveries at this site. The larger importance, though, is where the site itself becomes significant. You have the transition really into the modern world, the precursor to the kings and queens and bureaucrats and pretty much the whole 9 yards.”

“It’s an embarrassment of riches because the preservation is so remarkable,” said Adam T. Smith, an anthropologist at the University of Chicago who has done separate research in the cave. He said that distinguishing Chalcolithic objects from later civilizations’ artifacts in the cave had been complicated, and that “we’re still not entirely clear what the chronology is” of every discovery.

“The shoe,” he said, “is in a sense just the tip of the iceberg.”

A Real Glimpse into Society

In a telephone interview with the Associated Press, via Fox news, archaeologist Ron Pinhasi of University College Cork in Cork, Ireland, who led the research team, said ; “We normally only find broken pots, but we have very little information about the day-to-day activity" of these ancient people. What did they eat? What did they do? What did they wear? This is a chance to see this ... it gives us a real glimpse into society."

While the shoe had been worn, it wasn't worn out and unlike a lot of very old shoes, it didn't smell. Moreover, it is not clear if the grass that filled the shoe was intended as a lining or insulation, or to maintain the shape of the shoe when it was stored, according to the researchers.

The Armenian shoe was small by current standards — European size 37 or U.S. women's size 7 — but might have fit a man of that era, according to Pinhasi.

He described the shoe as a single piece of leather cut to fit the foot. The back of the shoe was closed by a lace passing through four sets of eyelets. In the front, 15 pairs of eyelets were used to lace from toe to top.

There was no reinforcement in the sole, just the one layer of soft leather. "I don't know how long it would last in rocky terrain," Pinhasi said.

He noted that the shoe is similar to a type of footwear common in the Aran Islands, west of Ireland, up until the 1950s. The Irish version, known as "pampooties" reportedly didn't last long, he said.

"In fact, enormous similarities exist between the manufacturing technique and style of this (Armenian) shoe and those found across Europe at later periods, suggesting that this type of shoe was worn for thousands of years across a large and environmentally diverse region," Pinhasi said.

The 41-year-old archaeologist hails from Israel, but has been living in Cork since 2007. He was educated in Belgium as well as Canada.

The Road Ahead

While the Armenian shoe was soft when unearthed, the leather has begun to harden now that it is exposed to air.

The shoe is currently at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography in Yerevan but will be sent to laboratories in either Switzerland or Germany where it can be treated for preservation and then returned to Armenia for display in at the National Museum of History in Yerevan.

As for the young archeologists Ms. Zardarian and Mr. Pinhasi as well as all their local and international colleagues, we would like to congratulate them for this major discovery, and wish them success in their future excavations in Areni-1.

Turkey’s Minister of Education Does Something Almost Special

2010-06-13T22:23:00.005+05:00

One step forward and one step backward, then one step forward and … : This how we can characterize the Turkish policy as regards to the education of the country’s minority students.

On 10 June 2010, Turkey’s Education Minister, Ms. Nimet Chabukchu, participated in the joint graduation ceremony of all the Armenian schools in Istanbul and personally handed the graduation certificates to the Armenian graduates.

According to Turkish daily Hurriyet, via Armenian Tert online daily, the ceremony was organized in the Bezciyan College in Kumkapi.

This was the first time in the history of Turkish Republic that the education minister was participating in the graduation ceremony of Armenian minority schools. And this was not the only novelty of the day.

In her speech, the Minister announced that from the next academic year, the Ministry will provide free textbooks in Armenian language for Armenian schools. "We provide textbooks on Turkish language and culture and we also are about to finish preparations to provide textbooks in Armenian language, free of charge. When the preparations end, you will get textbooks published in your mother tongue," she said.

The following day the Minister attended a joint ceremony of Greek schools in Istanbul. Like the Armenian ceremony, the Greek event was loaded with Turkish nationalistic rituals and rhetoric.

According to Zaman Turkish daily, Çubukçu was welcomed with flowers and Turkish flags, and she was ‘moved’ when a primary school student who had won a ‘contest for singing the Turkish national anthem’ sang the anthem at the end of the ceremony.

Speaking on behalf of the Greek schools across Istanbul, Zoğrafyon High School principal Yani Demircioğlu said in his opening remarks that Çubukçu’s visit was very important for the future of the Greek schools. “Our wish is that the result of your visit will be valuable in shedding light on history and will be a turning point for Turkey’s Greek schools.”

Speaking after the ceremony, Çubukçu said the ministry has been working on the problems experienced by schools in Turkey’s communities. In response to a reporter’s question over whether or not her visits to community schools could be called a community initiative, Çubukçu said: “Above all, I think we have opened the door to warm and sincere dialogue. … These schools are also Turkey’s schools. Our target is to provide high-quality education for the students who come through these schools. Therefore, I care about this cooperation [between Turkish authorities and the schools]. In fact, we did not think we were doing something special.”

Multiple Standards

If Armenians and Greeks are recognized as minorities according to the Treaty of Lausanne - and somewhat tolerated - the case of the other ethnic minorities remains unresolved in Turkey.

Despite AKP’s ‘Kurdish Initiative’ and claims of gradual democratization and Europeanization of the country, most minority students, including the Kurds, are not allowed to study their mother tongue. Plus, there are no signs of “warm and sincere dialogue” for these groups.

The cultural assimilation policy, one of the premises of the kemalist Thought, has nevertheless failed in the case of the Kurds as the community is large (estimated 12-18 million) and geographically concentrated. Smaller communities, however, are struggling hard to preserve their language and identity.

UNESCO has classified 15 languages spoken in Turkey as "endangered" and has criticized the country for not doing much to save them.

One of these languages is Laz, a Kartvelian language, spoken by approximately 200,000 people in Turkey. Aljazeera English channel recently aired an interesting story on the current situation of the Laz minority in Turkey (to read the script, please click here).

In parallel, Turkey does not hesitate to assist Turkic minorities in other countries. The most recent example of such a policy is its involvement in favor of Tatar education in Crimea.

During his visit to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Ukraine, on 6 May 2010, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the architect of ‘neo-Ottoman’ doctrine, announced that Turkey was ready to extend help for opening of new schools that offer education in the Tatar language.

Speaking at the inauguration ceremony of a school that was funded by Turkey's development agency, TIKA, Davutoglu said, "We want to see stability and peace prevail in the Black Sea and Crimean Tatars live in peace, security and prosperity. And for that, national identity and language should be protected."

Why do some communities living in other countries have the right to “live in peace, security and prosperity” and protect their national identity and language while those living inside the country may not do so?

The Government Rushes Through the Controversial Education Bill

2010-06-09T23:39:00.006+05:00

The continued absence of local and international education experts in the ongoing debate over the Armenian government’s recent initiative to reopen foreign medium schools is surprising and highly regrettable. The debate has unfortunately turned into a purely political one, and various nationalist and ultra-nationalist forces have taken the lead in opposing the planned revisions to the Law on Education and the Law on Language.

The government and its Minister of Education, Mr. Armen Ashotian, on the other hand, continue to demonstrate their inability to explain their objectives and justify their initiative. Mr. Ashotian presented the bill today in the National Assembly and is expected to defend it tomorrow, 10 June 2010.

Using a street vendor-style negotiation tactic, Mr. Ashotian recently made some changes in his proposed bill. For instance, he lowered the number of proposed foreign medium schools from the original 28 to 15 but even the watered-down version of the ‘deal’ has not convinced anyone.

Treason!

Nationalist forces have gone so far as to accuse Mr. Ashotian of treason. At a press conference on 27 May, via Tert Armenian online daily, Mr. Parouir Hairikian, one the leading figures of the Armenian independence, said that the opening of foreign-language schools was a "very dangerous initiative." He called the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) to halt the initiative and recall the Minister of Education.

"They may blame anyone, the President, the Prime Minister, but HHK has better stop this initiative and officially recall the [education] minister it has appointed," he said, adding that there is nothing more repulsive than such a ‘display of contempt’ toward the Armenian language in the independent Armenia.

"The point is that they say in order to integrate into the achievements of world civilization and science, the Armenian language should be abandoned and, instead, the youth should be educated in a foreign language. This is a humiliating treatment of the Armenian language," he added.

Hairikian even expressed his fear of a violent backlash, such as armed attacks against such schools by radical groups, when and if they open.

Focus on the Learner

The debate continues between those who are for the “defense of the Armenian language and identity” and those who see no risks in this regard. What is, however, apparent is that neither side has a clear understanding of the roles and the objectives of schooling (primary and secondary education) which, to great extent, determine the question of the medium of instruction.

Schools, as modern day institutions, have two main functions: An academic one (transmission of knowledge, favoring personal development, development of skills) and a social one (preparing for the future integration into the society as citizens, qualifying for work or further education).

The primary choice for the language of instruction, both as a subject and a medium, is always given to the mother tongue as, according to all scientific evidence, this allows the student to lean better and the school to fulfill its first function effectively.

The complexity arises for minority students in multilingual / multiethnic societies as instruction in the mother tongue can prevent the school to perform its second function (prepare the student to exercise citizenship). For this reason, in democratic societies, schools usually adopt a bilingual education system. There have been extensive studies in post-Apartheid South Africa as well as in Quebec, Canada, which show the effectiveness and the desirability of bilingual education in such contexts.

The European Council recommendation 1740 dated 2006 on 'the Place of the Mother Tongue in School Education’ is also founded on these considerations. It stipulates:

“In European societies, everyday use of the official language is the main precondition for the integration of children whose main language is different from the official one of the country or region. However, a large amount of research yields common results on one point: immediate schooling of such children in a language they do not know well, or not at all, seriously jeopardizes their chances of academic success. Conversely, bilingual education based on the mother tongue is the basis for long-term success.”

In other words, EC prioritizes education in the mother tongue but, to prevent the marginalization of students whose mother tongue is different from the official language, it gives preference to bilingual education.

Back to Armenia, where the state language is Armenian and the mother tongue of the majority of students is equally Armenian, the use of Armenian as medium of instruction is a twofold requirement and hence the government’s recent initiative is, simply put, absurd – contrary to the interests of the learner (the student) and to the principal objectives of schooling.

Interestingly, even Mr. Ashotian has become somewhat knowledgeable about this. In explaining his latest watered-down version of the bill, via Hetq online daily, the Minister mentioned that there would be no foreign language schools at the elementary level (grades 1 to 4). “Upon consulting with experts, we came to the conclusion that a child’s language-based thinking develops in elementary school,” he said (what a revelation!).

In this way, he clearly admitted that:
1.
He and his team had devised a Law on Education and had sent it to the parliament before consulting with experts.
2.
He and his team at the Ministry of Education don’t know much about primary and secondary education.

Whose Rights?

One fundamental issue that also seems neglected in the current debate is the primacy of the right of the child, the learner, to have access to effective and relevant education. The rights of all other parties and stakeholders, including the parents, political parties, religious and ideological organizations, etc. are inferior.

As for the State, its main role is to protect the interests and the rights of the student – its future citizen – for whom it has the obligation to establish and protect the appropriate education system.

In Armenia, however, even the country’s Ombudsperson, Mr. Armen Haroutiunian, who is supposed to promote and defend human rights, seems confused in this regard. As one of the few people who have thrown their support behind the government’s initiative, he announced in an interview with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, via ArmeniaNow, that “anyone has the right to education that would give them sufficient grounds for continuing it on the international level in the future”.

He implicitly recognized the predominance of the right of the parent to decide on the child’s schooling – as no one can expect the child to make such a complex decision. This declaration went unnoticed; not surprising in our paternalistic society.

The Way Out

At this point, I think the followings are needed to deal with the current confusion:

- Withdrawal of the proposed bill from the parliament
- Organization of public discussions with significant involvement of local and international education experts
- Resignation of Minister Ashotian and his team on the basis of their incompetence

For further reading on Council of Europe’s Language Policy, please click here.

Published: Science & Education Policies in Central & Eastern Europe

2010-06-05T20:17:00.003+05:00

UNESCO has published the 7th issue of its Science Policy series titled ‘Science and Education Policies in Central and Eastern Europe, Balkans, Caucasus and Baltic Countries’.

The 161-page document is the collection of papers submitted to the conference titled ‘Science and Education Policies’ that was held in Chisinau, Moldova, in 2008. The conference was organized by joint efforts of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova and the Ministry of Education and Youth of the Republic of Moldova.

The document provides insights on subjects related to the linkages between higher education and research and their importance for the development of a knowledge-based society in countries of Central and Eastern Europe, Balkans, Caucasus and Baltic Countries. Experiences from other regions are also included in the report.

The following topics are specifically addressed:

- Strengthening the international impact of national research and education programs (section 1)
- Enhancing research in higher education (section 2)
- Developing a knowledge-based economy (section 3)
- Best practices on stemming and reversing ‘brain drain’ (section 4)

The document also includes the conference program as well as its final communiqué.

Caucasian Discretion

Despite having the Caucasus as one of the regions in focus, the report includes only one article on Georgia titled ‘Georgian National Science Foundation: a Key Player in Reforming the S&T Sector’ by Natia Jokhadze and Revaz Astiani. There are no articles on the Armenian or Azerbaijani education and science.

This is due to the simple fact that no one from Armenia or Azerbaijan attended the Chisinau conference.

From Georgia, two scholars attended the conference: Roin Metreveli, from Department of Social Sciences, Georgian Academy of Sciences, and Revaz Astiani from Science Division, Georgian National Science Foundation.

To download the document from a UNESCO site, please click here.

Kurdish MP Denounces 'A Systematic Plan' against Kurdish Students

2010-06-05T20:11:00.002+05:00

According to Bia Turkish online daily, the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party MP Hasip Kaplan has recently revealed the existence of an ‘action plan’, devised by Turkey’s Council of Higher Education (YÖK), to exclude Kurdish students from universities. The "5-year medium term plan" is aimed at "systematically arresting and detaining” Kurdish university students.

Mr. Kaplan brought the "Action Plan for Separatist Activities" to the Turkey’s parliament. YÖK has apparently sent the plan to the universities on 17 March 2010.

In an interview with Bia, Mr. Kaplan said; "this confidential action plan is being applied against Kurdish university students every year… The plan suggests watching students who are involved in 'separatist' activities such as attending Newroz celebrations or requesting education in Kurdish as their mother tongue.

There are outrages statements like saying that the students misused the rights provided by the European Union. The investigation and monitoring reports about the students should be sent to the deanery every 4 months. Recent attacks against Kurdish students in Muğla, Ankara, Manisa, Rize, Tokat and Instanbul were based on these directives. It even gets worse since the document is meant to be a 'five-year medium-term plan'. This is a plan to systemize arrests and detentions of Kurdish students."

"We will constantly bring this up at the parliamentary agenda and we will keep it updated. We do not accept to subject students to exclusion due to their identities. It is dreadful that this kind of issues can be found in an official state document. We will reveal that the AKP [ruling Justice and Development Party] government is insincere regarding the constitution and that they are false democrats", Kaplan added.

Kaplan criticized Turkey’s National Education Minister, Nimet Çubukçu, for officially describing the recent death of Şerzan Kurt, a student at the University of Muğla (Aegean coast), as the result of a ‘bar fight’.

Kaplan said, "Çubukçu denied the existence of the document, when she was reminded of the attacks and the action plan. I sent the document to the National Education Ministry and to all parties represented in parliament. I disclosed the document of which Minister Çabukçu denied its existence. How is she going to explain a scandalous situation like this?

I invite the minister to bravely remain behind the decisions taken related to the 'democratic initiative'. On one hand, you are saying 'we are advocates of freedom', on the other hand, you are ignoring Kurdish students and the Kurdish identity. We do not accept this."

Wikipedia: Far From Being Wikipedian

2010-05-30T18:52:00.008+05:00

The Armenian Association for Academic Partnership and Support (ARMACAD) has announced a discussion session on Wikipedia in Armenian language. The meeting will take place on 8 June 2010. The Association has invited all interested parties to participate.

During the meeting, questions concerning the content of Wikipedia in Armenian as well as the materials about Armenia and Armenians in foreign languages will be discussed. The administrators and the authors of Armeniapedia will also participate and present their insights.

For further information and participation, please click here.

Challenges Ahead

The issue of the Armenian presence on Wikipedia was recently raised by the members of a civil campaign against the government’s decision to reopen foreign language schools in Armenia.

In its statement, via ArmeniaNow online magazine, the group emphasized the need to implement a large-scale national program to “raise the competitiveness of the Armenian language”. Such a program would include massive translation of world literature into Armenian, creation of computer-based and online translator programs, and development of Armenian online resources on Wikipedia and similar platforms.

For a country that has announced ICT as one of its strategic development paths towards a ‘knowledge-driven economy’, the current generalized lack of interest in knowledge, the poor state of online resources in Armenian as well as the limited scope of computer and internet use in the country are surely anomalous.

The prices of computers and the Internet connection are surely part of the problem but they will be solved sooner or later. The government can surely play a major role in promoting better education and research systems, and is rightly being criticized for its ignorance and inaction.

However, the lack of public interest is a fundamental cultural problem that will be difficult to tackle. It is not hard to notice that the Armenian public, including the youth, in contrast to its obsession with cars and mobile phones, seems rather uninterested in computers and the Internet.

One of the manifestations of this apathy is the poor state of Armenian presence in cyberspace, including in leading online platforms such as Wikipedia.

Not Exactly a Eurovision-type Performance

On 29 May 2010, with 3,306,572 articles, English ranked first in the global ranking of 272 languages that are present in Wikipedia. With 9,045 articles, Armenian ranked 96th; after Tajik and before Yoruba.

The low ranking of Armenian became more apparent and troublesome when I considered other main languages spoken in the region:

Rank / Language / No of Articles

10 / Russian / 541,434
19 / Turkish / 144,922
33 / Persian / 93,921
50 / Georgian / 40,797
53 / Azeri / 34,634
88 / Kurdish / 12,910

It was interesting for me to note that Armenian, despite being a state language, ranked even lower than Kurdish which has official status only in Kurdistan province of Iraq and remains banned in other countries with Kurdish population.

Armenian ranked even lower than languages spoken by many ‘small nations’ such as Icelandic that is spoken by approximately 320,000 people (ranked 60 with 28,495 entries) and Chuvash, the official provincial language of Chuvashia (Russian Federation), spoken by 1,640,000 people (ranked 92 with 11,286 entries).

Again, remaining in our region, Armenian ranked slightly higher than Ossetian (ranked 105 with 6,937 articles) and Abkhazian (ranked 211with 430 articles).

Articles Concerning Armenia

As for articles written in English on Armenia, the Armenian inertia is, once again, striking. I did not search articles written in Russian or other languages.

Following some random search for Armenian higher education related topics, I realized that there were no entries for ‘higher education in Armenia’ (there is only an article on ‘education in Armenia’) or ‘the Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia.’ As for the Armenian universities, there were articles on the following 11 HEIs only:

American University of Armenia
Armenian State Institute of Physical Culture
Eurasia International University
Russian-Armenian State University
State Engineering University of Armenia
Yerevan State Linguistic University
Yerevan State Medical University
Yerevan State Musical Conservatory
Yerevan State Pedagogical University
Yerevan State University
Yerevan State University of Architecture and Construction

Most of these articles were very brief, poorly edited and documented. Under ‘Yerevan State University of Architecture and Construction,’ for instance, this is what was written:

“YSUAC is a university, located in Yerevan, Armenia.

History

A technical school opened within the newly-established Yerevan State University in 1921, graduating its first students in 1928. In July 1930, the Armenian Construction Institute, which by this stage had departments of Architecture and Construction, Hydrology and Chemical Engineering, was established with prominent architect Mikayel Mazmanyan as its first director.

It grew and developed until on 11 January 1989, the Institute was renamed the Yerevan State University of Architecture and Construction by the Armenian SSR Council of Ministers. Its first rector (1989-2005) was Arest Baglaryan, since which time Professor Hovhannes Tokmajyan has been the rector.

Its 7 faculties contain 23 departments”.

The entry for the ‘Armenian Academy of Sciences’ was equally weak, inaccurate and incomplete.

Armeniapedia: Even Worse

The purpose of creating Armeniapedia, ‘the online Armenia Encyclopedia’ – a totally separate initiative from Wikipedia - is unclear to me. Probably, yet another manifestation of Armenian reclusiveness. As for its impact, I think it would be safe to say the project has clearly failed.

On 29 May 2010, it contained 5,670 articles only. Quality-wise, entries in Armeniapedia were even weaker than Wikipedia articles concerning Armenia.

I searched for the same entries on Armeniapedia. Here again, there was nothing on ‘higher education in Armenia’ or ‘the Ministry of Education and Science,’ and even ‘the National Academy of Sciences’ had no entry. Moreover, most Armenian HEIs were absent.

Instead, it was interesting to see entries for foreign HEIs such as Arizona State University and University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. I thought there had surely been good reasons to include such institutions on Armeniapedia; for instance, having departments of Armenian Studies or partnerships with Armenian HEIs.

Under ‘University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee,’ however, I discovered the following short and strange text:

“Dr. Christina Maranci, Professor of Art History
Dr. Bert Vaux, Professor of Linguistics”

Ashotian to Resume Iranian Student Inflow

2010-05-29T12:59:00.004+05:00

Following Armenian Minister of Education and Science Mr. Armen Ashotian’s 4 day visit to Iran (21-25 May), it has been announced that Iran is ready to reconsider its decision not to recognize degrees granted by 3 Armenian HEIs: Yerevan State University (YSU), Yerevan State Medical University (YSMU) and State Engineering University of Armenia (SEUA). Iran’s recognition of Armenian degrees will most probably result in a major increase in the number of Iranian students coming to Armenia; an excellent news for all those who have traditionally thrived on the ‘Iranian student business.’

Presenting the results of his recent visit to Tehran, Mr. Ashotian said at a press conference that Iran has shown ‘the appropriate political will’ and before the next academic year, its Deputy Minister of Science and Technology will visit Yerevan to discuss bilateral issues.

Mr. Ashotian added that the Iranian side attaches great importance to its cooperation with Armenia in the fields of education and science. This was particularly stressed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his meeting with the Armenian delegation.

Previously, the Iranian official news agency IRNA had reported that ‘Dr. Ahmadinejad’ had called bilateral relations with Armenia as "fraternal and friendly," adding that Iran and Armenia, along with “the other states in the region”, enjoy “inseparable” ties with each other.

According to IRNA, Mr. Ashotian had called Iran’s scientific progress "astounding" and had added that the two countries have plenty of opportunities for cooperation in the fields of education, science and research.

In his press conference in Yerevan, Mr. Ashotian also announced that the two countries will sign a cooperation agreement very shortly. Iran will provide 10 scholarships to Armenian graduate students in specific fields such as Iranian and Islamic Studies and will establish a center of Armenian Studies at one of its institutions.

Winners & Losers

The recognition of YSU, YSMU and SEUA degrees will surely increase the Iranian student inflow into these institutions. Iranian students, who are charged higher tuition fees, have been a good source of income for YSU, YSMU and SEUA in the past 10 years.

Iran’s Ministry of Science cancelled its recognition of Armenian degrees last year due to widespread corruption in Armenian institutions, low quality of instruction in programs hosting Iranian students (programs taught in English at YSMU and SEUA), and the lack of student services. Indeed, Iranian students have been constantly reporting to their embassy in Yerevan on cases of maltreatment by university officers, instructors’ inability to teach in English, lower standards in courses taught to foreign students, instructors asking for bribes, insufficient instructional equipment and material (computer labs, etc.), in general, and their discriminatory allocation to foreign students.

In case of YSU that never opened a separate English language stream for foreign students, the main problem was the institution’s policy to admit massive numbers of Iranian students to its doctorate programs and letting them earn degrees on less stringent bases. This attracted many Iranian civil servants who by getting an easy doctorate were automatically granted promotions.

It is not yet known what commitments Mr. Ashotian has made to his Iranian counterparts in terms of dealing with all these problems.

The recognition of YSU, YSMU and SEUA degrees will also be a very good news for all the other actors who, directly or indirectly, have benefited from the Iranian student inflow. The rather well-organized ‘corruption chain’ has typically included certain staff at the Armenian Embassy in Iran who, in collaboration with local student recruitment agencies, handle applications and later issue student visas up to the officers and staff at the Armenian Ministry of Education’s International Division who handle international admissions and allocate applicants to different HEIs. One should also mention the immigration officers (OVIR) who issue and renew annual resident permits to international students.

As to the Iranian students themselves, who are not exactly the best Iranian students going abroad but still have certain expectations on the quality of education and student services for which they pay, it will all depend on whether the hosting HEIs will be able to improve their offerings and practices in the future. Based on the past experiences and the inability of Armenian HEIs to improve themselves, I am afraid, they will be the main losers.

Turkish Atheists Can Opt Out of Compulsory Religion Classes

2010-05-29T12:55:00.002+05:00

An atheist family has won a case on compulsory religion classes in Turkey. According to the lawyer representing the atheist couple, the number of similar cases is increasing as more non-believers and members of other religions file lawsuits.

According to Anatolia news agency, via Hurriyet Daily News, an administrative court in Istanbul has ruled on 25 May 2010 that the child of an atheist couple can be exempt from compulsory religion classes at a primary school.

The couple first lodged a petition with the local administrator’s office in Eyüp, an Istanbul district known for its conservatism, to have their 4-grade child exempted from religion classes.

The office rejected the family’s request on the grounds that the religion class is compulsory in schools according to the Constitution.

The family then filed a lawsuit with the local administrative court which decided, by consensus, that the family had the right to have their child exempted from the classes.

Along with Christian and Jewish citizens, atheists should have the right to be exempt from religion classes, the court said, adding that the Turkish Constitution and the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms protect freedom of belief.

“Religious and Moral Education” is a compulsory course for primary school students in accordance with Article 24 of the Turkish Constitution, which was prepared after the 1980 military coup and approved by a public referendum in 1982.

Despite this, the Council of State found compulsory religious classes in primary and secondary schools to be against the law based on its content in a 2008 ruling.

The classes have been especially criticized for allegedly only teaching Sunni Islam. Alevis, members of a community widely perceived as a liberal branch of Islam whose religious practices differ markedly from those of Turkey’s Sunni majority, have been fighting to abolish compulsory religious lessons or at least amend their content.

The Turkish government, which is slowly proceeding with European Union accession talks, amended the textbooks, but many Alevis remain unsatisfied.

Last year, the European Court of Human Rights upheld the right of an Alevi child to opt out of religion classes.

University Corruption on the Rise in Russia

2010-05-29T12:50:00.002+05:00

In a recent article in the University World News dated 16 May 2010, Mr. Eugene Vorotnikov writes that the level of corruption in Russian universities is steadily growing “despite the efforts of local authorities” (?) to eradicate it. Mr. Vorotnikov reveals some interesting, official and non-official, data and discusses a new form of corruption that is linked to the recently introduced standardized national university entrance examinations. Excerpts:

According to necessarily rough estimates, bribes paid for admission to Russian universities in 2009 totaled 1 billion USD. This is 40 percent more than in 2007, with the average bribe rocketing 5 times higher in just the last 2 years.

Experts believe that most of the traditional anti-corruption measures currently being implemented in Russia are useless and there is a need to change the whole system.

…Although the prestige of higher education declined in the first half of the 1990s, since the beginning of the 2000s it has considerably improved especially for Law and Economics. But, despite the country's increased demand for higher education, the salaries of university professors remain low.

There is some disparity in information about how much the salaries actually are. Oleg Smolin, Deputy Chairman of the State's Duma Committee on Education, said the average salary of university professors was about 17,000 rubles a month (600 USD). But according to Andrei Fursenko, the Minister of Education, the rate is much higher, at 50,000 rubles.

Even so, 50,000 rubles is inadequate for the ever-rising cost of living in Russia - and so conditions are created for corruption in the country's universities.

Mark Levin, a professor at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow who has studied the issue, said corruption in universities took place not only during the entrance examinations but also those at the end of semesters. Levin said some students preferred to pay money to pass examinations and obtain a diploma.

The situation is aggravated further as most such crimes are often difficult to prove, because of a practice widely used to pay for tutoring and pre-study courses. Most tutors are members of the admission committees which can help a student gain a place at the university.

Another factor exacerbating corruption is the gap between the requirements laid down for school-leavers and the standards of applicants required by the universities.

For example, many universities sometimes use tests that go beyond the traditional curriculum, forcing applicants and their parents to pay for admission.

A unified state examination was introduced, with standardized tests for high school graduates replacing the entrance examinations to state universities. This was intended to reduce corruption but analysts believe the corruption flows were not destroyed, simply redirected to the secondary school level.

…Fursenko claims corruption exists only in those universities "which do not care about the results of their activities". He says that to defeat corruption "there is a need to tighten control over the quality of the educational activities of such universities"…

Mimic This!

2010-05-22T21:02:00.003+05:00

In his recent speech at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the Armenian Prime Minister, Mr. Tigran Sargsian, outlined his and his government’s vision for the development of science in the county and the role of NAS. Shockingly, he did not pronounce the word ‘university,’ even once, in his speech.

Formulated as ‘the 4 theses,’ Mr. Sargsian’s speech outlined various stakeholders in the innovation process, even the still non-existent Armenian venture capitalists. Different ‘triangles’ and ‘squares’ (NAS, businesses, venture capitalists, the government, etc.) were presented to the audience, mostly above 70-years old academicians. Universities were, however, completely left out.

By ignoring the role that universities play, or should play, in the development of science and in the innovation process, and by separating scientific research from higher education, the PM discredited his and his government’s vision.

His speech even contradicted with the document titled ‘Strategy for the Development of Science’ that the State Committee on Science published almost a year ago. In that document, SCS had set, as one of its 8 objectives, “to create a coherent infrastructure combining education, science, technology, and innovation,” and in the section dealing with the necessary measures it had identified “the foundation of real research universities” as one of them.

The topic of revitalizing the science system has been under discussion in Russia as well. Somehow, many processes evolve simultaneously in Russia and Armenia, or to be more accurate, Armenia usually follows Russia with a time lag of 1-3 years. To be even more accurate - the Armenian authorities tend to imitate most of the initiatives taken by their Russian colleagues, regardless of their relevance.

Instead of trying to convince the PM and his government of something that seems obvious to everyone else, I would therefore suggest that Mr. Sargsian studies closely what his Russian colleague, Mr. Vladimir Putin, is doing in Russia and save our universities additional 2-3 years of neglect.

Putin, Russian Universities & the Academy

Ria Novosti Russian news agency, via Nature, reports that in an attempt to counter the decline and to foster science-driven innovation, the Russian government is betting on its universities, by promising to invest an extra 90 billion RUB (3 billion USD) into higher education and market-oriented university research over the next decade, on top of an annual university research budget of about 20 billion RUB.

Doubts, however, remain about whether the initiatives can overcome weaknesses in the universities and the long-standing dominance of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), the largest basic research organization in the country. The RAS, which employs more than 50,000 researchers in 480 institutes across the country, gets about 50 billion RUB per year in funding from the federal government. Yet it suffers from an ageing scientific workforce and poor links with the international scientific community.

As Russia struggles to overcome its economic dependence on mineral exports, academy researchers are criticized for contributing too little to Russia's transformation into a high-tech economy. "Increasing domestic high-tech production will require a flow of well trained people to industry," says Nikolay Ledentsov, a corresponding member of the RAS formerly with the Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute in St Petersburg, who now runs the optoelectronic company VI-Systems in Berlin, Germany, which he founded in 2006. "Improving universities, where most people are educated, makes sense."

To strengthen neglected university research — mainly in applied sciences such as information technology — the government launched a competition in 2008 to transform a number of existing institutions into 'national research universities'. On top of their regular funding from regional governments, these institutions will each receive an extra 1.8 billion RUB per year over the next decade from federal budgets for purchasing modern laboratory equipment. Twelve winners were selected last year, and a further dozen or so will be chosen this month out of 128 institutions that applied in the second round of the competition.

Last year, the government also created five 'federal universities' to bolster higher-education efforts in under-resourced areas; they will each receive around 380 million RUB annually in extra funding over the next three years.

Separate budget lines were also set aside to support Moscow State University and St Petersburg University, the two largest and scientifically strongest HEIs in the country.

Finally, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced a new grant program in April 2010 worth a total of 12 billion RUB. It is aimed at attracting high-profile scientists from within the country and abroad to work at Russian universities. Winners, chosen for their research and publication record, will receive up to 1 million USD per year to set up a team at a Russian university of their choice. A first call for proposals is being prepared, and the first grantees are to be selected later this year.

‘Merging Science & Higher Education’

Hopes of creating a Russian match for Harvard or Oxford, voiced by some institutions bidding to become national research universities, are wildly premature, says Konstantin Severinov, a biochemist based at both Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and at the RAS Institute of Molecular Genetics in Moscow. He and others warn that the new funding is still being funneled through a system that often fails to reward the best ideas, and lacks the transparent grant-assessment procedures developed and accepted by the international scientific community.

Still, Severinov says, promoting university research is certainly a welcome step towards breaking the unhealthy dominance of the RAS in favor of a more diverse science and higher-education system. "Merging science and higher education is the right approach," he says. "If the new initiatives help get more Russian students involved in meaningful research early on it would be a good thing."

Some researchers worry that boosting the universities could damage the RAS. "It's in every¬body's interest to have strong universities, but please not at the expense of damaging the RAS where the best science is done," says Ledentsov. The best way to revitalize Russian science is to let both universities and RAS institutes to compete for public funding through a quality-based granting system, he says. "Russian science needs a fruitful combination of both, and it absolutely needs stronger links with Europe."

Increased funding is only part of the remedy, adds Ledentsov. Russian government initiatives include a 318-billion-RUB nanotechnology program started in 2007 and plans for a new science city outside Moscow. But these must be supported by innovation-friendly business and legal reforms such as tax exemptions for company research and development.

"You can't order innovation," says Ledentsov. "But you can force the economy to be innovative if you create the right incentives. Seed it and it will grow."

Regression

2010-05-20T22:08:00.003+05:00

Whoever was hoping that Mr. Armen Ashotian would finally be the Minister of Education that Armenia has lacked since independence - I was not one of them – should be very disappointed by his recent initiatives. One of these is the decision to reintroduce public schools that will use a medium of instruction other than Armenian; the country’s official language.

It is clear to everyone that this signifies the reopening of Russian schools along with handful of English and other language schools.

In the last one year, since his appointment, Mr. Ashotian has not only failed to introduce and push forward the much needed fundamental reforms in the country’s education sector, he is now showing that he is capable of taking the system back to the past.

In Soviet times, Russian was the dominant language of education and science in Armenia, and Russian language schools were systematically favored by Soviet authorities. This was part of the state policy of gradual cultural assimilation of non-Russian nationalities composing the Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenian was proclaimed the state language and all public schools reverted to Armenian as medium of instruction.

Mr. Ashotian’s proposal has already been approved by the government and is due to be introduced to the parliament as a new ‘law on language.’

Condemnations

The Minister’s initiative has been criticized and condemned by various forces and personalities. The Armenian blogosphere and social networks such as the Facebook have been particularly active in this regard.

A group of young scholars were quick to submit a petition requesting the withdrawal of the draft law and calling the population to boycott foreign language schools, in case they open.

Nationalist political forces have criticized the initiative on ‘the defense of national identity’ and ‘defense of the national language’ grounds. The parliamentary opposition party, the Heritage, has condemned the draft law – after an initial, rather vague, reaction.

Initially, National Assembly deputy Ms. Anahit Bakhshyan told ArmeniaNow that “currently it’s not the reopening of foreign language schools, but rather the poor level of the Armenian language at our schools that is a threat. We must think about that first of all now.” In her T.V. interviews, she expressed a similar view: Foreign language schools were not a major issue, the essential problem was the quality of education.

Later, the party took a much harsher position and in a statement it demanded that foreign language schools in Armenia be only non-state, in a limited number, and only at high school level. The party also requested that in foreign language schools Armenian studies, literature and history be mandatory for citizens of Armenia.

Mobilization

A public initiative called ‘We are Against the Reopening of Foreign-Language Schools’ met for the first time on 12 May. According to Tert Armenian online daily, the 12 founding members of the initiative released a statement that condemned the Minister’s proposed law.

"Should the bill proposed by the Ministry be adopted, Armenian will turn into a language of daily life, while the Armenian language must be used in all aspects of life for its overall development."

Further it said that Minister Armen Ashotian's assertion that foreign-language schools will provide a high-quality education was a racist approach towards the Armenian identity.

"The language that has a literary history lasting for millenniums is capable to meet all the requirements of modern educational system. The quality of education depends not upon the language of teaching but rather on the curricula, the teaching methods, the qualifications of instructors, and the structure."

Some of the country’s most prominent scientists have also voice their opposition. Director of the Byurakan Observatory Mr. Haik Haroutiunian told in a press conference that ‘knowledge of foreign languages is a must but not at the cost of the mother tongue.” He added that the level of common literacy has regressed [in Armenia], but that is not related to the absence of foreign-language schools in the country.

Pedagogical Concerns

There have also been some rather balanced condemnations of the government’s initiative. In their criticism, several public figures have focused on the interests and the rights of the child rather than the defense of national interests.

The President of Public Council, Mr. Vazgen Manoukian, for instance, announced in a press conference that "The Minister of Education says 'I cannot raise the quality of education, I must bring schools from aboard'. This must be considered ridiculous, if not tragic … We were trying to take a step forward, but this project is a step to an abyss. Numerous scholars have concluded that it is essential that the child obtains the base education in his/her mother tongue and only then learns foreign languages.”

The Public Council voted against the new law and sent a letter to the President Serge Sargsian expressing their concerns.

Mr. Ashot Bleyan, Director of Mkhitar Sebabstatsi, a well-known experimental school in Yerevan, has also criticized the new move saying that “the public school in Armenia can’t be united as one [if the new law is adopted]; it will bring about discrimination and inequality [in education] which is forbidden by all international laws.”

Mr. Bleyan also revealed that there are already schools in Armenia where instruction takes place in Russian. These schools have been operating illegally for the past 17 years.

He added that it is the duty of all citizens to help develop and spread the national language. “Otherwise, we have the experience of the Russian schools in Armenia] where the child doesn’t know Russian but has to study Math, Physics and other subjects in a foreign language. The central issue of public education is the development of the child, in a comprehensive way.”

European Regional Academy Hosts the EU Advisory Group Lecture Week

2010-05-18T23:51:00.001+05:00

The European Regional Academy is finally acting in line with its initial purpose; promoting and strengthening closer academic ties with Europe and a better understanding of European integration. The Academy is hosting a week of lectures on trade, anticorruption, and human rights issues that has been organized by the EU Advisory Group to the Republic of Armenia.

According to Hetq online, the lecture series will introduce Armenian students to key areas in the development of EU-Armenia relations. The lecture week was opened on 14 May and will continue until 21 May.

The opening session of the first EU Advisory Group Lecture Week provided insights into the structure and the functioning of the European Union’s political institutions in Brussels. Upcoming lectures will focus on various aspects of EU-Armenia relations, including EU support for an Armenian quality infrastructure reform, the EU framework on product safety and public interest protection, the role of the Human Rights Defender, and last but not least on EU best practices and standards to fight corruption.

The Chairperson of the Republic of Armenia National Assembly Standing Committee on European Integration, Naira Zohrabyan, and the Rector of the European Regional Educational Academy, Andranik Avetisyan, as well as the Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Raul de Luzenberger and EU Advisory Group Team Leader Rolf Boehnke welcomed the initiative at the opening of the lecture week.

The Rector of the European Regional Educational Academy said: “The main objectives of our Academy are the combination of Armenian and European educational programs in accordance with European standards, the setting up of regional cooperation and dialogue between educational institutions of Armenia and neighbouring countries, and the involvement in processes of European educational integration. We are very proud, that this EU Advisory Group Lecture Week on trade, anticorruption, and human rights issues is organised at the European Regional Educational Academy.”

“Initiatives like the EU Advisory Group Lecture Week help preparing young Armenians for a successful professional future,” said Raul de Luzenberger, Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia. “It is important for us to support students’ efforts to understand the challenges ahead and to imagine sustainable solutions. For this reason, the EU Advisory Group has recently started to recruit Armenian university graduates for a traineeship programme. With this new programme, we invite them to work closely together with European experts on a variety of political and economic issues in Yerevan for one year.”

“The EU Advisory Group is a hands-on instrument of the European Union to support the Armenian government in its political and economic reform activities for the benefit of the Armenian people,” explained Rolf Boehnke, Team Leader of the EU Advisory Group. “While we mainly provide recommendations to political institutions, we also believe that public support and public understanding must be secured for any kind of reform.”

All lectures will be given in English by international experts of the EU Advisory Group together with their counterparts in Armenian political institutions and will be prepared with a view to facilitate the dialogue between lecturers and students. An effective discussion after the presentations is expected to contribute to a better and deeper understanding of the topics.

Iran Cancels Recognition of Azerbaijan Medical University Diplomas

2010-05-18T23:47:00.001+05:00

Today.az Azerbaijani news agency is extremely critical of the recent visit of Iran’s Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Mahammadali Mohaggigi to Baku.

“During our recent visit to Azerbaijan, we concerned ourselves with the problems of Iranian students studying there. We are dissatisfied with the state of education of Iranian students studying Medicine in Azerbaijan,” the Deputy Minister said.

He added that when Health Minister of Iran Ms. Marziya Vahid Destgerdi met with the Iranian students in Azerbaijan last February, she enquired about their conditions and learned that they had many problems.

According to the Deputy Minister, based on these findings, the Iranian Ministry of Health does not recognize any longer the degrees issued by the Azerbaijani Medical University. “The names of all Azerbaijani educational institutions have been removed from the list of recognized institutions by the Health Ministry of Iran,” he said.

Mohaggigi claimed that this year no student was sent from Iran to study Medicine in Azerbaijan. He added that the Iranian Ministry was very concerned about the situation of the remaining students and that they would take appropriate measures to solve their educational problems.

One of officers of Azerbaijan Medical University Nasimi Gasimov said that “As a rule, Iranian students' diplomas were confirmed in their country once they returned home. According to some unofficial information, Iran sends a lot of students to Armenia and recognizes their diplomas without any problem. But most of the Iranian students studying in Azerbaijan do not return after they complete their education and leave for European countries. We know that their diplomas are being recognized in Finland, Germany and Switzerland. And most of the students cannot get their diplomas confirmed as valid after they return to Iran.”

Gasimov ‘unofficial information’ is totally inaccurate as the Iranian Ministry does not recognize Armenian diplomas either. In both cases, Azerbaijan and Armenia, Iranians are concerned about the low quality of the education offered to foreign students as well as widespread corruption at these HEIs. As to the acceptance of Azerbaijani degrees in Europe, Gasimov has resorted to pure speculation.

Unable to admit their shortcomings, Gasimov has even tried to find a political explanation. "… most Iranian students studying at the Azerbaijan Medical University are Azerbaijanis by origin. After they return to Iran they raise the awareness of their compatriots and that is why such statements by Iran are political maneuvers and blackmail. Nothing more."

Iranian Government & Universities Preparing to Mark Disputed Election Anniversary

2010-05-18T23:44:00.001+05:00

Iranian opposition website RaheSabz, via Inside Iran, reports that the crackdown on Iranian universities has intensified as the anniversary of the disputed June 2009 elections approaches.

On 10 May 2010, students of Shahid Beheshti University protested an unannounced visit to their campus by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The students were met with a large number of security forces upon entering the university grounds, with members of the police, security forces, and basij militias guarding key routes around the campus.

The pattern of secrecy and security surrounding Ahmadinejad’s university visits is emblematic of a concerted approach to possible protests against the government in the weeks leading up to the June 12 anniversary of the controversial presidential elections last year. On April 27, opposition leaders Mehdi Karroubi and Mir Hossein Moussavi called for Green Movement supporters to protest on the anniversary of the elections.

While RaheSabz reported that the students were numbered at approximately 1000, RajaNews, a pro-government website put the number at roughly 100. YouTube videos of the demonstrations showed that the numbers far exceed what RajaNews had reported.

Ahmadinejad refrained from visiting any university following widespread student demonstrations against the current Minister of Science, Research, and Technology who as a member of the Interior Ministry, was in charge of counting votes during the disputed 2009 election.

While it has always been customary for the President to visit the University of Tehran for the new school year in September, last fall it was the Minister who gave a speech in an auditorium sealed off to students.

The visit to Shahid Beheshti University is the 2nd surprise visit by the President to a major HEI in a little over a week. On 1 May, Ahmadinejad surprised the students of the University of Tehran by giving an unannounced speech in commemoration of Iran’s Teacher’s Day.

Upon hearing of his arrival, students began protesting near the university’s Persian Literature Department and went on to the school’s main amphitheater, while shouting “death to the dictator,” “long live Moussavi, long live Karroubi,” and “the coup d’état government must resign,” according to opposition sites Kaleme and RaheSabz.

This pattern of surprise visits by Ahmadinejad marks a change in the government’s approach to universities, traditionally a hotbed of opposition sentiments and calls for reform. Lately, attendees of the president’s speeches at universities have been heavily pre-screened and are issued passes for attendance long in advance. Security and militia forces are deployed on short notice to strategic locations around entrances and the President’s itinerary, to prevent protesters from gaining any access to the event.

Traditionally, every June the President visits the University of Tehran to give a speech on the anniversary of the presidential election. It remains to be seen whether Ahmadinejad will visit the university this year, but given that Moussavi and Karroubi have already called for demonstrations, additional security measures are being implemented across universities in Tehran.

Eyewitnesses told Inside Iran that both the University of Tehran and Sharif University have had security cameras installed in key locations on campus as part of the crackdown.

Armenian Government Asked to Halt its Initiative on Language

2010-05-17T00:38:00.005+05:00

The National Assembly is due to discuss a draft new ‘Law on Language’ which will allow the Ministry of Education and Science to open public schools that will use a medium of instruction other than Armenian; the country’s official language.

It is clear to everyone that this signifies the reopening of Russian schools along with a handful of English and other language schools.

In Soviet times, Russian was the dominant language of education and science in Armenia, and Russian-language public schools were systematically favored by Soviet authorities. This was part of the state policy aimed at the gradual cultural assimilation of non-Russian nationalities composing the Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenian was proclaimed the state language and all public schools reverted to Armenian as medium of instruction.

The government and, in particular, the Minister of Education Mr. Armen Ashotian who has taken this initiative have been severely criticized and condemned by various forces and personalities in the past 3 weeks. The Armenian blogosphere has been particularly active in this regard.

A group of young scholars were quick to submit a petition requesting the withdrawal of the draft law and calling the population to boycott foreign language schools, in case they open. Here, I am publishing the translation of the petition. I think, however, the text has some flaws:

The main problem with the petition is that it refutes the government’s initiative only on political grounds whereas there are pedagogical concerns that should be paramount.

For example, according to all scientific evidence as well as international and European declarations and recommendations, including those of the UNESCO, providing education in a child’s mother tongue is critical for the child’s effective learning.

It follows that Armenian children must be instructed in Armenian – I totally agree with the petition’s position on this matter. However, ethnic minorities in Armenia also need to be instructed in their mother tongues, or at least be instructed in a bilingual system. The issue of repatriated Diaspora students is equally important; these children must have the possibility to study in the public school where the language of instruction is the one they have been instructed in prior to their repatriation.

We will discuss these issues in more detail in the future. Here is the text of the petition:

__________________________________________________

“Fellow Armenians,

We, the undersigned, condemn the Armenian government’s decision to open foreign language schools (schools that will use a foreign language as medium of instruction) in Armenia. We call upon the Armenian government to halt this initiative. At the same time, we call upon Armenian citizens to boycott foreign language schools, in case they open.

The government’s argument that this initiative will improve the quality of our education and will make it more flexible is not only baseless, it is for us Armenians deeply humiliating as it assumes that the reason for the low quality of education in Armenia is not the education system itself but the medium of instruction, the Armenian language.

The opening of schools that will have a language other than Armenian as medium of instruction will not make the Armenian education more flexible and competitive but, on the contrary, more restricted and provincial. It will revive the humiliating mindset that existed in the Soviet era according to which the Armenian language is a less credible and less scientific language than, say, the Russian. Once again, Armenian will be considered as a local, provincial language in contrast to more ‘civilized’ Russian or another language.

This decision will automatically turn Armenian into a second-class language as it will be assumed that those who complete foreign language schools are better educated. This, together with other negative consequences, will create a situation in the job market where Armenian school graduates will be less competitive than those coming out of foreign language schools.

We, the Armenian intellectuals, insist that every resident of Armenia should be able to receive a good quality education in his/her mother tongue; to become an educated and open-minded person; and to grow to be a good specialist in his/her chosen field.

Armenian is one of the oldest and richest languages in the world; not short of any other language in terms of means of expression. To make the young generation more open-minded, educated, and competitive on international scale, we need to expand the instruction of foreign languages and improve the quality of education, in general, instead of changing the language of instruction to a foreign one.

Countrymen,

Let us not allow to be become, once again, a Russian or another country’s cultural colony.”

To read the petition in Armenian, please click here.

Armenia PM’s Speech at the National Academy of Sciences

2010-05-10T18:52:00.002+05:00

In the past three weeks there has been an eruption of news concerning education and science in Armenia. We will gradually cover all of them on this blog. To begin with, I am reproducing here the speech given by Prime Minister Mr. Tigran Sargsian on 23 April 2010 at the annual general assembly of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (NAS).

The English version of the speech was published on the Armenian government’s official website. I had to edit the text based on the original version that Mr. Sargsian had published on his personal blog.

“Your Holiness, Dear Participants,

Many queries were voiced [at the general assembly] that I, on behalf of the Government, will try to answer. First of all, however, I would like to thank the President of the NAS for his continued consideration of the Government’s policy principles and priorities for the development of science, that constitute the basis for our socio-economic development program.

The primary goal of any government is to build a competitive economy. In the contemporary world, competitive economy means a knowledge-driven economy. It is impossible to create a knowledge-driven economy without a society based on knowledge.

This is our vision of Armenia’s prospective and long-term development. Moreover, we have no other option than developing science and knowledge, and a knowledge-driven economy. All we have to do is to define (identify) the ways leading to such an objective.

Here, I wish to state the first thesis of my speech. The time has passed when the NAS used to raise questions. The time has come for the NAS to answer questions because the Academy aggregates our [country’s] intellectual potential. The time has come to mobilize all these intellectual potential to respond to our contemporary issues.

Moreover, you should offer these responses (solutions) to the government and we in turn must be guided by them. You will have to present us answers to the following queries: What are the challenges facing Armenia? What is our primary agenda? What are the priority issues? What are the solutions to these issues?

You should not expect the government to identify the solutions to these issues. On the contrary, you should have the courage to present openly your solutions to the public. Thereby, the moral issue will be tackled, and our society will assess scientists at their true value.

Today, we are facing a moral crisis. We must raise the status of [our] scientists. In the contemporary Armenia the scientist is not considered a hero. On the contrary, the scientist is often subjected to ridicule. Scientific activity no longer offers any [career] prospects, is not anymore beneficial, and this is a serious problem.

The answer (solution) is very clear. If you want people to get involved in science, you must raise salaries and increase funding. There is, however, the inverse argument; if you wish to have money and funding, you have to produce output that we can sell and raise your remuneration.

In the contemporary world, science is a tool to transform money into knowledge. In the cotemporary world, innovation is a mean to turn new knowledge into money. There is a serious problem in Armenia in this respect as these two cycles are disconnected.

The second thesis of my speech concerns the proposed ways of filling up this gap. Based on modern methods, together, we must be able to measure the outcomes of our scientific resources. But we never do this. We can no longer limit ourselves to publications and statements. We must see how scientific outcome is measured in the developed countries. We (the government) have carried out a study to that effect.

While publishing in primary reviews is surely important, it is also important to create an environment that ensures the link between science and industry. We have not yet created such an environment in Armenia, and we must do it. It is extremely important that economic agents (businesses) strive to make money by applying innovation and that scientists are ready to provide businesses with the output of their scientific work.

An extremely important thesis (viewpoint) was presented [at the general assembly]: We cannot rely only on [state] financing [of science]. And the second important thesis was that we should attract funding from abroad. Here, the question arises as to how such amounts are generated abroad and why they cannot be generated in Armenia.

In foreign countries, these amounts are generated within the economy, and the demand placed upon science comes from the contemporary economy. If you are familiar with the organization of modern scientific centers, you will see (know) that venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and business managers are in constant search for new knowledge, are enthusiastic about the world of science, and their enthusiasm is extremely strong. We must create such an environment in Armenia. There are financial resources in Armenia too that can favor the development of science.

The third thesis [of my speech] is that we have inherited a bad legacy from the Soviet-era science; that is we fail to conclude the outcomes of scientific research in a market form.

Together, we examined 28 projects that the government had asked our research institutes to devise. We considered 20 out of the 28 inapplicable. We took the remaining 8 for further assessment. Four of these were considered fit for business evaluation, but in the end all 4 projects were estimated as too risky.

Dear Colleagues,

We are facing a serious problem in this field and we need to tackle it through our joint efforts. Neither the NAS nor the Government can address it on its own. Our collaboration and use of modern methods are needed to this end. Today’s world experience suggests how we should develop science: By ensuring this common link.

The fourth thesis that I would like to present to you is as follows: We have spent considerable time discussing what our priorities in the field of science should be. What the principle directions [of scientific research] where we may produce world-level outcomes are.

I must assure you that this was an extremely important exercise as in order to develop science in Armenia and to improve the moral and psychological context, we strongly need successful projects and success stories. Several such initiatives have been endorsed by the government, and we are trying to implement them. But it is up to the NAS to take the lead in this area.

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to assure you that the policy principles for the development of science that we presented to you at 2009 [NAS] general assembly are still standing. We see no alternative to the strengthening of our intellectual potential, and we would be glad if the National Academy of Sciences could mobilize this potential, set forth ambitious goals, and propose appropriate solutions.

The National Assembly is set to examine the new draft Law [on Science]. I think we can expect an interesting debate. The debate, we can say, already started today when it was proposed that appropriate procedures be added to the Law. We are open to your suggestions. Financing procedures were said to be contemporary. The question is how to encourage people, particularly the youth, to embark on [careers in] science.

We hope that during this examination [at the National Assembly], you will come up with proposals and recommendations. I promise you that the government will fully consider all your proposals. We will do our best to find solutions that will also be acceptable to you.

Dear Colleagues,

In conclusion, I wish to note that only through our close collaboration we will be able to change the public opinion on science and scientists in Armenia. Together, we can reach to a state where there is a consensus [on the role of science in the society].

For already several weeks I have organized a discussion on my personal blog concerning the prospects and policy priorities for the development of science. There are very different opinions and contradicting views. Sometimes intolerance of opposing views manifests itself, extreme opinions are expressed, and I get the impression that there is a lack of consensus in the society on this issue.

I believe that one of the main responsibilities of the NAS is to ensure that the following consensus holds: Science is a priority [for Armenia]. Armenia has no other alternative. The most respectable job in the country should be the scientific work; to be a scientist. This is our objective.

Thank you”.